Americans stopped having babies when the financial crisis hit in 2008. I exaggerate, of course; there were nearly 4 million babies born in 2012.  Yet this number was an 8% decline over the pre-crisis level, and this despite a rise in the number of women of peak childbearing age. When you look at the fertility...Read More

Sex. There, I got your attention. I find that when I start an article with the word “demographics,” eyes glaze over.  But when I start the same article with “sex,” the reader snaps to attention.  Funny how that works. Yet in the context of the economy and the financial markets, they are the same thing. ...Read More

Is this past weekend’s Financial Times, Gillian Tett commented that falling fertility rates in Europe threaten government tax revenues. Well, yes, they do.  But not necessarily for the reasons Ms. Tett expects. European fertility rates have been below the replacement rate of 2.1 children born per woman for decades.  The UK and France have hovered near...Read More

Harley-Davidson, Inc. ($HOG) is an American icon.  It’s also a well-managed company and one of those true rarities: a successful turnaround story.  This is a company that was facing bankruptcy in the early 1980s yet managed to rebuild itself into the pride of American manufacturing…and the subject of countless case studies in MBA programs worldwide....Read More

Earlier this week, I wrote that Greece had been downgraded by MSCI from “developed economy” to “emerging market.”  In this video, I dig into the details and explain what this means for investors. The point to take away is that your emerging market ETF or mutual fund may not be invested in the countries you...Read More