Empty Nest
By Jon Aldrich We just pulled in the driveway from the long drive back on I-90 from Rapid City, SD, where we took our youngest son, Trey to start his freshman year of college at South Dakota Mines, a small engineering school in far western South Dakota. When I opened the door to the house…
Read MoreRemember When Savings Accounts Used to Pay Interest?
A Look at the Puny Yields on Savings & Money Market Accounts These Days By Jon Aldrich Low interest rates have been around for quite a while, ever since the Financial Crisis of 2008 when rates were lowered to combat the Great Recession. I guess we have got accustomed to getting nil on “safe” money…
Read MoreDo not Fall Victim to “Vishing”
Online Thieves can also use your phone to steal from you By Jon Aldrich Ted received a call the other day. His caller ID read “Social Security Administration”. He figures he better take this call, since it is from Social Security and must be important. The caller on the line is friendly and says there…
Read MoreThoughts from the Lake
Musings from vacation and why Focus did not take any PPP money By Jon Aldrich I am up at the lake this week for some rest and relaxation after a stressful and tumultuous first half of 2020. It has been quite a year and I suspect most of us will be glad to see 2020…
Read MoreNot Out of the Woods Yet
Markets have settled down for the most part, but is it just temporary? By Jon Aldrich Even though we are still in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the quick actions of Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve and fiscal programs such as the CARES Act and the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) provision…
Read MoreDid the Inverted Yield Curve Predict the Pandemic?
Last Year’s Yield Curve Inversion Proves Surprisingly True By Jon Aldrich Do you recall all the hubbub in the media and in print about the Yield Curve Inverting last year and that a recession was probably just around the corner? At the time the stock market was rolling, the housing market was booming and unemployment…
Read MoreHarking Back to the ‘Good Ole Days’
By Jon Aldrich Do you long as I do for the ‘Good Ole Days’? You know, back when life was far simpler, less complicated and not as dangerous as it is today. Back when you could have dinner at your favorite restaurant with a bunch of friends, go see a movie at the theater, catch…
Read MoreStimulus Check Safety
Beware of scammers trying to get you to part ways with your money By Jon Aldrich By now, many that qualified for the Coronavirus stimulus payments have probably received the funds in their bank account. However, if you have not received it, you can go to the IRS site https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus-tax-relief-and-economic-impact-payments and check on its status….
Read MorePositive Developments From The Quarantine
By Jon Aldrich Let’s take a bit of break from all the gloom and doom of the pandemic and its disruption on millions of people’s lives and finances and of course its effect on the markets. I want to change course a bit and focus on the positive developments that have come from all of…
Read MoreRough Seas Likely to Continue
Things are likely to be uneasy for a while, but we probably do not have to worry about another “Great Depression”. By Jon Aldrich We just ended one of the worst quarters in history for the markets (you knew that when you looked at your most recent brokerage or 401k statements). Stock markets dropped 30%…
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