Politics Archives - DidoSphere

America, a paper tiger?

July 6, 2017 – Is America a paper tiger? After this weekend’s launch of what the world thinks was an ICBM by North Korea, many political pundits continue to debate what the USA can do in the face of these bold threats from Kim Jong Un. Many of these political commentators have advocated assassination of the leader of this rogue nation. This is a ridiculous “non-solution”. What will replace the young leader if he were to disappear on the face of the earth could be even worse. The fact is that a nuclear weapon is a game changer. A nation with nuclear weapons becomes almost untouchable. One country that threatens a world power will be in imminent danger of being wiped out, but not if they possess a nuclear weapon.

Other solutions that politicians have put forward are, giving nuclear weapons to Japan and South Korea and twisting China’s arm to reign in the rogue nation. The idea of giving nuclear bombs to Japan and South Korea was first advocated by ultra conservative talk show host Mark Levin. This will not deter North Korea from threatening the USA and its democratic neighbors. Don’t expect much help from China either. They do not want a democratic nation on their southern border. They prefer a buffer zone between them and a prosperous democratic nation such as South Korea. Nikki Haley, our UN envoy just said today that the U.S. is prepared to use force against N. Korea if necessary. But what? What can America do? I hope Gen. Mattis knows a way of disabling hundreds of missiles pointed at Seoul which is only 35 miles from the DMZ. Even if we succeed in doing this, and even if we take out their nuclear program in the process, our success would be short lived since it would be the start of something really bad with China and Russia. If this comes true, in the aftermath, maybe we can bribe China by letting them have all the contested islands in the South China Sea. How about Russia? Well, let’s give Putin and his family a lifetime supply of Grey Goose and just for himself, give him free access to the Mustang Ranch.

FELLOW WRITERS, DON’T USE BIG WORDS!

Fellow writers, don’t use big words!

May 16, 2017 – Fellow writers, don’t use big words! As a man of the world, I have worn many hats over the years. I have been a political pundit, fisherman, tourist guide, financial advisor, poet and an occasional writer. But today for writing this article I am wearing my reader’s hat.

I hate it when writers use big words. If you are what you eat, I must be plain vanilla. And if you are what you read, I must be nursery rhymes. For me, the simpler the better. I do not like beating my brains out trying to find out what the writer means. Every human being has an inborn desire to be heard through what they say and write. Letting others know what’s on our mind is a basic human desire and it is a wonderful feeling when we are understood. So what is the point of writing something that only you can understand?

“Missiles of ligneous or oterous consistency have the potential of fracturing my osceous structure, but appellations will eternally remain innocuous. “

What?! It sounds good, but what the heck does it mean? Who is the author trying to impress? A reader is like a woman ready to be pursued, wined and dined. I would like to be seduced by a writer through the use of seductive words and phrases in a language I can understand not in some foreign language.

“Judgment of any system, or a priori relationship or phenomenon exists in an irrational, or metaphysical, or at least epistemological contradiction to an abstract empirical concept such as being, or to be, or to occur in the thing itself, or of the thing itself.”

The words of the above quotation are English but they might as well be Greek. I have no idea what the sentence means. Colleagues, write in such a way as if you are painting a clear and simple picture. Do not create an abstract painting. Write simply, clearly and concisely so that your writings are not open for interpretation. Write in grade level 10 or lower if you can. The lower the level, the better writer you are. The Wall Street Journal is written in Grade 12 level while the New York Times in Grade 10 and the New York Daily News in Grade 8. Do not include words that are superfluous and unnecessary or you might just fog up what you are trying to say. In fact there is a term called “Fog Index” which includes a formula to measure readability and comprehension of a certain text and to determine what formal education is needed to understand such text.

“From a negative light, “Politics” has the horrifying stigma associated with the vile and stealthy manipulation of others for the benefit of a selfish gain masked in fake promises.

It is because of nescience, the lack of knowledge, or the perversion thereof that we position “politics” in the realm of the taboo and elevates “values” into the pedestal of sanctity. And will values be that asymptotic horizon that lies beyond the grasp of the average?”

I am sure the author of the above group of sentences has something worthy to say. But his message is lost in the fog, and at least for me I got a headache just reading the text. To try to interpret the passages might give me agita so I gave up. The writer no doubt is well educated and I am sure he knows what he means. But he fails to realize that readers who did not attain the same level of education he did will need a dictionary to get through the agonizing process of reading his work to the end. Perhaps the writer wants to elevate the reader’s comprehension to his level and help his readers build a better vocabulary, but a column in a magazine is not the proper forum to do it. Reading a piece should be an informative and entertaining experience and should not be as if the reader is going through a creative writing exam. There are professor-type writers who are sincere in their desire to impart their knowledge. But there are also vanity writers, charlatans and timewasters who think big words will help boost their reputation as a writer to the detriment of comprehension. Hey, I can do that too. I can write “a farrago of footlers” instead of “a bunch of lazy people”. But why? My job as a writer is to keep my reader interested and engaged. If I cannot do that I do not deserve to write.

So my message to the writer who uses big words, and with all due respect: It is not too late to change but you’re not getting any younger. And my advice to you, again with all due respect, in the eloquent words of an anonymous college professor is:

“In promulgating your esoteric cogitations, or articulating your superficial sentimentalities and amicable, philosophical or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity. Let your oral and written communications possess a clarified conciseness, a compact comprehensibleness, coalescent consistency, and a concatenated cogency. Eschew all conglomerations of flatulent garrulity, jejune babblement and asinine affectations. Let your extemporaneous descantings and unpremeditated expatiations have intelligibility and veracious vivacity, without rodomontade or thrasonical bombast. Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pompous prolixity, setaceous vacuity, ventriloquial verbosity and vaniloquent vapidity. Shun double-entendres, prurient pscosity, and pestiferous profanity, obscurant or apparent.”

In other words, say or write what you mean and DON’T USE BIG WORDS!

01/10/2017 – When will the Trump bubble burst?

Dear Readers,

The Dow is really trying to surge through the resistance level of 20,000. It may do it this week or there may be a 5-20% correction before breaking through that resistance level. Many stock market experts have turned bearish pointing to the longevity of this bull market, overvalued stocks, Trump’s tweeting habits and what many political pundits consider as dangerous casual comments about serious global problems such as US, Russian relations and North Korea’s threat to continue to develop nuclear weapons capable of reaching parts of the USA. Trump’s reply in a tweet, “it won’t happen”, is considered by many as proof of Trump’s lack of experience in dealing with global matters. Many investors are poised to bail out of stocks before inauguration day. Many stock market experts and some respected economists are even predicting a recession this year. Most investors will stay and weather the bumpy ride through the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. There will be wild fluctuations but I predict there WILL NOT be a recession in 2017. Be reminded that in general, stocks will lose 30% to 60% of their value during the bear market that follows a recession. When will it happen? When should you get out of the stock market? Read my exit strategy in, “DidoSphere LIVING RICH AND LOVING IT”.

Don’t mix investing with politics

November 22, 2016

As of today’s closing, all the U.S. stock market major indices reached record highs. The Dow closed above the resistance level of 19,000. In the short run, the stock market will not have a “stairway to heaven” type of climb. I guarantee there will be dips at the slightest whiff of any bad news. Remember the first quarter of this year when the price of crude dipped below $35 per barrel? Moreover, there will be profit taking by the Gnomes of Wall Street.

The new resistance level we are looking for on the Dow is 19,500. There may be a 10% correction before reaching this resistance level. The climate has suddenly changed with the election of Trump. The Gnomes of Wall Street, or perhaps we should call them the shepherds leading the flock suddenly decided that a Trump presidency is good for the economy. Does anyone even remember that the Dow futures were 800 points down on election night as Trump started winning the battleground states one by one? What was that all about? Even though the market opened higher on the day after Election Day, my friend Jake got out of the market as soon as it opened at 9:30, Wednesday morning and put his entire portfolio into a money market fund. He voted for Hillary and was afraid that Trump’s victory would precipitate a global equity sell-off because he believed that Trump is an unpredictable, unstable and unqualified leader who’s the laughing stock of the whole world. Even after the Dow gained 1,000 points, my friend Jake is still out of the stock market. He told me last night he “cannot believe why the market keeps going up”. Don’t mix investing with politics, folks. Happy thanksgiving!!

Most Economic Indicators Pointing Upwards

It has only been over a week since the voters elected Trump and housing starts are up, unemployment claims have been the lowest since the great recession, retail sales look strong, corporate profits are up, the Dow gained more than 5% since the election. Happy days are here again? We’ll see. The uncertainty of the US elections kept the stock market stagnant for almost a year. So this is a post-election bump that still has legs. Trump’s pro-business policies of curtailing government regulations, lowering corporate, capital gains and foreign earnings taxes are meeting with great enthusiasm from the gnomes of Wall Street. Look for a correction around Dow 19,500. The correction could be 5-10%. Follow this blog so we may discuss the possibilities.

After the dust settled…

Wednesday morning after Election 2016, the 1,000 point drop in the Dow that many so-called experts predicted as they were watching Trump beat Clinton one battle ground state after another did not happen after all. In fact stocks are not only in the positive territory at noontime eastern standard time but had healthy gains of 1-1.5%. Still Myles Udland, a financial writer for Yahoo Finance says, “…don’t mistake Wednesday’s rally for an “all clear” sign from markets. The unknowns around any new presidency are considerable, and perhaps no recent administration presents more question marks for investors than a Trump White House”. Adam Parker, a strategist at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday that, “We are more bearish today than we were yesterday because of increased uncertainty.”

Frankly, I am tired of listening to these geniuses and shame to investors who blindly listen to them. These are the same type of geniuses who led investors on the wrong path in 2008. After investors lost 50% of their savings during the bear market that followed the great recession, these geniuses told them to get out of stocks.

Go ahead, listen to Udland and Parker. Get out of the stock market now and you’ll be sorry. I say this because Trump’s fiscal policy is pro-growth. Low taxes, less government regulations, repatriation of foreign profits, possible repeal of Obamacare, infrastructure investments, etc. Of course I am concerned about a few uncertainties such as Trump’s promise to replace Janet Yellen whom I think is doing a great job and protectionism but I don’t think Trump would act recklessly with regard to these two concerns. He has VP Pence and other technocrats to hold his hands. So when will the stock market crash? We will exchange thoughts and ideas. Follow this blog and learn.

Elections & the Stock Market, What Me Worry?

If you have been following my articles, you know too well that I am a fiscal conservative. I had been tough on President Obama from the time he took office but I must admit that I made a lot money since 2009. Many of my readers have written me emails asking how the stock market will react if Hillary wins, if Trump wins. First of all I agree with Larry Kudlow that in the short run Trump’s tax plan of reducing individual, corporate and capital gains taxes is good for the economy and for stocks as was proven by JFK, Reagan and Bill Clinton. Reducing tax on foreign capital is also great for the economy because repatriation of foreign earnings is money that will find its way into the stock market. Folks, remember my example on the basics of the law of supply and demand which is again repeated below:

Imagine you are 1 of the 5 remaining finalists on the CBS show SURVIVOR. You have not eaten any solid food in 5 days. Jeff Probst, the host brings out a slice of pizza and gives each person $100. He asks the players to bid an amount for the slice of pizza and the highest bidder wins. Since there is only one slice, it is safe to say that each player would scramble to bid $100 for that single slice even though that slice normally costs only $2 in any fast food court because once that slice of pizza is gone, it’s gone. What if there are 6 or 7 slices? What if there are 20 slices? Then the bidders will not have to bid so much because there are more than enough slices to go around. Everyone can get a slice even with a low ball offer.

How does this relate to the stock market? Well, if billions of dollars keep entering the U.S. economy, where will it go? Investments, new business ventures, real estate and yes the stock market. Very little of it will go into treasuries, due to low interest and some of it will go into bonds. But a great amount of it will find its way into the stock market. Having said that, the polls indicate Hillary will win. Hillary’s plan to increase taxes on those earning over $250,000 and increase tax on corporations from 34% to perhaps 40-50% and reduce estate tax exemption from $5 Million to $3.5 Million will have a negative effect on the economy in the short run. In the long run, economists have long argued whether or not more money in the hands of the private sector is really better than more government spending. Will $100 million in the hands of the board of directors of Procter and Gamble really be better than giving it to welfare recipients? Procter and Gamble would probably invest the money on new equipment, increase hiring, salaries and bonuses and the recipients will spend the money thereby putting more money into the economy. Welfare recipients would probably spend the money on food and household necessities thereby putting more money into the economy. Your thoughts.

Stock Market Investors, Fasten your Seatbelts

As of this writing, all of the major market averages have been declining significantly. The Dow Jones Industrial Averages (DOW) is down 400 points, NASDAQ, 90 points and the S&P 500, 45 points. If you read the headlines right after Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before the Senate Banking Committee today, July 21, 2010, you would think the world is coming to an end. AP prints, “STOCKS FALL SHARPLY...” while Reuters states, “OUTLOOK UNUSUALLY UNCERTAIN….” The fact is that a sluggish economy will benefit smart investors. Smart investors do not act solely on emotion and fear because they are savvy enough to know that harbingers of gloom and doom who write about the stock market, the economy and investments know just as much as Mr. Adam Monk, the stock-picking monkey who reportedly made a lot of money for those who followed his picks. Gloom and doomers quickly reverse themselves the moment the wind changes direction. It is like following the herd which is not hard to do.

The fact is that a sluggish economy will keep inflation and interest rates low making it easier for consumers to purchase. Prices of goods especially large ticket items such as automobiles, home appliances, furniture and computers will be kept in check. The price of real estate had been rolled back to a decade ago in many areas of the country. This, coupled with low mortgage rates should encourage first time homebuyers and real estate investors alike to snap up bargains. A sluggish recovery will put more pressure on this administration to rethink its goal of increasing taxes. A sluggish recovery would prove to this administration that taxing the rich and increasing entitlements is not the way to economic recovery and prosperity. A sluggish recovery means the consumer is not spending as much, as expected in a typical expansion. Hence, the consumer has more money to pay down his debt and to increase his savings. He is poised to spend. He may go out on a spending spree at the onset of any type of good news because in our culture, in a free market society, the consumer has an inherent need to keep up with the Joneses. Another important factor is that many businesses are reporting record profits but are reluctant to invest and hire due to uncertainty about taxes, Europe’s debt crisis and more government regulations. When the uncertainty goes away, the recovery may catch fire quickly and may even overheat. The European bank stress test results to be disclosed this Friday, July 22 may add to more uncertainty which may cause investors to dump stocks. But the savvy investor can look beyond the horizon.

Geithner and Bernanke know what is going on with the economy and they have the power to change things. Bernanke told lawmakers today, "If the recovery seems to be faltering, we have to at least review our options, but no further action is planned for now because the economy is still growing”. Geithner has the power to counsel President Obama with regard to taxes and he must have told Obama that the private sector does not like tax increases. I predict that this administration will take appropriate action if signs point to another recession which President Obama will have to own. He will not let this fragile recovery slide back into a recession because that would most likely seal his fate as a one-term president. To me, fixing this economy is as simple as following what JFK, Reagan and Clinton did, and that was to reduce corporate and capital gains taxes. Obama may be compelled to follow the same route if the economy appears to be sliding back into a recession and once again, that would be good for investors.

If this recovery continues to be sluggish but does not fall back into a recession, stock prices will continue to rise even though they may turn sideways some days and drop halfway to the floor other days. Yes stocks will rise and fall but they will not sink to recession level prices unless there is another recession. Economics 101 and plain common sense.

This article is not intended to provide financial advice. Please consult your financial advisor before acting on any advice provided herein.

Any opinions and views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the writer.

QE2 = Printing Money

Just as gay no longer means happy, QE2 no longer means Queen Elizabeth II. Lately, the business world has been using the term QE2 a lot. QE2 is short for the second round of the United States Federal Reserve’s (“Fed”) Quantitative Easing (“QE”). This second round of QE is estimated to total $600 billion. The first QE which was spaced out over one year, between 2008 and 2009 totaled almost $2 trillion.

