Wednesday Reading List
Heritage Financial’s Chief Investment Officer, Bob Weisse, and I were back talking markets this week in our latest Wealthy Behavior podcast. For those of you new to this, Bob and I have been recording a monthly podcast looking at the market and the top investment themes his team is focusing on. Lately, it’s been a lot of bear market, Fed, and recession talk, but that’s not all. This month we discussed what’s going on and why things may not be so bad after all.
Here’s What Financial Advisors Are Reading This Summer
I was excited to contribute to this Barron’s post, sharing two books that all individual investors should enjoy. Check it out, plus the many other recommendations.
See also: How I Crafted a 5-Year Strategic Plan I Could Share With My Entire Firm
Why Recessions Matter to Investors
Investors are concerned about Recessions because economic contractions shrink employment, lower consumer and business spending, reduce corporate revenue, and ultimately, impact profits negatively.
Can Strippers Really Forecast a Financial Crisis?
According to some sex workers, traffic in strip clubs is low—a fact that’s often been associated with a faltering economy. Whether that’s an accurate indicator of a looming recession is up for debate, but the strippers who spoke to Glamour explained that tracking the economy is a useful way to help them make informed career decisions.
The Biggest Economic Question of the Moment: Is This Peak Inflation?
Plain English podcast looks at an important question. This is a link to the transcript as well as where to download it for a listen.
Answering the frequently asked question of whether it makes sense (and by how much) to take withdrawals out of your portfolio during retirement all at the beginning of the year, or stagger them.
See also: Your Safe Retirement Withdrawal Rate
What’s Up With the Crazy Housing Market?
Rising mortgage rates. Faltering home sales. Skyrocketing rents. Here’s how to make sense of a baffling real estate market.
MiB Podcast: Spencer Jakab on Reddit, Gamestop & Meme Stocks
Interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Spencer Jakab, author of “The Revolution That Wasn’t: GameStop, Reddit, and the Fleecing of Small Investors”, a great look at an interesting time for investors and what individuals can learn from it.
Transcript available here.
See also: Making Millions from GameStop
Gaming ESG Fund Performance to Attract Assets
Mutual fund families have an incentive to shift performance from non-ESG to ESG funds to attract inflows. They do so by trading illiquid stocks prior to their non-ESG siblings, and they get preferential IPO allocations; the ratio of offering to total net assets per deal for ESG funds is about four times as large as that for their siblings.
The Biggest Problem with Remote Work
Companies need a new kind of middle manager: the synchronizer.
Book Recommendation
Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties by David de Jong
In this landmark work of investigative journalism, David de Jong reveals the true story of how Germany’s wealthiest business dynasties amassed untold money and power by abetting the atrocities of the Third Reich. Using a wealth of previously untapped sources, de Jong shows how these tycoons seized Jewish businesses, procured slave laborers, and ramped up weapons production to equip Hitler’s army as Europe burned around them. Most shocking of all, de Jong exposes how America’s political expediency enabled these billionaires to get away with their crimes, covering up a bloodstain that defiles the German and global economy to this day.