Money Matter$

Adam always seems to be tweaking his investment method madness. Recently he decided to simplify his clients’ pie charts to only three slices (asset classes) to allow for increased opportunistic monetary benefits. Say what? Imagine you are a caterer. You provide a menu for a mid-summer event, and dessert is listed as BAKED PIE. How vague, right? How lame, right? Au contraire! At event time, you will choose the very best of the season. Fruits at their peak ripeness! Locavore pies! Wonderful, bursting-with-flavor summer pies! If tree fruits are not in season, then you will go with berries.

Hey, it’s January and the holiday spending season is over, but let’s talk shopping! And specifically: shopping at home. What fun! Especially for retirees. You are probably visualizing lounging in jammies, bottomless mug of decaf in hand, perusing QVC, Amazon, The Shopping Channel, and eBay, just to name a few. Well, no. Sorry. In true New Year’s Resolution spirit, I say, it is time to get serious, and tighten that money belt!

Most of us have heard the predictions. Crude oil is a finite resource and the world is running out. Oil plays a role in everything we consume, and the price influences the cost of any product. Consider an example of a box of cereal, Corn Flakes. Let’s start at the farm where the corn is grown: