“Governments don’t reduce deficits by raising taxes on the people; governments reduce deficits by controlling spending and stimulating new wealth.” – US president Ronald Reagan So after many zigzags and leaks to the media we finally get to see Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s budget. The headlines are screaming about the draconian budget cuts. In fact […]
Let me start by wishing a big mazel tov to my niece Avital on her recent engagement. With Lag Ba’omer serving as the official opening of wedding season, I’d like to focus on some financial issues that newlyweds will face. For the new couple, many important decisions need to be made. Where to live, who […]
As I mention often in my upcoming book, Retirement GPS: How to Navigate Your Way to A Secure Financial Future with Global Investing (McGraw-Hill), I am not the biggest fan of spending a lot of money to pay a financial adviser to do a financial plan. I have seen too many financial planners use the financial plan as […]
A question that is frequently asked, both by clients and in the media, is where speculative investors should put their money. Investors want to know what’s next. As they realize that markets such as China can’t always keep moving up they want to find the “next” China and make a profit while they can. Well […]
Monday’s dramatic plunge in the price of gold has been the talk of the investment community. The $150 drop was, in percentage terms, the worst drop in 30 years. While gold bugs are pounding the table for investors to plow more money into the metal at these cheaper levels, others are saying that we could […]
So it certainly appears that the way that Finance Minister Yair Lapid will try and balance the budget is to increase all sorts of taxes. From a 1 percent hike in VAT, income and corporate taxes, to taxing the sale of property, the only solution that is being talked about in the media is to […]
The Japanese Yen dropped over 2% today against the U.S. dollar as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced plans for to step up bond purchases massively. According to Bloomberg.com, “The BOJ plans to purchase 7.5 trillion yen ($78.6 billion) of bonds a month and double the monetary base, which includes cash in circulation, in two years, […]
In last week’s column I discussed the need for investors to understand differences in low cost Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). How two ETFs that are mimicking a similar asset class can be totally different, thus rendering it of vital importance that investors look under the hood and understand what they are investing in. This week […]
Remember four years ago when many analysts were predicting the demise of the US dollar to be replaced by the euro as the new global reserve currency? Well, one huge Greek debt crisis later, European banks are virtually insolvent, a deepening recession sweeps across the continent and many are questioning the long-term viability of the […]
The big news of the week has been the new finance minister, Yair Lapid, shooting off his mouth, or should I say his keyboard, in his highly controversial comments about “Mrs. Ricki Cohen” from Hadera. His political enemies have been quick to jump all over him for his definition of the middle class. As a […]
