Insights on markets, emergent trends, history, innovation, risk management, global economics, strategy, policy, and other topics that catch our attention. Inspired by ongoing research, conversations and events. Written and edited by Osbon Capital Management and published every Thursday morning.
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Our Favorite Tools For Personal Payments and Cash Flow
When it comes to paying for goods and services you have many choices these days. The least attractive (besides the quickly disappearing handwritten check) is physical cash, even for small purchases. Over time it has simply become easier to make purchases without paper or coins. In the post-cash era, new payment providers and startups are fighting to gain users and…
Four Points to Consider When Holding Debt
There are many ways to borrow money. It could be a mortgage, personal line of credit from a bank, home equity line of credit (HELOC), student loan or a personal loan. When done properly, investors can leverage debt to their benefit. While lenders may make efforts to differentiate their offerings, what matters above all else is the rate you’re paying to service the debt. Let’s take a look at the range of interest rates and three other key elements to borrowing.
The Fiduciary Care Checklist
Last week’s Beyond Meat IPO was stellar as the Uber IPO was about to arrive. Then Uber flopped big time. And new tariffs with China sent markets straight down. Events like these can make you wonder what steps you need to take, if any, and which information is practical and useful. Fiduciaries think about this every day. Here’s a checklist…
Ten Tips for College 2019
Guest Post This week’s post is guest authored by Dana, an engineer and former US Army Officer, and a close friend of Osbon Capital Management. My spouse and I applied to college in pre-internet days. We now realize how much times have changed! With our oldest child a high school senior this year, and with two others on deck, we…
How Much Financial Pressure Are You Putting On Yourself?
Warren Buffet says, “Don’t risk what you already have for what you don’t need.” Like most sage remarks, this seems so obvious, but has big implications for how we live and make decisions. When we overreach financially, we open the possibility of going backward instead of forward and experiencing much more stress and uncertainty than necessary. Is this happening to…
Not All Bad News Is Created Equal
This week is a major earnings week. If you follow business news it’s quite likely you are going to hear the term “earnings recession” this week. If you do, please immediately remind yourself that an earnings recession is not the same thing as an economic recession. There’s no reason to panic over this R word. Let’s take a closer look…
The Devil’s Financial Dictionary
Long time financial writer Jason Zweig published The Devil’s Financial Dictionary in 2015. The book is both factual and lighthearted. It’s easy to see our personal weaknesses in Zweig’s Dictionary. He says that the definitions are “mostly true.” He also uses a red dollar sign to flag things that may not be technically true, but still say something about the…
Investing With Retirement in Mind
A quick check of the top news stories over the weekend showed four prominent articles about retirement – how to retire, figuring out if you have enough, what to do if you are stuck, and so on. Apparently, retirement is on the minds of many investors, young and old. This news focus reminded me that retirement investing is a lifelong…
Avoid the Situations that Lead to Investment Mistakes
Why do people sometimes make bad decisions? Even smart, open-minded, thoughtful people can and do make poor choices. But why? This article is inspired by a conversation between two of my favorite thinkers, Shane Parish of Farnam Street and Adam Robinson, founder of the Princeton Review. Their research identifies situations where we are prone to mistakes and poor judgment —…
