As I write this, we are just a few days from the inauguration of President Biden and ushering forth the Biden-Harris administration. To say that the past two months have been interesting, politically, would be an understatement. I had hoped that this election would be a landslide (one way or the other) to give us
When an event occurs that no one could have predicted nor saw coming that ends up having a significantly negative effect on the stock market, it is often referred to as a “Black Swan Event.” Such events almost always cause massive damage and leave the average investor in a state of fear and panic. The
The year 2020 is coming to an end – a year of forced change, unwanted adjustments and re-learning many different aspects of our lives. Americans know how to work hard and we also know how to play hard. In fact, one of the most difficult aspects of the global pandemic has been our inability to
As I write this in mid-October, I am very hopeful that we have had a successful election, and that a peaceful transition of power has been able to take place in Washington. Unfortunately, I put those odds at a slightly less than 50% chance. The results of the election have permeated the thought processes and
Although over 36 million people lost their jobs due to the forced shutdown of America during the COVID-19 crisis, I believe that approximately a third of those jobs have come back. Please don’t listen to politicians who say that we are in the greatest job creation period of our lifetimes – that statement is quite
As we continue to press forward into what I have branded as “the year of uncertainty,” we continue to navigate markets in an environment of extremely high volatility. The volatility index, often referred to as the VIX, or the “fear index” is currently trading at around 30. During normal economic environments, when not dealing with
Unfortunately, the last four months have brought quite a bit of turmoil. U.S. unemployment numbers were at a historic, record low of below 4% for 23 consistent months, only to be destroyed by a nationwide stay-at-home order that decimated our workforce. It is estimated that over 36 million people lost their jobs between the end
As I write this late on Sunday night, March 22, the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500* has fallen 990 points since its February 19 high of 3993. That makes for a 34.27% decline in approximately three weeks. I’m not going to sugar-coat this: the actions of local governments to shut down
Well … we are three years into what we at OLV predicted would be a very business-friendly administration. Inasmuch as we had indicated that we felt President Trump would be a very volatile president, but could also bring about significant economic prosperity. The day Donald Trump was elected, on November 8, 2016, the S&P 500
As most of us were welcoming family and friends to town for the holiday season, on December 19, 2020, Congress strongly passed on a bi-partisan effort: the SECURE Act of 2019. SECURE stands for Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement. There have been some major changes here for people already in retirement and for
Happy New Year! Last year was full of record-setting unemployment, record-setting stock market indexes, and lots of political twists, turns and surprises. Looking back, if you would have told me in November 2016, when the S&P 500* index was trading at 2,100, that the S&P 500 would go up to almost 3,200 by year-end 2019
The family plans have been set, party dates chosen … the Christmas season is in full force and the decorations that Hobby Lobby put out in September are finally starting to look appropriate. It truly is a magical time of year – a time for love, forgiveness, unification and celebration. This is a great time