Tax Benefits Make Landlording a Great Idea
Wednesday, April 24
More often than not, Americans accept the ridiculousness of our national tax code as par for the course, shrug, and go on our merry way. There’s nothing to be done about it, right? At least we’re not England, where the usurious rates north of 70% for high earners sent the members of the world’s a...
Don't Be Afraid of a Little Chaos
Friday, April 12
Recent news about the US debt downgrade, the subsequent market turmoil, flow of capital into treasuries, and commitments by the Federal Reserve to more easy money are creating an unprecedented opportunity for income property investments. The stock market is becoming more volatile, and home prices...
Don't Look Now - Inflation is Already Here
Saturday, April 06
We have been warning about inflation for quite a while. For a long time, the Consumer Price Index has shown what appear to be very benign levels of price increases, leading some to believe that the monetary expansion required to finance profligate government spending can be done without consequen...
Surviving the Storm
Saturday, April 06
When a ship is headed for a storm, the captain will promptly announce “All Hands on Deck” to tell the crew that maximum effort is necessary to survive. The global financial storm is culminating into a situation that will require each of us to call the entirety of our intellectual resources to bea...
Income Property Meets Portfolio Theory
Friday, March 29
Many stock market investors have become familiar with the work of Harry Markowitz in creating a methodology known as “Portfolio Theory” for managing equity investments. The fundamental premise of portfolio theory is to maximize the rate of return for a given level of volatility (risk) by diversif...
Effective Cost of Ownership
Wednesday, March 20
One of the fundamental concepts in Finance is the notion of “Total” or “Effective” cost of ownership. This is the total cost from purchase to sale of an asset. The importance of this concept is that it shifts focus away from the acquisition cost of an asset such as machinery, computers, etc. an...