This fact may surprise quite a few investors. During the period from January 1, 2000, through August 31, 2025, gold bullion delivered significantly higher returns than the S&P 500. Throw in last week where the S&P 500 Index rose 0.3% compared to 4% for GLD, the most-traded gold ETF, and gold’s outperformance widens further. However, … Read more
The first 100 days of Trump 2.0 have been anything but “business as usual.” During the past several weeks with tariff wars and Administration policy changes taking center stage, huge volatility swings in both directions have greatly disturbed many investors. Seemingly, there has seldom been a better time to be a volatility trader. All 5,200+ … Read more
Consumers have never been happy about paying more for the same (or less) from one place than from another. It has only been within the past twenty years or so that investors have gotten wiser to this practice. Financial advisors, planners and the media have increasingly made investors more aware of how much less expensive … Read more
When ProShares launched BITO, the Bitcoin Futures Strategy ETF last autumn, the ETF along with Bitcoin were promoted as “stores of value.” The rationale was that Bitcoin was independent of stock markets and would provide diversification away from equities and tend to rise when equity markets fell. Unconvinced, I wrote a column at that time … Read more
Since the beginning of this month traditionally marks back-to-school time for many, I thought the timing was appropriate for this article on basic investor education with a focus on ETFs and similarly traded instruments. The following seven actions reflect practices, many quite common, I’ve seen executed often that I consider major mistakes. In fact, I strongly … Read more