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.
The top real estate sales coaches, like Mike Ferry, flat out tell their students that representing buyers is for losers. Driving buyers around to open houses, dealing with fickle lenders, and filling out multiple offer forms is a lot of work. To make matters worse, after doing all that work, you still might not get paid if your buyers' offers aren't accepted.
By definition, unintended consequences are the results of an action different from what was expected or planned. They are often referenced in relation to changes in policies. I have heard the term used for years, primarily related to government policies. Still, I didn’t realize until recently that much has been written on the subject, and most experts believe that there are three categories of unintended consequences:
I once read that sports are a universal language. Regardless of ethnicity or what language you speak, almost everyone speaks sports. No place has that been more evident than the Olympics, where every four years, we are moved by images of athletic rivals from around the world shaking hands and embracing each other in moving displays of sportsmanship.