We strongly believe that entrepreneurial activity is the critical engine that drives healthy economies and that has distinguished the economic prosperity that America has enjoyed during all of its most vital economic periods.Kudos, therefore, to independent journalist Sarah Lacy for her interview from last Friday in which she uncovers an important...
Monday, April 28, 2008
Beautiful Growth Companies
We have written before about the fact that the investment management philosophy we have followed for over fifteen years is directly descended from that practiced by the late Mr. Thomas Rowe Price, Jr. (pictured) and the late Mr. Richard C. Taylor.A hallmark of this approach is the emphasis, in the words of Mr. Price, on directing the attention of...
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The current investment climate
We recently published "The Investment Climate, April 2008" in the commentary section of the main Taylor Frigon Capital Management website.Not long ago, we wrote a blog post which described the over-allocation of capital to real estate and mortgage-based areas, much of which was a reaction to the severe market correction of 2000 to 2002. Fueled by...
Monday, April 21, 2008
Brian Wesbury's Excellent Congressional Testimony
Brian Wesbury is a respected economist whose analysis we have learned to value highly over the years.On April 9th, he delivered testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services that gives one of the clearest perspectives on the current economic situation you will find anywhere. Click here to read the entire transcript of Brian's testimony.In...
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Complaining about hedge fund managers and their paychecks
Yesterday, the New York Times ran a much-remarked-upon story entitled "Wall Street Winners Get Billion-Dollar Paydays" in which they suggested, by their tone and choice of quotations, that income inequality poses a hidden danger to the economy.To come up with their story, the Times used an article in a magazine called Institutional Investor's Alpha...
Monday, April 14, 2008
Titanic and the concept of Situational Awareness
April 15th each year not only marks the deadline for income tax returns but also the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and the tragic loss of the lives of over 1,500 passengers and crew (sinking at 2:20am on the 15th, after striking an iceberg less than twenty minutes before midnight on the night of the 14th).It is worth reflecting on the...
Friday, April 11, 2008
Don't be misled by the media's Great Depression quotations
The general media continues to bombard investors with sensational headlines about the slowdown in the economy, such as the quotation from a speech delivered today at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC by Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling.In the beginning of his speech, Darling said: "Today I want to make the case for...
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Stocks and the massive misperception of risk
The past five years saw a massive mis-perception of risk that rapidly came to an end over the last several months.What were seen as good risks by the largest investment banks on Wall Street (companies with control of huge amounts of capital) turned out to be very poor risks indeed.That is as much of the story as most people understand, but if you...
Friday, April 04, 2008
The important section 7520 rate
This month, the section 7520 rate that the IRS uses to value certain charitable interests in trusts is only 3.4%, making this April, May and June a good opportunity for moving assets outside of your taxable estate if it is appropriate for your overall wealth planning situation.The section 7520 rate is very important because most estate planning strategies...
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Have you been adding to your equity strategy?
A few months ago, on January 21st, we published a post entitled "A few lessons from 2002."In it, we noted that during significant corrections in the past, including the bear market of 2000 to 2002 as well as 1981 to 1982, diving three or even more times while testing for a bottom is very common, making it hard to call the actual bottom until afterwards.We...
