Episode #69: Interest Rates Are Rising….Does That Mean You Should Adjust Your Bond Allocation?

The Federal Reserve recently announced that they are going to maintain very low short-term interest rates for bonds over the next couple of years. On the other hand, long-term interest rates seem to be rising in recent weeks. We dedicated this week’s episode to reviewing how a savvy investor may respond to these developments. Throughout the episode, we discuss how bonds work, the risks associated with bonds, interest rates, why bonds are a crucial element of a healthy portfolio, and more. Stay tuned until the end of the episode, where Grant talks about why having non-US-denominated bonds could be beneficial to you.Continue reading→

Episode #68: Dissecting the New Stimulus Checks & Recovery Legislation: The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was signed into law on March 11 to help the United States recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This new legislation includes direct financial payments, extended unemployment benefits, expanded child tax credit, and numerous other provisions. Throughout this episode, Grant reviews several key provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act and what they mean for individuals and businesses.Continue reading→

Episode #67: How & Why to Employ Your Kids In Your Small Business

This week on Grow Money Business we talk about a powerful long-term tax planning opportunity available to business owners. Employing your kids in your business gives you and your kids numerous benefits in terms of taxation and retirement savings. Throughout this episode, Grant dives into what these benefits are, how you can contribute to your kids’ retirement savings, and some tax planning opportunities related to employing your kids.

We’re planning to post another mailbag episode in the next few weeks. If you have specific questions you’d like Grant to answer in an upcoming episode, visit growmoneybusiness.com, and drop your questions in the Mailbag section.Continue reading→

Episode #66: Yes You Do Need an Estate Plan With Tammi Caress

This week on Grow Money Business we have another distinguished guest: Tammi Caress. Tammi is an estate planning attorney, and the founder of Caress Law, P.C.. Throughout the episode, we dive deep into the process of estate planning, why it’s important for any adult to have an estate plan in place, things to consider when selecting what to include in your estate, and what provisions to include in your plan for both while you’re alive and after you pass. Stay tuned until the end of the episode, where Tammy shares some tips & tricks you can use to minimize estate taxes.Continue reading→

Episode #65: My Take on Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency

Last week Bitcoin crossed $58,000 per coin. This extremely volatile digital currency has been becoming increasingly popular and getting more media attention than ever. Despite the scrutiny that comes with popularity, the technologies and concepts involved in Bitcoin are fascinating. We dedicated this episode to diving deep into what cryptocurrencies are, how they work, and whether they could be good investments. Stay tuned until the end of the episode, where Grant explains what you should keep in mind if you have plans to get involved in Bitcoin.Continue reading→

Episode #64: Where to Invest an Extra $50,000 Right Now

With the stock markets going straight up, equities being more expensive, and bonds offering extremely low interest rates, many people seem to be wondering what’s the best way to invest extra cash they have. In today’s episode, Grant dives into some of the best investments you can make at this point, the current status of the market, and whether it’s a good idea to invest in certain asset classes. Stay tuned until the end of the episode, where Grant talks about whether buying Bitcoin is a good idea right now.Continue reading→

Episode #63: Anatomy of a Short Squeeze: GameStop FAQs

With the GameStop incident further escalating we have been getting more questions about the whole situation. So we dedicated this episode to reviewing some of the specific areas related to short a squeeze. In today’s episode Grant dives into how short squeezes work, the controversy around Robinhood’s decision to suspend trading activities, the impact short selling has on our market, whether short selling should be banned, and more.Continue reading→

My Take On Short Selling

Short selling has been in the news quite a bit recently as a result of this whole “meme stock” debacle. With the army of Reddit traders creating short squeezes in GameStop, AMC Theaters, and a few other companies the practice of short selling in general is being questioned.

This is partly because the media is framing this as a David vs. Goliath story. A group of underground Reddit traders bully the big bad hedge funds of the world by creating a short squeeze that sends share prices soaring.

Hooray for the little guy!

This storyline isn’t entirely accurate though. Melvin Capital made a lot of news for being short, but many other professionals and hedge funds made a lot of money benefiting from the short squeeze by being long. There’s a report that Blackrock pulled in $2.4 billion on the trade.

Nevertheless, David vs. Goliath is an easy story for people to get behind. And since it’s easy to root against a villain, short selling is coming under fire because that’s the side Goliath was on.

Short selling as a practice captures the financial spotlight every few years – usually during times of market turbulence. It’s often used as a scapegoat for corrections, which nearly always leads to calls for some type of short selling ban or suspension. That argument doesn’t have much merit, but the discussion attracts strong opinions anyway. Elon Musk, for example, is notoriously in favor of outlawing short selling.

I’ll explain my take on short selling in this post.

Continue reading→

Episode #62: GameStop, Gamma Vortex, and Confirmation Bias

In the past couple of weeks, an exciting and dramatic chain of events has been going on around GameStop Corp., where their stock price skyrocketed in a very short time. GameStop is a video game and gaming merchandise retailer. While they have been performing adequately, GameStop hasn’t come up with fascinating and innovative things in the past couple of years as other growth companies do. For that reason, this stock price surge triggered numerous headlines in the news and rumors and stories in the financial community. In today’s episode, Grant dives into what caused this situation, how things escalated, and whether there’s anything illegal going on. Stay tuned until the end of the episode, where Grant talks about what you should do if you’ve made a bunch of money in GameStop shares or options.Continue reading→

Episode #61: Tax Gain Harvesting: What, Why, and How

Tax gain harvesting is a strategy of selling investment assets at a gain and paying tax at that point as opposed to waiting and paying the tax later. Depending on your income and how your income may fluctuate in the future, there might be situations where it makes sense to take advantage of tax gain harvesting. Throughout today’s episode, Grant reviews how tax gain harvesting works, when it may be and may not be a good idea, and what you should consider before deciding whether tax gain harvesting might be beneficial in your specific scenario.Continue reading→