The stock market is near an all-time high, while unemployment is up and wages are flat. It begs the question: is the stock market overvalued? I’m not a stock market expert, I don’t follow the market like some people, but I do know a few things. A share of stock is a piece of a company. In that regard, it is not that different than owning real estate. When you buy an investment property, you don’t look at the value of that property every day, you are more interested in the rent it earns and the costs associated with maintaining the property. The same should be the case with stocks. You shouldn’t look at the price fluctuations of the stock for a company, rather you should look at the earnings and earning potential of the company itself. If you are a day trader who is looking for short-term opportunities, we may be looking at a correction pretty soon. Economic growth has been anemic, even prior to the pandemic, and without major changes to our immigration policies or major breakthroughs in productivity it will be hard to see how valuations will get better in the short run. If you’re a long-term player a good index fund or the right financial advisor, you can still find you some great opportunities. BTW – the winner of the election won’t matter all that much. In his first 43 months in office, the S&P 500 index under Donald Trump increased 49%. That’s a pretty good gain; however, under Obama, the S&P increased by 70% in his first 43 months. Fiscal policy matters for a lot of things, but stock prices don’t seem to have as much of a correlation to politics as most people think.
NAHREP has reasons for both optimism and concern about a second Trump term...
On Friday evening, the LA Dodgers won game one of the 2024 World Series over the New York Yankees in glorious fashion, with Freddie Freeman hitting a walk-off grand slam home run in the bottom of the 10th inning. For Dodger fans, the game could not have been scripted better...
With the presidential election only three weeks away, partisans on both sides are taking off the gloves with rhetoric that vilifies their opponents and fires up their minions. Most people believe that our country is more divided than ever. Indeed, the days when liberal and conservative candidates can debate their views respectfully seem like a distant memory. At the risk of oversimplifying things too much, let me cut to the chase about what is driving the divisions in the country.