Viewpoints

Periodically at Welch Hornsby we want to just share our point of view on things. VIEWPOINTS are a series of white papers on the way we see life in this financial world we live in today. We hope you will enjoy.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS FEBRUARY 2011
Written by Jim Underwood, CFA, Chief Portfolio Strategist
In the preface of the Fourth Edition of Benjamin Graham’s legendary book, The Intelligent Investor, Warren Buffet wrote, “To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ…
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EMOTIONALISM NOVEMBER 2011
Written by Jim Underwood, CFA, Chief Portfolio Strategist
The decision to invest – whether in capacity projects, human capital or investment markets – requires making judgments about the future and often depends on confidence and a level of stability/predictability – two words no one would use to describe the investment landscape during the third quarter…
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RISKY BUSINESS OCTOBER 2011
Written by Jim Underwood, CFA, Chief Portfolio Strategist
The past ten years have been extraordinarily challenging for investors. Investors have endured two of the worst bear markets in history, rapid changes in monetary policy, a real estate boom/bust, a subprime debt crisis and one of the most heinous terrorist attacks in U.S. history. The cumulative impact has been a stock market with many zigs/zags yet minimal net gains…
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COMPROMISE OR POLARIZE AUGUST 2011
Written by Jim Underwood, CFA, Chief Portfolio Strategist
After the market’s close on Friday, August 5, 2011, Standard and Poor’s announced its decision to downgrade its rating on long-term U.S. debt from AAA to AA+, marking the first credit downgrade in U.S. history. This downgrade includes all outstanding U.S. debt with maturities greater than one-year accounting for approximately 72% of the $9.4 trillion in publicly traded U.S. government debt. At this time, the two other primary rating agencies, Fitch and Moody’s, have not decreased their ratings on U.S. government debt, yet both firms have published concerns surrounding U.S. debt levels and unsustainable fiscal deficits…DOWNLOAD PDF WHITE PAPER

MAD MONEY JULY 2011
Written by Jim Underwood, CFA, Chief Portfolio Strategist
Brilliant economists have written thousands of pages surrounding the long-term implications of the ongoing government deficits, soaring debt levels, and extensive monetary/ fiscal stimulus programs, leading to daily debates regarding the timing and magnitude of future inflation/deflation, currency, and interest rate changes. I am neither brilliant nor an economist, but believe I have sufficient understanding of the roles Congress, the U.S. Treasury, and Federal Reserve play in coordinating economic policy…DOWNLOAD PDF WHITE PAPER

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