NorthStar Capital AdvisorsNorthStar Capital AdvisorsNorthStar Capital AdvisorsNorthStar Capital Advisors
Start Here
  • How We Help
  • Who We Serve
  • Who We Are
  • Fiduciary
  • Learning
  • Start Here
  • How We Help
  • Who We Serve
  • Who We Are
  • Fiduciary
  • Learning
  • Start Here

What Buffett Wouldn’t Do and You Shouldn’t Either

  • February 25, 2016/
  • Posted By : admin/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : Seeking Prudent Advice, Uncategorised

Warren Buffett

People often look to Warren Buffett, one of the greatest investors of all time, for guidance what to do.  But what about the opposite?  The Oracle of Omaha has a great list of “no-goes” enumerated in a recent Bloomberg article:

Investing:

  • Don’t be too fixated on daily moves in the stock market (from Berkshire letter published in 2014)
  • Don’t get excited about your investment gains when the market is climbing (1996)
  • Don’t be distracted by macroeconomic forecasts (2004)
  • Don’t limit yourself to just one industry (2008)
  • Don’t get taken by formulas (2009)
  • Don’t be short on cash when you need it most (2010)
  • Don’t wager against the U.S. and its economic potential (2015)

Management:

  • Don’t beat yourself up over wrong decisions; take responsibility for them (2001)
  • Don’t have mandatory retirement ages (1992)
  • “Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut” because the answer will be what’s best for the man with the scissors (1983)
  • Don’t dawdle (2006)
  • Don’t interfere with great managers (1994)
  • Don’t succumb to the attitudes that undermine businesses (2015)
  • Don’t be greedy about compensation, if you’re my successor (2015)

Source: Bloomberg


Re-sizing U.S. Counties Based on Local Economies

  • February 18, 2016/
  • Posted By : admin/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : Economy

When you look across the globe, 54% of the world population is city dwellers and 80% of economic activity occurs in cities.  Cities are engines of growth that leverage networks and economies of scale to create “economies of agglomeration”.

Max Galka has created a great visualization of the metro economic impact across the United States.  In these cartograms, the size of each county is distorted to reflect its relative economic contribution to GDP. (It’s great to see our home-town favorite, the Charlotte Metro Region, holding it own between Greater Atlanta and Greater D.C. !)

U.S. Map Re-sized Based on Local GDP Contributions

usa-gdp-cartogram

Here’s a static frame that shows the heft of the 10 largest U.S. metro regions by GDP.  Greater New York City at $1.5 trillion GDP is as big as Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. combined!

us-metro-area-gdpSource: Visual Capitalist


Don’t Mix Your Politics and Your Investments

  • February 11, 2016/
  • Posted By : admin/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : Behavior, Best Practices, Scams & Schemes

money-in-politicsSalespeople and product-sales organizations are very astute at selling during political stress.  They usually find a hook to sell their products…products that in most cases are not really in your best interest.

As Mike Piper points out in the Oblivious Investor, fear is a powerful sales tool.  Salespeople exploit a person’s political views to instill fear and ultimately sell undesirable financial products. Those products are not only intrinsically bad, they come with a huge cost.

The pitch goes something like this,

  1. [Political event X] just happened or is likely to happen.
  2. As a result, the economy will take a nosedive.
  3. You should buy my product to protect yourself.

This strategy is popular because it appeals to people of vastly different political views.  To lure in investors with left-leaning views, the pitch evokes a narrative that the markets are rigged by the financial elite.  To draw in the right end of the spectrum, the pitch emphasizes over taxation, over regulation, or excess government spending.

The technique is also popular because it can be used to sell just about anything…

  • The economy is going to hell, and that’s why you should buy gold.
  • The economy is going to hell, and that’s why you should buy my market-timing newsletter.
  • The economy is going to hell, and that’s why you should buy this annuity.
  • The economy is going to hell, and that’s why you should invest in my hedge fund.

If the fact that someone is trying to play you with a sales pitch designed to sell any product to two contradictory sets of beliefs isn’t enough to drive you away, consider this.  For the recommended product to be right for YOU the following conditions have to be met:

  1. The salesperson’s political prediction must be right
  2. The salesperson’s economic prediction must be right
  3. The salesperson’s product must indeed be a good solution to the proposed scenario

Good luck getting all that to be true!

Source: OI


Retiring from the NFL

  • February 4, 2016/
  • Posted By : admin/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : Retirement

NFL-Money-CBA_JPGThis Sunday’s Super Bowl 50 match-up between our hometown Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos is the talk of the town.  But what happens after the Super Bowl?  Potentially way after the game when a professional football player retires?

It turns out the National Football League has a rather generous pension plan.  The NFL is one of the rare 7% of American companies that offers traditional pensions to new hires.  That figure is way down from the 62% level seen in 1979.

Only a few years ago the NFL had the worst funded plan of the four major sport leagues, reaching a low 49% of assets on hand to fund future benefits.  Their funding ratio has made a dramatic recovery since then to 72% and NFL owners have committed to 100% funding by 2021.

The NFL pension plan has $1.8 billion in assets with 4,200 retirees and 2,100 active players.  Players qualify after 3 seasons and are eligible to draw benefits starting at age 55.  An 18-year veteran like Peyton Manning would receive an estimated annual pension $107,040 compared to a 3-year, short-timer’s check of $21,360.

Although most corporations have done away with pensions and shifted the risk and responsibility of saving for retirement to their employees, the NFL’s program is strongly in place thanks to the community of active and retired sportsmen.  NFL retirees do a great job of communicating the great benefit of the pension to the younger, active players which carries through to the players’ collective bargaining.

Source: WSJ

 


Recent Posts
  • The patience premium: What market history teaches us May 1,2025
  • What's next for markets and the economy? April 1,2025
  • Navigating Financial Uncertainty Amid Federal Layoffs March 3,2025
  • AI bubble burst? What's next February 1,2025
  • Supporting You Through the LA Wildfires January 10,2025
Archives
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
Categories
  • 401(k)
  • Annuities
  • Behavior
  • Best Practices
  • Bonds
  • Charitable Donations
  • Economy
  • Fees
  • Fiduciary
  • Financial Planning
  • Investing 101
  • Live Well
  • Market Outlook
  • Mutual Funds
  • NorthStar
  • Performance
  • Personal Finance
  • Planning
  • Retirement
  • Saving Money
  • Scams & Schemes
  • Seeking Prudent Advice
  • Tax Planning
  • Uncategorised
  • Uncategorized
  • Weekly Market Review
ABOUT US

We are a fee-only, independent fiduciary advisor. Our allegiance rests solely with our clients and their best interests. We are headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina and serve client families across the nation.



CLIENT TOOLS
CONTACT
  • (704) 350-5028
  • info@nstarcapital.com
  • 521 East Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28203
    (by appointment only)
  • fax: (704) 626-3462
FROM OUR BLOG
  • The patience premium: What market history teaches us May 1,2025
  • What's next for markets and the economy? April 1,2025
  • Navigating Financial Uncertainty Amid Federal Layoffs March 3,2025
Nothing on this website constitutes either the provision of investment advice or solicitation to provide investment advice.
Investment advice can only be provided through a formal investment advisory relationship.