In 1990, former President Richard Nixon wrote “Six Crisis” – a history of each crisis that he faced during his presidency.  Since he was the first President I ever voted for, I eagerly read the book shortly after publication.  While I remember little of the six individual crisis, I never forgot the primary lesson he … Continue reading Post-Quarantine

Stop being afraid of trusts!  They are a great tool for financial planning, especially estate planning – nothing more – just a tool.  It is like being afraid of a hammer – it’s just a tool. A trust is a legal entity, just like you are a legal entity.  (The President might even call a … Continue reading Quarantine Chore #4

My favorite investment pundit has long been Dr Jeremy Siegel of Wharton.  He assumes (1) the pandemic will be over by year-end, (2) that there will be massive monetary and fiscal stimulus, (3) that the coronavirus curve will be flattened, (4) that a vaccine will be developed and made available, and (5) that reliable contact … Continue reading A View from Philly

At last count, there are 165 economic reports and countless financial reports issued each month.  We have a great deal of analytical data.  When the bubonic plague swept across England in the 1340’s, they did have any data for us to study.  Fortunately, there are numerous anecdotal reports. This particular wave of the pandemic killed … Continue reading A Silver Lining

For almost eight months, from September of 1940 until May of 1941, the German Luftwaffe bombed London 71 times, dropping 18,000 tons of high explosives.  Thirty thousand civilians were killed and another fifty thousand were wounded.  Tens of thousand buildings were destroyed, and hundreds of thousand people were homeless.  They lived in the rubble without … Continue reading Everything is Relative