spiritus-financial-water-ripples-banner.png

MONEY matters

Mark Zaifman's thoughts on money, global economic trends and politics
Neil Barofsky - Financial System May Be In Worse Shape Than Last Year
Mark Zaifman   |    Fri, Sep 25, 2009 @ 12:03 PM

That’s the title of the lead story on the Huffington Post website today, 9/25/09.  I encourage you to watch the 5 minute interview with Inspector General of TARP-Neil Barofsky. It’s not good news, but it’s the truth. Kudo’s to the Huffington Post for their excellent investigative journalism-well done.

Click this link to watch the interview:

Read More   
Global Economic Indicators
Mark Zaifman   |    Tue, Jun 16, 2009 @ 03:12 PM
Read More   
Doubling Down - A Bad Investment Strategy
Mark Zaifman   |    Thu, Apr 23, 2009 @ 04:58 PM

I have an old friend that loves to gamble. His game is blackjack and he actually wins quite often. He was a math and physics whiz in college and believes he has the advantage in any casino he enters. That said, he does have one particular old habit that causes him to lose and lose big at times. If he’s on a losing streak, he’ll keep doubling down in order to make up for the losses he has incurred.

At times, I have watched him lose spectacular amounts of money with this strategy. So what does this have to do with financial planning and investing? Allow me to share with you what I see happening at the moment.

Read More   
Addicted to Debt
Mark Zaifman   |    Tue, Apr 07, 2009 @ 06:29 PM

There is an article in the New York Times today called The Economy’s Green Shoots; Real or Imagined. Green shoots was a term Ben Bernanke used on his 60 Minutes interview when describing his perceived growth in the economy.

In the article, opinions by a few economists are given, both supporting and disagreeing with Bernanke's statement, including Charles Lewis, a former investment banker. Here’s an excerpt from the article written by Lewis:

Read More   
The Stock Market, When Will Recovery Occur?
Mark Zaifman   |    Mon, Mar 09, 2009 @ 04:05 PM

I know these are very unsettling times, and many people are quite anxious as they listen to media reports and watch stock indexes tumble. I believe governmental stimulus will help investors, but it is not surprising for the market to retreat during the plan’s initial implementation. Furthermore, both measures of money supply (M1 and M2) have surged since late August. Money supply growth and a fiscal stimulus package are a powerful boost to the economy that, in my opinion, will push the economy out of recession.

Read More   
Index Funds in China and Asian Markets
Mark Zaifman   |    Wed, Feb 25, 2009 @ 04:56 PM


Read More   
The Economic Meltdown and The Seven Stages of Grief
Mark Zaifman   |    Fri, Feb 20, 2009 @ 05:26 PM

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to be on KGO radio in San Francisco for an hour with Joanne Greene, as part of the book tour for Your Money or Your Life, of which I was a contributor to. The topic du jour of course was money. We discussed money and spirituality as well as your relationship with money and then moved to discussing the current economic meltdown. That’s when things got interesting.

As soon as we started talking about the stimulus plan, specifically the mortgage proposal President Obama spoke about last week , that’s when I heard the anger so many people are feeling right now come roaring out of the gate. With right wing talk radio fanning the flames of anger and stoking the fear so many people feel, we’re going backwards, not forwards in solving the serious problems our country is facing. Joanne’s show is progressive and she is one smart cookie. Yet even with her listeners that I sense tend to be more moderate and left of center, the vibe of anger and blaming other people for getting us into this mess was present.

Read More