Knowledge is Power: International Stocks, Dividend Stocks, Cognitive Bias Edition

US stocks are performing well so far this year. Unlike last year value stocks such as utilities are increasing. Despite the hype of the “Roaring 20s” style recovery caution is warranted. For example, millions of people are not waiting to jump on a ship or a so called “petri dish” of covid last year. Similarly …

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The Average Hourly Labor Costs Across the European Union: Chart

The Average Hourly Labor Costs Across the European Union is shown in the chart below. The highest hourly wage is in Denmark at €45.80. The lowest hourly wage is in Bulgaria at €6.50. The next two lowest hourly wage countries Hungary and Romania. As expected the hourly wage in East European countries are much lower than …

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S&P 500 Calendar Year Returns 1925 To 2020: Chart

Equities are the best asset class to own for building wealth over the long-term. Stocks tend to yield a positive return when held over many years. However this does not mean they go up year after year consistently. Instead over many decades there will be some years where the market shoots higher and some when …

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Commodities Go Through Periods of Booms and Busts

Investing in commodities is not for the faint-hearted. It takes nerves of steel to endure years of pain. Generally for most retail investors, investing in commodities directly is not a wise strategy. However commodities do have a role in a well-diversified portfolio. So adding a small percentage of gold for instance can help protect a …

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Notable S&P 500 Drawdown and Recovery Cycles: Chart

The dramatic decline of the S&P 500 last March and the subsequent melt-up is one of the faster recoveries in the history of the index. The benchmark index fell 34% by late March of 2020 only to completely recover all that loss in less than 6 months. Previous drawdowns such as the dot-com bubble crash …

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