http://www.hardyreed.com/blogBlog Updatesen-us“Buy bonds, they’re safe.” “You can’t get safer than bonds.” “If you hold them to maturity they will always pay back your interest and principal.” “You just saw what happens when you take stock market risk, you get burned. That kind of thing doesn’t...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116474Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:29:00 ZI don't really like doing things just because everyone else is doing it. But I just can't help it. I feel this great responsibility for this January 1st column to give you some fodder for your New Year's Resolution. Almost everyone makes New...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116428Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:08:00 ZToday I was doing my part to stimulate the economy by Christmas shopping. That’s not totally accurate. I was Christmas waiting. My wife and one of my children were actually doing the shopping. They would acknowledge me occasionally for...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116471Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:52:00 ZWhen I began in the financial industry twenty-seven years ago, it was easy to make the case for having a financial advisor. You didn’t have much of a choice. In the 1980’s we held the keys to the gate. Back then it was almost impossible to invest...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116470Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:41:00 Z Occupy Wall Street. Most of you should have heard of this movement by now. It is a protest that began in Liberty Square in the Wall Street section of New York City on September 17th and has grown to include over 100 different cities across the...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=115986Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:14:00 ZAmidst all of the negative news that continues to abound in the financial world, I have also heard investors who are having a change of heart; investors who are beginning to view the equity markets with optimism instead of pessimism. Is it the...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116469Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:24:00 Z“Don’t just do something; Stand there!” It’s the opposite of what your mother said to you hundreds of times while you were growing up. That’s why I had to read it twice before I got the point in an article I was reading a few weeks ago. I do not...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116446Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:01:00 ZI spent a couple of hours this morning listening to Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chairman, testify to Congress. Testifying to Congress sounds like a big deal but Bernanke does it all the time. Nevertheless, it does give us a glimpse into the...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116430Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:49:00 ZLast week I wrote about not spending time worrying about things you can’t control. I was surprised by the response to that column. Obviously there are a lot of people out there that are worried about things they can’t control and wish that they...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116429Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:38:00 ZI am writing my column from Colorado this week. Our family tries to get away for a week every other year or so with my siblings and my dad. One of my siblings has a cabin in Colorado and he invited us to spend a long weekend there. Lex is my...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116478Thu, 19 May 2011 20:10:00 ZI have said this before, but I am fascinated by how people make decisions. Decisions have a great impact on every part of your life, which includes your investment goals. I am always looking for real life experiences that people can relate to that...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116477Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:00:00 ZI have been writing a financial column for a long time; somewhere around seventeen years or so. It’s not unusual for people to ask me what I think about other financial columnists. I must admit that I don’t read most of their columns and am...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116476Wed, 13 Apr 2011 19:53:00 Z Author’s Note – As happens with columnists from time to time, especially in fields that can be a bit time sensitive, you always take the chance of having things change between the time you write your column and the time that it is published. I...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116475Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:46:00 Z “The economy isn’t growing as fast as we would like.” I heard that statement on the news this week. Really? I mean…Really? Weren’t these the same people that were saying just two years ago that we were likely to go down to 350 on the S&P 500 and...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=115988Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:21:00 Z“Buy bonds, they’re safe.” “You can’t get safer than bonds.” “If you hold them to maturity they will always pay back your interest and principal.” “You just saw what happens when you take stock market risk, you get burned. That kind of thing doesn’t...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=115989Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:35:00 ZWe have barely gotten through one of the biggest events in my lifetime. I am still a bit overwhelmed. When I see people around town they seem to be trying to figure out what to do next. They seem confused by this new world. Everything looks...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116473Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:20:00 ZI hear you talking. I know what you are saying. And it makes sense. Anyone who says it doesn’t make sense isn’t being realistic. The market has had a heck of a run. With only two trading days left in the year 2010 as I write this column, the Dow...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=115990Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:42:00 ZTim Coker brought the Millsap’s Chamber Singers to my church last Sunday. Tim has directed the Millsap’s Choral Program for quite some time and it is a real treat to hear them perform. Tim and his wife, Cheryl, are a State treasure. I can’t imagine...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=115991Wed, 24 Nov 2010 21:49:00 ZMy sister-in-law is getting married this weekend. The wedding should be a lovely affair. Outdoors in the Northwest in October. I like the guy she’s marrying, not that it would matter that much. They didn’t consult me before they got engaged,...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=115993Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:57:00 ZEveryone has mentors in their lives. I have had a few. Some have been teachers, some business leaders, but most have been coaches. Coaches have a significant impact on the lives of those they coach. They can be the best or the worst of your childhood...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=115994Wed, 29 Sep 2010 21:02:00 ZI have been watching the US Open Tennis Tournament this week. I watch it every year. I have played tennis since I was old enough to remember, maybe earlier than that. I dreamed as a kid of playing in the US Open...ok, I admit I still dream of playing...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=115995Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:08:00 ZStrategic versus Tactical investing. What are they and which one should I be using in my portfolio? If you haven’t thought about this it doesn’t mean that you don’t use one or the other, it may just mean that you don’t know which one you are using....http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=115996Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:16:00 ZMy cousin bugged me for a year or more to watch the television show “House”. I thought the name of the show, “House”, was kind of dumb and I refused to watch on principle. I also felt like that I just didn’t have any more room in my life for watching...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=115998Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:22:00 ZI have been thinking about correlation, or the lack thereof, a lot lately. Correlation is a very important part of how I invest. When I create a portfolio of investments for a client the first thing I do is pick the different asset classes that I...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116000Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:31:00 ZI wrote a column back in the late 1990’s about the effects of the rescission of the Glass- Steagall Act. I know that doesn’t sound very interesting and that you are probably not kicking yourself for your lack of memory in regards to its content....http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116002Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:37:00 ZIt seems to me that to be good in the investment business you just can’t think straight. Thinking straight will get you in trouble every time. Now I didn’t say think smart, I said think straight. Thinking straight to me means thinking in a straight...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116005Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:42:00 ZI am just finishing Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book, “Too Big to Fail”. It is touted as the “Inside story of how Wall Street and Washington fought to save the financial system…and themselves.” I almost decided to skip reading the book. I thought that it...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116017Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:52:00 ZWith all due respect to John Grisham, his fictional characters, the unlikely situations in which they find themselves, and the evil that lurks inside the corporate legal system in his novels, is no less compelling a story than the story of Goldman...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116018Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:56:00 ZI was at home minding my own business. I had the Today Show on in the background as my children were getting ready for school. For some reason they like the Today Show better than CNBC, which works for me because I like it better than the Disney...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116019Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:03:00 ZMy family went to Washington for Spring Break this year; the nation’s Capital, not the State. I wanted to show them our government at work and I wanted them to experience the history through our monuments and our museums. It is a trip worth taking,...http://www.hardyreed.com/default.aspx?p=69833&beid=116020Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:09:00 Z