Bloomberg News reports that the average person does not understand the function of the Federal Reserve. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that QE is even less understood by the average person. It is my goal to unravel the mystery of QE in this article. To simplify, QE is another term for “printing money”. The Fed, which is the Central Bank of the United States, regulates the amount of money in the economy by selling and buying bonds and by increasing and decreasing interest rates to member banks. The Fed has several ways of printing money. It can issue Treasuries, i.e. notes, bills and bonds and it can also just credit itself as in this case of Quantitative Easing. The Fed simply credited its balance sheet for the amount it needs to buy bonds from banks and other financial institutions. The assets the Fed will buy with the money it credited itself are not limited to government bonds but are expanded to include mortgage backed securities and corporate bonds. The Fed’s objective is to stimulate the economy by encouraging lending. Reducing interest rates to almost nil has not worked to stimulate lending so this is the last resort for the Fed. When the Fed buys idle assets such as treasury and corporate bonds, the banks and financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs receive liquid assets on their balance sheets in exchange for idle assets thus increasing the amount of cash at their disposal. The Fed is hoping that the banks would ease up on lending and lend this new found cash to businesses and individuals. The assumption is that businesses that can borrow would use the money to increase capital investments, expand operations and hire more workers. For the banks to profit on QE, the newly found cash will have to be invested somewhere, i.e. by lending it to credit worthy borrowers or by putting the money in other investments such as into the stock market. This is the main reason of the sudden surge in equity prices at Bernanke’s announcement of QE2. The Dow Jones Industrial Averages (DJIA) increased by 11% since August in anticipation of the announcement which happened in early November.

QE2, a.k.a. “printing money”, a.k.a. “expansion of the money supply” will reduce the value of the dollar. This is basic Economics; The Law of Supply and Demand. The dollar has been losing value against major currencies since the announcement of QE2. Increasing the money supply will also increase inflation. The word “inflation” is just as mysterious to most people as any economics term although it is one of the most overused words today. To simplify what it means, imagine you are 1 of the 5 remaining finalists on the CBS show SURVIVOR. You have not eaten any solid food in 5 days. Jeff Probst, the host brings out a slice of pizza and gives each person $100. He asks the players to bid an amount for the slice of pizza and the highest bidder wins. Since there is only one slice, it is safe to say that each player would scramble to bid $100 for that single slice even though that slice normally costs only $2 in any fast food court, because once that slice of pizza is gone, it’s gone. What if there are 6 or 7 slices? What if there are 20 slices? Then the bidders will not have to bid so much because there are more than enough slices to go around. Everyone can get a slice even with a low ball offer. Let us get back to the single slice example but add quantitative easing to the scenario. 5 players have $100 each to buy up a single slice of pizza but you just happen to have a checkbook in your back pocket. Every player bids $100 but you hand over $100 cash and a $100 check. You get the slice of pizza. That my friends is how QE works. With your checkbook in hand, you are the Fed.

The Fed is hoping to stimulate the sluggish economy with its QE2 move but many economists think that the move may only spur inflation, not the growth needed to reduce the high rate of unemployment. Officials of other countries including China, Brazil and the EU were quick to criticize Bernanke’s move arguing that QE2 only serves to promote currency wars. After all, Japan’s decade long QE did not work, why should it work here? A cheap dollar is not good for foreign exporters of goods into the United States because their products become more expensive for Americans which causes higher inflation. I am of the opinion that QE2 is not a good idea. QE1 was necessary to restore stability to the banking system but I find this second round of QE as an arrogant and a largely political move. Arrogant because Fed’s Chairman Bernanke knows that the dollar is the global reserve currency so the printing of money can be done without bankrupting the dollar. Political because President Obama’s popularity will keep plunging unless the 9.6% unemployment rate is reduced. The Fed’s QE2 move seems to be calculated to substantially reduce unemployment before the next presidential campaign goes into full swing.

Finally for investors, be cautious. If you are invested in the stock market, watch the market carefully. This newly printed money will be looking for a home. Some of it will inevitably find its way into the stock market driving equity prices up. The “feel good effect” of seeing your investment or retirement account go up in value may indeed spur an increase in your consumption pattern contributing to the growth in GDP but this “feel good effect” is not a long term condition. This intervention in an economy that is slowly but surely on the way to recovery is unjustified. It may lead to the next bubble burst.

This article is not intended to provide financial advice. Please consult your financial advisor before acting on any advice provided herein.

Any opinions and views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the writer.

10% Unemployment not enough to derail recovery

When I wrote my article entitled “SLUGGISH RECOVERY, GOOD FOR INVESTORS” in July before I went on my summer vacation, many “gloom and doomers” thought I was crazy. In fact I was bold enough to predict an 11,300 Dow for the end of September. That was on July 21 when the DJIA closed at 10,120. We are not quite at 11,300 yet but the DOW closed up at 10,860 last Friday, September 24, 2010.

