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.

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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→

Market Update: Q1 2021

We’re now nearly a full month into 2021, and stocks, bonds, and virtually all other asset classes continue to post excellent returns. The question is…..why? We’re at a point where the market seems to be impervious to bad news. Meanwhile bitcoin and cryptocurrencies continue to post new highs, and college students are even becoming famous for posting their trading strategies on social media. As easy money central bank policies abound across the globe there is a lot of market froth out there. We’re starting to see all the classic signs of a bubble.

Interestingly, equities in small cap and value shares led the pack in the fourth quarter of 2020. This is the first quarter that’s happened for quite a while, but both areas have a lot more ground to cover if they’re to make up for the last decade.

Here’s this quarter’s market update.

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Episode #58: Top Strategies for Tax-Efficient Charitable Giving

The year 2020 has been an extremely challenging year for lots of people, businesses, and organizations. Therefore, this is also a time when charitable organizations may need help from donors more than ever. We dedicated today’s episode to exploring some of the tax-efficient strategies you can use to give to charity in a way that minimizes your tax impact. Stay tuned until the end of the episode, where Grant shares his favorite methods of charitable giving and some tips to optimize your tax benefits related to charitable donations.Continue reading→

Episode #56: Last Minute Retirement Plan: Tips & Tricks for 2020 Procrastinators

At the end of every year, some business owners face situations where they need to set up retirement plans at the last minute due to numerous reasons. We dedicated this episode to reviewing how business owners may overcome this challenge. Over the years, Grant has come up with some strategies and maneuvers that may help you set up retirement plans and make deductible contributions late in the year. Throughout the episode, Grant shares how to implement these strategies in your business.
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Episode #55: Everything You Need to Know About Investing in IPOs

In recent months, IPO investing has been getting a bit of attention as quite a few popular companies such as Airbnb and DoorDash entered the public market this year. We dedicated this episode to exploring what every investor should know about investing in initial public offerings. Throughout the episode, Grant reviews the process of going public, how the IPO markets have changed over the last few decades, and whether we should expect adequate returns from IPO investing.
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