Insights

Second Quarter 2013|Jim Williams| The markets were reacting to recent comments by Fed Chairman Bernanke, signaling that the Fed’s easing policy will be tapered off or pared back only if economic and financial conditions improve. This last signal was somewhat of a retraction of the previous Fed statement saying the central bank plans to slow the pace of asset purchases. The easing policy has held interest rates down at historically low levels. In the context of a national debt exceeding $17 trillion, we have to wonder if the debt level is a problem. Let’s consider.

Third Quarter 2012|Jim Williams| Until recently, the only way to secure guaranteed income has been as an add-on to a variable annuity. But now there is an alternative.

Second Quarter 2012|Jim Williams| Last quarter I wrote about the Behavior Gap, primarily as it relates to investing, and suggested some simple ways to close the gap. This quarter the focus is on some factors that support behavior change.

First Quarter 2012|Jim Williams| It has been well documented that the overall performance of mutual funds is almost always quite a bit better than performance received by individual mutual fund investors. How can this be?

Third Quarter 2011|Jim Williams| The newest Nobel Prize (shared) winner in economics, Thomas J. Sargent, seems to be a man of few words. His research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy focuses on expectations; how they are formed, how they matter, and how they might be measured in macroeconomic models. The effort toward extending theories of expectations is particularly relevant these days.

Second Quarter 2011|Jim Williams| We are all being bombarded with concerns about increased debt limit, not increased debt limit, bond rating agency threats, continued federal overspending, and on and on. As much as I assiduously avoid making predictions, I would like to address a few of these concerns.