The Flinchum File

Thoughtful Economic Analysis and Existential Opinions
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Welcome to The Flinchum File

I am an Accredited Investment Fiduciary at Bay Capital Advisors, an investment firm headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA. After retiring from Truist Bank, I started this firm to work more closely with a smaller number of clients, and it has been great! Our client load is about 25% of the national average.

Writing is not for the shy or the meek. It exposes a person’s mind and character. I hope you enjoy the view.

The opinions expressed in The Flinchum File are those of the writer, Jim Flinchum, and do not necessarily reflect those of Bay Capital Advisors, LLC

Retire-In-Peace

Mitch McConnell is an 81-year-old member of Kentucky aristocracy and has served in the U.S. Senate for 38 years. During live television this week, his face suddenly “froze” for twenty seconds. I’ve seen that look before. It was on my late mothers face, when she had a mini-stroke. (Nobody should not be ridiculed — paging Fox’s Greg Gutfeld!) I was hopeful that the Republican leader…

The Cost of “Opps”

Is it fair to punish good and decent people who cause great problems? How about good and decent companies who cause great problems? Social media is a pleasant to spend time, while their associated algorithms manipulate the vulnerable. It is 90% good and 10% bad. Of course, all the social media inventors were focused on the 90%. Last week, the President met with large companies…

R.I.P.

Harry Markowitz was born in Chicago in 1927 and studied under the legendary economist, Milton Friedman, at the University of Chicago. Much later, Markowitz was awarded the Nobel prize for developing Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT). Traditional investing requires memorizing minute details of stocks and comparing them. In fact, there are about 14 thousand stocks with millions of data points, which is enough to choke the…

Motherly Advice . . . ?

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson famously sang “Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys”. That’s good advice, Mamas . . . but don’t let them grow up to be economists either! If you do, your kids will spend their lives learning obscure economic theories and studying endless economic data, that politicians & voters ignore! Invariably, the political party controlling the White House…

Thank You, CNN!

I’m reluctant to say anything positive about CNN. It annoys my Republican friends and confuses my Democratic friends, but I appreciated the CNN production of “The Fourth in America” which just presented music and fireworks from across the nation with absolutely no political bias. Like the V-8 commercials . . . thanks, I needed that! Confession is good for the soul, and I confess to…