According to the Wall Street Journal, “When you boil it [cryptocurrencies] down, all it really is, is an online ledger. The difference is that there’s no government backing it. The ledger is maintained automatically on a network of computers.”
In our first post in this series, we talked about how money has implied value due to a society wide networking effect. We determined that one of the most important aspects of good money is that it is widely accepted. In this week’s post we’ll look at why certain forms of money, such as the US Dollar, are much more widely accepted than others.
Pretty much anything can be used as money, but not all forms of money are created equal. In this week’s post, we will look at different aspects of money which can be used as a sort of moneyness test to differentiate between good and bad forms of money.
There are two key takeaways from the history of money. First, pretty much anything can act as a form of money as long as everyone agrees that it is so and secondly, no form of money is immune to failure.
Most people understand that money is valuable because it can used to purchase all the stuff we want and need, but not many people truly understand its substance. What makes money valuable and what makes one form of money better than another?
Michael Crichton was probably best known for his works of science fiction, but what many people may not know is that before Michael was a well-known author, he was on track to becoming a doctor. He eventually gave up his career in medicine to focus on his writing, but his brief experience in the field gave him a healthy respect for the complexity of life.
They say that bulls climb stairs and bears jump out the window. That description certainly seems apropos for what we’ve just witnessed. After over a year of some of the smoothest sailing ever seen in stocks a swift and violent correction snatched away the market’s year-to-date gains.
Following the financial crisis Americans entered “retrenchment” mode and spent nearly ten years focused on shoring up their lifestyle, reduced debt loads and saving money for longer-term purposes. It appears this mindset is finally melting away.
When we first launched Season Investments there were very few investment options with a trend following discipline being offered to the general public. Today, there a number of different trend following funds. Although we are very proud of MarketVANE, we realize that value can be gained by holding different fruits with the same roots.
As you’re probably already aware, 2017 ended up being a fantastic year for the stock market. But what defined the year even more than all the fanfare, in our opinion, was the complete absence of volatility. Gains were generated in a slow, steady grind higher that might appropriately be described a consistent, positive “Slowmentum”.
The other week I came across an article on what is quickly becoming my favorite blog entitled The Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals. The post outlines at least two dozen differences in the way amateurs versus professionals think and act. In this week’s post we are going to highlight some of the key differences between amateurs and professionals.
Year-end giving is a common theme for us and our clients, both because of the general spirit of the holiday as well as the calendar year tax deadline for charitable contributions. Structuring gifts to take full advantage of tax breaks is only prudent, as it reduces the “net cost” to you of supporting your favorite charity and empowers you to consider multiplying your gift and impact.
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