Goldman Sachs believes the U.S. dollar will catch up to the Euro and may even be equal by the end of the year.
This is just one outcome of a resurgent America in comparison to the European Monetary countries that are having all kinds of difficulty. While we ended our bond buying program, they’re just about to start.
This is good news for US travelers to Europe but bad news for big multi-national companies that do lots of business overseas as they convert back into US dollars.
A couple of years ago I started rating my books I read on www.goodreads.com.
Then I realized it kept track of all of them, and without knowing it I read 73 books in 2013. So, for 2014 I thought “I’ll bet I could read 100 books if I changed a few habits around (like no TV)”. So, that’s what I did, and I’ve never felt smarter and more enriched.
I ended up reading 118 books in 2014, 66 fiction and 52 non-fiction.
Of the 52 non-fiction, 13 were business, 14 were personal development, and 25 miscellaneous general non-fiction.
For 2015, I will probably get close again (reading is a lifestyle) and I plan on reading some long books like Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and a few other classics.
I’ll provide my 2015 thoughts this time next year!
I remember the 1998 Russian crisis well. It was near the end of the summer, and threatened to put a real damper on an otherwise excellent stock market year. The “Moscow meltdown” bled over the S&P 500, which plunged 20%.
There are reasons 1998 and today are different
Tough sanction in place have somewhat isolated Western investors
Russia has a war chest of $416 billion in currency reserves today, versus very little in 1998
Russia’s currency is free floating, and not pegged to the US Dollar like in 1998. External shocks can be absorbed by the currency markets.
There are other worries in the world we can be concerned about, but Russia collapsing and spilling over to us like 1998 isn’t one of them.
I did financial plans for people decades ago, and usually, those that did reach their goals did so not because they bought mutual fund A instead of mutual fund B, or this investment over another, it had to do with having the right behavior and keeping the big questions in mind.
Ben Carlson wrote an absolutely wonderful blog that I’ve linked to below. He says very succinctly what I say all the time, and truly believe.
Here’s his list of 7 Simple Things Most Investors Don’t Do
Look at everything from an overall portfolio perspective
Understand the importance of asset allocation
Calculate investment performance
Save more every year
Focus only on what you control
Delay gratification
These are absolutely right on, and reflect my thinking.
Falling oil prices and collapsing exchange rates do not mean that it’s 1998 again.
There’s an old adage that “economists have predicted 17 of the last 3 recessions”.
History is an outline, a guide, but there’s a reason we disclaim “past performance is no guarantee of future results”. It should be modified to say “past history does not mean it will repeat itself here again”.
