U.S. fertility has reached the lowest rate since the government began tracking this figure over a century ago. The usual question troubling economists is how a declining ratio of workers to retirees can continue to support the rising retirement and health care needs of a rapidly aging population. But I wonder if falling fertility is leading to another unwholesome economic trend quietly taking root in our day-to-day lives.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve yet to see a straightforward way of applying behavioral finance insights to investing. Are you supposed to have a checklist to make sure you’re not anchoring, herding or acting out of confirmation bias? I propose a simpler way of understanding what investing requires.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alibaba Group chairman Jack Ma was far from a stellar student before he became one of the most successful entrepreneurs in history. Whether as an entrepreneur, professional or craftsman, everyone has unique advantages they can put to good use in the marketplace.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Housing is typically the largest item in a household budget. Thus, if you can reduce that expense, you’ve got lots of room to boost your saving and investment. You can even enjoy luxury without incurring the costs of ownership and maintenance. The important thing is to remain within the bounds of what you can afford.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deutsche Bank warns in a research report that the U.S. is on a path toward a debt crisis. Whereas past deficits were mainly based on the business cycle – deficits rose when tax receipts were down – today deficits are reaching new highs despite robust revenue. And whereas other counties with huge deficits are simultaneously accumulating foreign assets, the U.S. is accumulating foreign debt. Given this trajectory, we need clarity as to what options we have, and what level of pain they imply.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the peace deal with North Korea legit? Why would North Korea accede to a deal? The behind-the-scenes diplomacy is as yet unknown, but we speculate that the matter may be akin to Libya’s voluntary decommissioning of its nuclear program in 2003. The message for markets? Markets without effective policing invites piracy.

Despite not infrequent isolationist lapses, the U.S. has taken a lead role in policing markets since the beginning of the Republic. Peace on the Korean peninsula would remove a nagging
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ratio of working-age population to the level of retirees continues to shrink and is on track to reach just two workers for every retiree by 2050. Just like oil economies that can't wean themselves away from the volatile commodity, or consumers who buy gas guzzlers when oil is cheap, the prison of economic dependency is hard to break away from.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sterling has returned to levels seen before Brexit trashed the pound. Britain has indeed made significant economic progress; but investors should ask themselves: Where is the upside? Conservative Party leader Theresa May is not having an easy time maintaining her leadership, and lying in the opposition is Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, ready to return the UK to pre-Thatcher days. With sterling and UK stocks up, now may be a good time to take profits.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S.-China tension and even North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are lesser threats to global stability than Syria. Just as allowing debt problems to fester makes future solutions more costly, the price tag for having kicked the can down the road in Syria may prove devastatingly high. Supporters of peace and prosperity must remain ever vigilant about economic and military threats while they are mere brush fires, easy and cheap to put out.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office now projects a U.S. budget deficit of $1 trillion in 2020. Debt scourges do their scourging from the sidelines; in today’s environment, policies are implemented by pseudo-Keynesians (who like spending, but forget Keynes’ call to cut spending, or cut taxes but forget his call to raise them). Ironically, it may take a sharp economic dislocation to make long-term thinking cool again.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices