Investing Lessons from the Unsung Legend: Will Danoff's Secrets to Success
If you don't recognize the name Will Danoff right away, don't worry, you're not alone. While he's not as notorious as Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, or John Templeton, Will Danoff is a legend in his own right. While he's content flying under the radar and letting his numbers do the talking, there's a lot to learn from his impressive investing career.
Revving Up the Electric Era: Investing Opportunities in the EV Battle
The battle was on once it became clear that the car would be a staple of American life. Carmakers raced to build bigger, faster, and more powerful machines. Automakers are at it again, this time racing to win the electric vehicle war. But it isn't a battle everyone was eager to join. Legacy automakers remained largely on the sidelines, calling the shift to EVs overblown.
From Remote Work to Reinvented Homes: The Changing Face of Housing
The house is transitioning from a recovery facility to a condensed town, complete with office space, entertainment facilities, shopping, and more. This shift will likely cause a change in dollar allocation, with less going to traditional office space and more towards living spaces. Housing prices may not have needed more reasons to continue rising, but innovation might still provide them.
Embracing the SaaS Revolution: Unlocking the Power of Cloud-Based Software
The following ten years could well be the Golden Era for software 2.0. As more developers leverage the ever-expanding public cloud, SaaS companies will serve more clients with innovative software solutions. The digital transformation is well underway, and I expect SaaS to grow in tandem with other industries enabled by technological advances.
Crypto Assets and Financial Planning: Listen, Learn, and Lead
I recognize crypto assets to be the first entirely new asset class in a long time. Thus, a healthy dose of skepticism is understandable and advisable. That said, it's lazy to dismiss an entire asset class without attempting to understand it, consider its uses, and ponder its potential impact on the future. Remember, Bitcoin is only 12 years old, not even a teenager, and many other cryptocurrencies are in their infancy.
What I’ve Learned By Writing About Wealth and Investing
Writing about money and investing isn't easy. How do you take a sometimes dull topic and make it enjoyable? How do you tackle issues that are written about daily and provide fresh, compelling takes? It's so tricky that many advisors don't do it and opt instead to purchase white-labeled articles and publish them as their own.
Do As I Say, Not as I Do: The Truth About Financial Experts and Their Own Advice
It happens a lot— an“expert” passionately lectures, declaring a better way and planting seeds of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). Later, it’s exposed that they weren’t following their own advice. When alone, without their pulpit, these authorities ignored their own ideas, or worse, did the opposite.
Redefining Risk: Why Playing It Too Safe Might Be Riskier Than You Think
A down-trodden gambler throws back a shot of whiskey at the poker table and wagers his last buck. That's the image that many see when thinking about risk. It can be a scary concept. But what if there's another alarming risk that's often ignored?
There is. It's the risk of not taking enough risk. According to a Wells Fargo study, approximately 60% of Americans invest too conservatively by focusing more on loss avoidance than growth potential.
Creating Value and Leaving a Mark: Insights from Jeff Bezos' Final Shareholder Letter
The Amazon epic may just be beginning but a significant chapter is coming to an end. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 and has since grown it into the e-commerce and cloud computing monster it is today. What began as an online bookstore is now a company that impacts many lives, every day. That growth doesn't happen without a visionary leader.
The Privacy Showdown: Tim Cook vs. Mark Zuckerberg
Three billion dollars is the combined value of Apple and Facebook, which is more than the GDP of 37 countries according to the United Nations (2019). And if you haven't heard, Apple brought user privacy to the forefront in their latest iOS update. The update prompts iPhone users to choose whether to allow tracking for advertising on an app-by-app basis.
Beyond the Rat Race: Achieving Financial Success on Your Own Terms
Step 1: Make a lot of money. Step 2: Go live the life you dream of.
That's been the prevailing advice for as long as I can remember. I sense this is changing though as younger Americans increasingly choose to forgo the "money now, life later" approach for a more balanced one.
The Digital Wallet Revolution: Seizing the $4.6 Trillion Opportunity
Digital wallets are software and applications that enable electronic financial transactions. CashApp and Venmo are two well-known companies that are disrupting banking but digital wallets are quickly invading insurance, lending, brokerage, real estate, and more.
The Psychology of Fear: How Loss Aversion Impacts Investor Behavior
I take far more calls when the markets are down than up. Investors are more fearful during a drop than they are optimistic during a climb. Positive returns feel good but negative returns are outright painful. These feelings can be attributed to the loss aversion bias, a human tendency that has been impacting investment returns since the beginning.
Deep Learning in Action: Transforming Facial Recognition, Self-Driving Cars, and More
Until very recently codes were written by humans, painstakingly composing every line to achieve the desired outcomes. Deep learning, however, represents a seismic shift in software development, as artificial intelligence is being used to write software, a development that Ark Invest believes "could turbocharge every industry" and add 30 trillion dollars to the global economy over the next 15–20 years.
Virtual Worlds and Third Places: Gaming's Impact on Social Interaction
The Ark Invest 2021 Big Ideas report is out and full of great insight about technological changes and how they’re reshaping our world. I’ll be summarizing some of the innovative opportunities in a series of posts, starting with this one on Video Games, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality.
Demystifying Investing Transactions: What Happens When You Press That Buy or Sell Button?
The GameStop fiasco has prompted many to take a deeper look at the inner-workings of financial transactions. The purpose of this article is not to create an escape hatch for large financial institutions, rather, I hope it provides a little information on what occurs behind the scenes every time you push that buy or sell button.
The Climate Shockwave Continues: The Role of Capitalism
It's been just over a year since I wrote "The Climate Shockwave Felt Around the Street", but it feels like a solid decade. That story went on to be published in numerous publications, including The Startup, and I thought it'd be fun to revisit the topic since Mr. Fink is back in the news with his annual letter.
Unlocking the Secrets of Technological Cost Reduction: Wright's Law Revealed
Remember when even a standard-sized flat-screen television costs several thousand dollars (and could easily cause a trip to the chiropractor after handling). Since we live in a technology-driven society the speed of innovation is not always apparent. But when we look back, it becomes clear that the pace of technological improvements is swifter than ever, and continuing to accelerate.
The Yin and Yang of Investing: Conviction, Humility, and Finding Harmony
After hours upon hours of research, you finally pulled the trigger on your next great investment. Oops! Fast forward six months and you're down twenty-five percent and now your brilliant idea is looking like a total flop…ouch! Being able to admit when you are wrong and take appropriate, rational action once your investment thesis breaks down can help improve your returns.
Finding Purpose and Freedom: The Decision to Go Independent with Vermillion Private Wealth
There’s a plethora of options for someone looking to get into the financial services business, from behemoth multi-national wirehouses to small independent firms, and everything in between. After recently leaving a regional broker-dealer to start my own firm a lot of people have asked me a simple question…why?