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Drunkenmiller is short US Treasuries, but how?

October 28, 2024 by Matt McCracken
Stanley Drunkenmiller, the legendary investor whose track record makes Warren Buffett's seem pedestrian, is on the record saying he is short US Treasuries (i.e. betting on higher interest rates). This announcement is quite incredible for two reasons...Read more
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Introducing Kaight.AI

June 28, 2024 by Matt McCracken
For those seeking financial planning advice, here is a massively helpful tool. Kaight.ai is a newly released AI-trained financial planning tool. I have found that she can be very helpful, especially when dealing with issues of a sensitive nature...Read more
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Dual Income Penalty

May 30, 2024 by Matt McCracken
(Disclaimer - I am not a CPA, I do not provide tax advice, consult with your tax professional. The following is for informational purposes only and is insufficient for the purpose of making any sort of financial decision.) As I understand it,...Read more

The Truth about Social Security COLA

December 21, 2022 by Matt McCracken
I'm flipping through our Horseshoe Bay paper and I come across a fluff piece written by the local Edward Jones broker titled, "COLA is sweet for Social Security recipients." later in the day, I'm on Linkedin and one of my financial advisor peers...Read more
Money growing from coin jars

Quick and Dirty trick for calculating Bond Gains and Losses

April 29, 2022 by Matt McCracken
As interest rates are going up, the question many investors are asking is, "How much will my bond holdings, or my bond-oriented mutual fund, depreciate?" As a general rule, for every 1% increase in interest rates, a bond will depreciate its duration...Read more
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How bad can '40 Act Funds get!

April 26, 2022 by Matt McCracken
I haven't gone to Morningstar (MS) in quite some time as I rarely use mutual funds or ETFs, but the other day, I wanted to look up a fund and for whatever reason, I punched in SPY. SPY is the largest ETF tracking the S&P 500 Index. And to my...Read more
Grandpa carrying his grandson on his shoulders

The Election and Estate Taxes

October 29, 2020 by Matt McCracken
If Biden wins on Tuesday, it could have a big impact on the Estate Tax issue. Making headlines is his promise to roll back the lifetime gift exemption from its current $11.58M to $5M per individual. Granted, while this may impact the Treasury’s...Read more
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Longevity Risk Article by Edward Jones

August 19, 2020 by Matt McCracken
In the most recent issue of our local newspaper, The Horseshoe Bay Beacon, an article was printed from Edward Jones titled, " How Can You Help Lower Your Longevity Risk? ". I thought I may weigh in on the topic since "making your nest egg last a...Read more

"What will the next 5 years hold?"

July 8, 2020 by Matt McCracken
Many years ago, I had a meeting with a rep from Altegris Investments. ( Altegris Investments is one of the foremost authorities on Managed Futures strategies and other kinds of alternative investments.) In the meeting, he proposed a thought...Read more
Pay phone

The Fallacy of Historical Returns

February 14, 2017 by Matt McCracken
I stopped to fill up my car at an HEB in San Antonio and, while I was paying $1.99 for gas, I saw the following and thought I must have just traveled back to 1998. A pay telephone. At a gas station. I hadn’t seen one of those in years. And it...Read more