Were you around when online stock trading sites, like Etrade, were just starting out? They got off to a pretty fast start because ordinary people could buy and sell stocks at a very low cost per transaction. Ever since this industry began, it has been trying to find better ways to “educate” users about investing. I’m making this point because knowing and understanding your investments should be one of your most important financial goals. I won’t go as far as to say that understanding stocks is impossible, but to really know any single stock well enough today to...
Economic news is always a mixed bag. Some things go up, others go down, and some stay about the same. If you’re a renter or familiar with the rental market in Los Angeles and Orange County, you know which of the three options above describes what has been happening to rents. Here are two recent news reports about rents in Los Angeles. One noted that rents in L.A. have risen faster than inflation since 2007. The other reported that metro L.A. is the least-affordable rental market in the country…and we live in a big nation! The great divide However, it...
You have to love the way investment analysts use the word “correction” to describe a sudden precipitous fall in stock prices. First, I supposed they don’t like using phrases like “the bottom fell out of the market today” or similar words that more accurately describe what has actually happened. But I think there’s a point to make that’s even more important than that. The way I see it, the only analysts who have the right to use the term “correction” when describing a broad and deep sell off, are those...
An old friend, on various occasions, was known to say, “I’ve been kicked out of better clubs than this before!” The line never failed to get at least a chuckle from someone within ear shot. Frankly, I don’t know if it was a true statement for my friend, but the phrase often comes to mind when a prospective borrower applies at Evoque Lending after having been turned down for a loan from a “conventional” lender. Banks and other mortgage providers give the thumbs down to a lot of great people. People, in fact, who pose very...
