Our Preamble
The purpose of our blog is to provide ethical and endlessly curious views into the world of money and investing. Hopefully, as you read our blog posts, you will increase your knowledge about the use of money, improve your investment results, and reduce the risks and costs associated with the use of money. Our commentary is not crafted to support any political agenda, but will comment on the potential consequences of both current and projected actions of our Government (and others) on the economy, investments, and the efficient use of money.
We are neither focused on the individual investor, nor riveted on the professional. We will strive to deliver highly evolved commentary, fully digested concepts and rational projections in plain straight forward language that is easily palatable and useful to all.
We also strongly encourage all well-reasoned and civil-tongued readers to comment, question, and enlighten us with their knowledge and experience. Persistent synergistic discussion has the power to enrich us all.
Sincerely,
Art Zaske
President and Founder
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by Art Zaske on March 2, 2010
Last week, I met a CPA who works for a client of ours. During the meeting, she expounded over and over again on what a great investment municipal bonds represent. She repeatedly asserted, “as long as you hold them to maturity, you will never lose money, and you would have been far better off in the last ten years to make 5% tax free than risking your money in the stock market.” I have also heard this same type of “analysis” from numerous wealthy investors … has it worked? Up until now, it has … but it may be time to sell your municipals and look for safer investments. Yes, safer … it may seem like blasphemy, but many, if not most, municipal bonds are very speculative at this point. Losses may exceed 40% in the coming years… regardless of the economic expansion.
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