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

Unfair Conflation

My Democratic friends are confused and annoyed with the President’s low approval rate on the economy. Of course, there are always plenty of other reasons to dislike politicians — in this case, remember our embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan or the ongoing fiasco on the Rio Grande? But, he still deserves a pass on the economy. The economic data is mostly very good. Inflation is dropping…

Full Circle

My late mother was a Christmas-oloic. She lived for the holidays and played Christmas music constantly. During high school and college, I worked retail in a shoe store selling ladies shoes. The money was good and the opportunity to meet girls was even better. During that time, the Christmas music was constant. Any fondness or addiction to Christmas music was rooted out and destroyed during…

The 4th Victim

When I was a young Infantry soldier, I often recalled General Patton’s instructions to all young soldiers. He preached “No dumb bastard ever won a war by going out and dying for his country. He won it by making some other dumb bastard die for his country.” I often wondered if those instructions made young infantry soldiers more trigger-happy . . . maybe too trigger-happy.…

Happy Hanukkah !

In the final days of World War II, my father found himself passing thru one of the German extermination camps, as part of a team doing an initial check on the risk of fire. There were only a few prisoners/victims remaining in the camp, but they made a huge impression on my father. He never described the horrors he saw, and he wouldn’t tolerate any…

The Church of Efficiency

Most everybody supports Freedom of Religion, which protects your right to worship the religion of your choice or none-at-all. That assumes you worship something theological, but you are also free to worship other things, even other people. I suppose you can also worship a tree or a rock? There was one Dutch painter who boasted that he worshiped only beauty, however defined. Of course, under…

Needing Negativity ?

Why are things always getting worse? Or, are they? Today, you would find it difficult to convince most Americans today that inflation is no longer a problem. Good luck on that! Going from 9% to only 3% is no reason to celebrate, I guess? Surely, we can celebrate our 5.2% GDP growth rate? Nope? Jobless rates are near record lows, but that’s not good enough…