Nicholas H. Stonnington

Entertainer Kenny Rogers may have inadvertently come up with one of the best pieces of investment advice ever when he sang, “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, know when to run.” We have in this space, in somewhat less colorful language than that […]

Five years ago, I published a piece titled “Animal Spirits,” which addressed the primal aspect of the human psyche that controls our need to survive, and how it impacts the decisions investors make. My point then and now is that, like much of life, investing is about discipline—overriding those psychological instincts such as “fight or […]

Unless you’re in the financial advisory business or some related field, it’s unlikely that “fiduciary” is a word you use regularly. But if you own a business or run one, under the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new “fiduciary rule” for retirement plans, “fiduciary” has taken on a new and expanded significance in the retirement-planning space. […]

One of the most quoted, and often misinterpreted, axioms about investing comes from Sir John Marks Templeton, an immensely influential 20th century American-born British stock investor, who said: “The four most expensive words in the English language are, ‘This time it’s different.’” Investors thought the recent stock market rout signaled a recession. Some worried that […]

The long-protracted wait for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade is over. In December, the Fed did just that, and in doing so created, for those in the bond market, a proverbial double-edged sword: On the one hand, bonds acquired today may provide a higher rate […]

The entire time you work and save for your retirement, say, 30 years, there will be multiple bull markets, multiple recessions and perhaps a dramatic bubble or two. If your retirement lasts a couple of decades, there will be both bull and bear markets, which will create ups and downs in your investment portfolio. While […]