I often like to point out that my favorite companies – that is, those I deem investment worthy – must meet the following criteria: (1) be a well-established business in a growing industry, (2) with a history of solid financial performance, and (3) available at a very attractive price.

Are overweight people victims of capitalism? Plenty of people think so. Documentaries like Supersize Me blast the market for offering unhealthy foods. Food, Inc proclaimed that “industrial food” is making us fat and sick.

Bitcoin is an open source decentralized digital currency and a payment system. It has raised a lot of attention and interest worldwide and an increasing number of articles are devoted to its operation, economics and financial viability.

As the June 23rd BREXIT (the UK-wide referendum to leave the EU) vote draws near, the polls indicate a close result. Those urging a vote for the UK to remain inside the EU are suggesting increasingly dire economic consequences that would follow a yes vote by the British people to leave.

Some investors like to use index levels to measure the valuation of the market. I prefer using share prices on ETFs that track the index. Therefore, you won’t hear me talking about the level of the S&P 500, but I will reference the share price of the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY).

American Capital Agency Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) recently announced the next monthly dividend, still $.20, and provided some insight on their book value. Their transaction to purchase the external manager is expected to close in Q3 of 2016 so no impact on book value yet.

A growing number of R packages are created by various people in the world. A part of the cause of it is the devtools package that makes it easy to develop R packages [1].

There is a bear market coming. Or so we keep hearing. It might start tomorrow or maybe next year. Or was it the year after next year? Anyway, I think we can agree at some point in the future there will be a bear market, and those that are calling for it will tell us … More How To Really Time The Turns On The SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF

Think only a bear market can keep returns of a 60/40 near 0%… think again. Given the huge opportunity cost of allocating to cash or bonds at current yield levels, even generally optimistic return assumptions for stocks are enough to keep portfolio level returns near 0% real.