Welcome to Tom McAllister's blog   Blog #1 (introduction) WHY A BLOG ON "MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS"? By Tom McAllister, CFP®   Every quarter or so, for over thirty years, I've been sharing ideas about the financial markets .... (click for more)   Newsletter: Sign Up ____________________________   Select A Blog Below ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #09-2010          (March 4th, 2010) SNOWBIRD INVESTING - IS IT TIME? By Tom McAllister, CFP®   Now in my fifth winter as a "snowbird" in southwest Florida, I look back to my snowbird "debut" in December, 2005, at precisely the .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #08-2010          (February 25th, 2010) A BLANKET FIDUCIARY STANDARD? IT'S ABOUT TIME! By Tom McAllister, CFP®   You wouldn't know it from the press, but Congress has been working on a few things other than health care, energy, and jobs.  One .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #07-2010          (February 18th, 2010) HOW WE SABOTAGE OUR PORTFOLIOS By Tom McAllister, CFP®   It's not new, by any means, and the wonder is, it keeps happening. Pathetic is the only way to describe investors' self-sabotage .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #06-2010          (February 11th, 2010) IS THIS THE NEW NORMAL? By Tom McAllister, CFP®   I am no longer in daily touch with the institutional investor market to the extent I was in the 1970s as Robert W. Baird’s Indiana manager. .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #05-2010          (February 4th, 2010) Don’t Do This! DO Do That! By Tom McAllister, CFP®   I will never forget the seniors’ retreat I attended at a Catholic Church in Cocoa Beach, Florida a number of years ago.   “Don’t .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #04-2010          (January 28th, 2010) NEW DECADE, NEW/OLD QUESTIONS… By Tom McAllister, CFP®   As we finish the first month of the 120 months of this new decade, I would like to offer my answers to questions at least some people .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #03-2010          (January 21st, 2010) MANAGING EXPECTATIONS AND HERDING CATS By Tom McAllister, CFP®   Expectations (reminiscent of those old saying about the difficulty of herding cats) tend to be difficult to manage. Nowhere .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #02-2010          (January 14th, 2010) SEE MORE SCENERY AND ENHANCE PORTFOLIO INCOME , TOO! By Tom McAllister, CFP®   Whoever coined that wry saying “Unless you're the lead dog, the scenery never changes” might have been referring to stock .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #01-2010          (January 7th, 2010) A FINANCIAL PLANNING CAREER MARKED BY COMMUNICATIONS By Tom McAllister, CFP®   It's a temptation just too difficult to resist - I must begin the new decade (and my 2010 blog series) with some personal reminiscing. .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #49-2009          (December 24th, 2009) OFF INTO THE SUNSET - CONGRESS AT ITS IRRESPONSIBLE WORST By Tom McAllister, CFP®   When I talk of Congress being at its irresponsible worst, you might imagine I'm referring to the Health “Reform” Act, but I'm .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #48-2009          (December 17th, 2009) WHERE DOES THE FED GO FROM HERE? By Tom McAllister, CFP®   Ever since the financial crisis struck the U.S. economy in the fall of 2008, as I pointed out in several earlier blog posts, .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #47-2009          (December 10th, 2009) CURB YOUR APPETITE FOR A FREE LUNCH! By Tom McAllister, CFP®   This blog post comes to you from sunny Florida, world center of the “free lunch and seminar”. With the annual emigration .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #46-2009          (December 3rd, 2009) TOO MUCH ADO ABOUT DUBAI,        TOO LITTLE ABOUT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT By Tom McAllister, CFP®   "Enlightened leadership, a high-quality educational system, a dominant middle class, and a benevolent government combine .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #45-2009          (November 25th, 2009) IS THE TRIED STILL TRUE? By Tom McAllister, CFP®   The world is beginning its recovery from a terrible economic scare. It's time, I think, to examine whether the "tried" is still .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #44-2009          (November 19th, 2009) SCOUNDRELS IN GREEN HATS By Tom McAllister, CFP®   Investing in eco-friendly enterprises has become very popular in recent years. So-called “green investments” are stocks, .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #43-2009          (November 12th, 2009) WHO’S GETTING KILLED BY INCENTIVE OVERKILL? By Tom McAllister, CFP®   The warning has gone out to the “wirehouses”. In a recent letter, SEC chairman Mary L. Schapiro informed broker-dealer .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #42-2009          (November 5th, 2009) OUR PAINT-BY-THE-NUMBERS ECONOMY By Tom McAllister, CFP®   Your doctor’s just declared you’re on the mend, predicting you’ll feel better by next week. Presto! You feel better right now. .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #41-2009          (October 29th, 2009) RECESSION, ALIVE OR DEAD? By Tom McAllister, CFP®   The big economic news is in, echoing what I've been saying in my blog since May, namely - THE RECESSION IS OVER! In fact .... (click for more)   ____________________________   MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS Blog #40-2009          (October 22nd, 2009) PLEASE DON’T PLUCK THE GOLDEN GOOSE! By Tom McAllister, CFP®   I am concerned for the owners of U.S. private businesses – and therefore for the economy in our country. Fresh in my memory is .... (click for more)   ____________________________   Click here for listing of all blogs posted