Back on Wednesday, July 31st, 2019, the Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate for the first time in eleven years. In future articles, I will discuss why I find this move and its timing peculiar. For now though, I wanted to lay out some short-term implications and how I think this impacts the economy. […]
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FFMI Calculator (Fat-Free Mass Index)
On this page is a FFMI Calculator. FFMI, or Fat Free Mass Index, factors in a person’s body fat percentage, height, and weight to arrive at a lean mass ratio. Using that number you can compare your relative muscularity versus benchmarks for large populations of men and women. Fat Free Mass Index Calculator What is […]
Does Dollar Cost Averaging Work? How Should You Use It?
Dollar Cost Averaging is a set it and forget it investment strategy that lines up well with how your paycheck works. You’re paid on a periodic basis, and if you use DCA… you turn right around and invest on a periodic basis too. Today I’ll talk about what dollar cost averaging is, how you should […]
The 10 year-2 year Yield Curve Inverted 8/14/2019: What Does the Yield Curve Tell Us?
On 8/14/2019, briefly, 2 year Treasuries paid slightly better than 10 year Treasuries: 1.628% vs. 1.619%. By day’s end this brief inversion corrected, and the two yields settled at 1.58% and 1.59% respectively. Still, you can’t un-ring that bell: regardless of the closing price, we witnessed the first 10 year – 2 year inversion since […]
How Does an Interest Rate Cut Affect the Stock Market?
During their July meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee chose to lower the target Federal Funds Rate to 2% – 2.25% from 2.25% – 2.5%. While the financial press implied this was bullish for stocks, the S&P 500 immediately fell on the news (and Fed commentary). Further, the yield curve remains inverted – or has […]
When are Savings Account Balances Highest and Lowest?
In this post, we’ll look at savings account balance by week in the United States. We examine which weeks balances are highest and lowest, and model savings and spending in the United States. When are Savings Account Balances Lowest? The lowest balance week in our dataset was the first week of the year in January, […]
American Depositary Receipt Calculator: Model an ADR Investment’s Value
On this page is a American Depositary Receipt return calculator which automatically models reinvested dividends. Enter starting investment and dates to estimate the growth of an investment into an ADR. Also, model periodic investments by year, month, week, or day. There are over 350 American Depositary Receipt in our database, updated per ticker in the […]
Dollar Cost vs. Lump Sum Investing: What to Do with a Windfall
Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) is oft-touted as the savior for all of investing’s problems. Reality, on the other hand, is a bit different – in this post we’ll show why lump sum investing usually beats dollar cost averaging when you have both options. We’ll use the S&P 500 in the United States as an example. […]
Inflation and Dividend Adjusted S&P 500 On July 19, 2019
I won’t bury the lede: the all time closing high on the S&P 500, adjusted for inflation and reinvested dividends, was on July 15, 2019. Friday’s close (July 19, 2019) was a mere 1.23% below that peak . The S&P 500 Through July 2019 After Christmas Eve 2018 we talked about how the S&P 500 […]
Bond Yield to Worst Calculator (YTW)
On this page is a bond yield to worst calculator. Depending on the characteristics of a bond and its current market price, it computes the yield to worst – the worst yield you could see between any call features or maturity (but see the note below). Yield to worst is the lower of yield to […]