The direction of the market is really not hard to predict. Now that the NBER has ruled out a double dip recession, stock prices will keep going up unless there is a new recession. Yes there will be days when stocks will go up, down and sideways but investors will continue to be bullish if the economy is still expanding. 1% to 2% GDP growth is good enough to continue an upward trend in stock prices. This statement is easily proven. In the beginning of the year, many economists predicted the economy to grow 4% to 5% this year. The projection had been revised downward several times and stocks tumbled each time the lower projection was announced. The knee jerk reaction of investors is to dump equities in favor of bonds and tangible assets upon hearing a lower growth rate. Then investors become accustomed to the sluggish growth, after which they start buying stocks again. The bullish trend will not stop unless there is another recession. Even if there is negative growth in one month, 2 months or even in an entire quarter if the economy recovers again in subsequent months to show growth in GDP, the market will come back. There will be fluctuations and corrections in the market but the sophisticated investor will remain invested in equities unless signs point to another recession. At the risk of repeating myself, commodity prices are up, corporate profits are up, many publicly held corporations including numerous financial institutions have resumed paying dividends because of their huge profits, many publicly traded stocks of companies in a wide assortment of industries have hit a 52-week high. These are not signs that there is another recession just around the corner. Another proof is that inflation is back. It means that the deflationary period is gone and the economy is starting to heat up again. Foreclosures are up and housing starts are down, but this is a normal cycle after homeowners enjoyed double digit increases in home prices for many years.

The not so rosy sector of the economy is the high unemployment rate. 1% to 2% GDP growth will only make a small dent in the unemployment. We need 8% GDP growth like in the Reagan expansion years to reduce unemployment to 5%. Many economists are of the opinion that the reason for the high unemployment rate is the reluctance of small businesses to invest and expand because of the uncertainty in taxes and new regulations. I disagree with their opinion. In a free market economy like ours, the desire to make money is so intense and the chance of success is so high compared to a government controlled economy that most smart entrepreneurs will not postpone their plan for growth and expansion just because of regulations and a few percentage increase in taxes. However, I agree with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc) that keeping the Bush Tax Cuts and reducing spending will accelerate business investments. Paul Ryan who is a ranking member of the Congressional Budget Committee and Ways and Means Committee is a Reagan conservative who is touted as a rising star in the Republican Party and possible nominee for the 2012 presidential election.

Now that the “great recession” is over, it is wise to review what caused it. The NBER, a historical recorder of past events declares the recession started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. The “great recession” was caused by the consumer who stopped spending, caused by worries of the stability of the banking and financial system, caused by massive default of derivatives issued by the financial institutions, caused by the housing bubble burst, caused by massive default of homeowners in payment of their mortgages, caused by increase in mortgage rates and high fuel prices. What could be so simple?

I went to a party last Saturday night. The state of the economy became the dominant subject of conversation because many of the guests were sophisticated entrepreneurs and economists. I found that the adage “ask 10 economists a question and you will get 10 different answers” is really true. Most of them disagreed on the state of the economy and how to “fix” the nation’s economic problems. However, the wife of the CEO of a popular restaurant chain offered her solution in the form of a question in between sips of mimosa. She asked “why doesn’t Obama give every American citizen, man, woman, child $100,000 each? If the population of America is now 350 million, wouldn’t one hundred thousand dollars for each person cost much less than the new stimulus of 50 billion dollars the Obama administration had been dangling about? “It suddenly became quite, although some of the party goers dismissed “her solution” with some condescending remarks. I quickly excused myself, went to the men’s room, locked myself inside a stall and pulled my new iPhone which has a calculator. Lo and behold, $100,000 x 350 million is indeed $35 billion…less than the $50 billion Obama stimulus package. When I came out of the men’s room I was surprised that most of the guests continued to discuss and debate her solution. A CFO of an oil refining company said her idea is great because those who deserve the money will find a way to legally take the money away from those who do not deserve it. To me, the idea of this lady, a trophy wife who is relegated to ribbon cutting ceremonies and home decorating made as much sense as ideas from her husband and the other guests.

This article is not intended to provide financial advice. Please consult your financial advisor before acting on any advice provided herein. Any opinions and views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the writer