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Last year saw two very shocking financial events.  One was the abrupt decline in oil (see my 21 January 2015 post).  The second was the steady rise in the U.S. Dollar.  For the first time in 25 years, the dollar gained against all 31 of the world’s major currencies, according to John Mauldin in his Thoughts from the Frontline newsletter, January 5, 2015 edition.

February 2015 marks the 40^th month of the bull market in U.S. stocks.  What’s so special about 40 months?  It’s the average length for a bull market in America since 1835.

A lot of shocking things occurred last year.  One of them was the plunge in oil; another was the dramatic rise in the U.S. dollar.  Both have some very interesting implications for us.  Today, I’m covering oil, leaving the discussion on the Dollar for another day. 

There’s no middle ground with New Year’s Resolutions.  You either like them or you don’t. 

Whether or not you’re a fan often depends on past experience.  If you’ve had good experiences with New Year’s resolutions, you like them; and if you haven’t, you don’t. 

With Christmas six days away, I can’t imagine too many of you eager for a financial discourse. 

So, instead I offer some lighter fare.  A joke courtesy of Guy-Sports.com.  ( http://www.guy-sports.com/jokes/christmas_jokes.htm#Funny_Christmas_Stories) 

Watching my children play makes me dizzy.  The oldest finds a toy and begins to play with it.  As soon as this happens, the other two girls swoop down on her as if it’s the only toy in the world.  After five minutes (if that) Makayla puts the toy down and moves on to another one.  At which time the whole process begins all over again.     

  My mother always told me, “Mack when you buy a house, the three most important things to remember are location, location, location.”  Believe it or not, I actually took her advice on this.

Having a time-tested process is crucial to long-term investment success.  (See my last post here: http://www.mackcourter.com/blog/investing-tip-3-have-process)  This sounds obvious, b

We all know someone who never seems to know what they want to do with their life.  They jump from job to job, or relationship to relationship, or hobby to hobby.  We shake ou

It’s amazing the difference in coloring skills between my three year old and my four year old.  My four year old uses a lot of different crayons to color in her coloring book.  Red, blue, orange, green—they all manage to get on each paper.  I think she does a better job than I do coloring.