How to Lose $200 Billion in 2 Minutes

Recently computer hackers got into the Associated Press's Twitter account and posted a fake message about an attack on the White House and that President Obama was injured. With the attack on Boston just a number of days before it is no wonder the announcement was taken seriously. However, within a few minutes the Associated Press announced the twitter comment was a fake and they had been hacked.

In just those few minutes however stocks sold of sharply, causing the S&P 500 to sell of fast, if you look at charts from that day you can see clearly when the news hit. This sharp reaction caused a loss of nearly $200 billion in equity value.

This underscores two things;
   One is the market is very volatile and is not the best place to bet your monthly income
   The other thing it points out is the sharp drop was temporary.

You might be asking why is that important. When the stocks sold off people reacted in panic, but after the report turned out to be false investors realized there was no underlying flaw in the belief about the stocks they owned.

It also shows what temporary and short term spikes in volatility can do "to" and "for" investors portfolios. If your accounts are passive which means you buy a stock or mutual fund and hold in while checking in every great one in a while you could suffer the wrath of short term volatility and miss out on opportunities. However, if your accounts have eyes on them and proactively managed, temporary and short term spikes in volatility can provide opportunities each and every day. Markets can make stocks and positions undervalued each and every day. Traders over react to news and panic volatility can put positions up at a deep discount.

It's a good idea to have your accounts proactively managed by an exclusively dedicated management team to be watching for these opportunities each and every day. An investment management team that manages money for large institutions and the day to day consumer gives them an added insight than the day trader broker up the street from your house. A specialized team can really tilt the odds in your portfolios favor.



Matt Golab was recruited to write a chapter in Tom Hopkins upcoming book, Victory scheduled to be released later this year. Matt also received the Editors Choice Award for his contribution to Victory, not every contributor is selected for this high honor.

Matt is an authority on creating innovative tax and investment solutions to help his clients succeed in their retirement years.  The strategies Matt Golab has established and passed on through successful financial planning with hundreds of clients over the years has launched him into the national spotlight. He is often featured in Senior Market Advisor Magazine, a publication which attracts the top financial planners in the country. Matt has been featured in newspapers around the country passing on the principals for a successful retirement. Golab is often asked by national websites that focus on the education of consumers to present his knowledge on the areas of retirement and retirement income plans. Matt is frequently featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, MSN Money, The San Francisco Chronicle,  Newsweek, TheSmartRetiree, Burlington County Times and soon will be appearing nationwide on ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC as well as USA Today.

Golab is the Author of The Consumer's Guide to Planning Your Retirement: Your Guide to Mental Peace and Financial Well Being. Matt Golab continues to expand the geographic reach of his audience and desires to bring his expertise to a nationwide television audience. Matt emphatically states his mission, “I want to change the way Americans view their retirement. They can succeed (stay retired) regardless of what happens in the market". Contact information for Matt is available at his website,
http://www.aaronmatthewsfinancial.com/

My Grandpa's Gold

Like every child I have memories that really stuck out in my mind from my childhood. One that sticks out is relevant to the current situation a section of our investment world is in. When I was about 8 years old my Grandpa (who passed just a few years ago) gave me a coin. He said, "Matt I've had this coin for years waiting for it to be worth what I paid for it. Maybe one day you'll see it."

Well that coin was a gold coin and he was right, in 2008 almost 30 years after he purchased it the value returned. My grandfather never forgot this lesson but so many times people forget history, even recent history.

And we may be seeing this history again with gold.

From the prices in the seventies to January 21, 1980 when gold peaked at $850 an ounce (www.kitco.com), but then investors got hammered losing about 50%. Many suck it out for years and then finally gave in and cashed out.

Take a look at the chart below, you'ld think it was our recent run up in the gold price but this is a chart from thirty years ago. You can see how the price responded once it hit its peak price bouncing around with high volatility and then suddenly and violently dropping and staying suppressed for decades. Remember gold does not provide any retirement income, no way to guarantee principal, and is one of the most speculative investments offered. Do all that is possible to get the most up to date education when purchasing or holding this investment and avoid repeating a devastating history lesson.





Matt Golab was recruited to write a chapter in Tom Hopkins upcoming book, Victory scheduled to be released later this year. Matt also received the Editors Choice Award for his contribution to Victory, not every contributor is selected for this high honor.

Matt is an authority on creating innovative tax and investment solutions to help his clients succeed in their retirement years.  The strategies Matt Golab has established and passed on through successful financial planning with hundreds of clients over the years has launched him into the national spotlight. He is often featured in Senior Market Advisor Magazine, a publication which attracts the top financial planners in the country. Matt has been featured in newspapers around the country passing on the principals for a successful retirement. Golab is often asked by national websites that focus on the education of consumers to present his knowledge on the areas of retirement and retirement income plans. Matt is frequently featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, MSN Money, The San Francisco Chronicle,  Newsweek, TheSmartRetiree, Burlington County Times and soon will be appearing nationwide on ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC as well as USA Today.

Golab is the Author of The Consumer's Guide to Planning Your Retirement: Your Guide to Mental Peace and Financial Well Being. Matt Golab continues to expand the geographic reach of his audience and desires to bring his expertise to a nationwide television audience. Matt emphatically states his mission, “I want to change the way Americans view their retirement. They can succeed (stay retired) regardless of what happens in the market". Contact information for Matt is available at his website,
http://www.aaronmatthewsfinancial.com/

Are People Taking Advantage of Insider Trading?

We have seen the market produce some impressive numbers this year with very little resistance. And the growth of major indexes and hopefully peoples portfolios has been groundbreaking. But there still is a nagging question in so many peoples mind: is there insider trading and are people taking advantage of it. Now I'm not saying people are acting on insider information but people who are up to their ears in the know and in the market are doing something the financial media for the most part is not telling the rest of consumers. Insiders are selling and are selling at an alarming rate in the tech area.
In a recent CNBC article (http://www.cnbc.com/id/100634578), tech shares are selling like crazy but that's not really the interesting part. No one is buying them, that's the interesting part.

The numbers will shock you!

In just a few months, 55 million shares were dropped. Sounds like a lot right? It's even a bigger number when you look at the number purchased; 1,780. That's not a joke its not wrong its just plain crazy and somewhat scary.
Why are those in the know (not insider information or trading) dropping tech shares and why don't consumers hear about it?

In this cnbc.com article, Alan Newman, editor of the Crosscurrents newsletter with almost half a century of experience goes even deeper:
“Insider activity confirms the rosy scenario indicated by prices is only an illusion,” Newman writes. “Insiders have no confidence in their own companies. While prices appear to be indicating an all clear, we remain in one of the most egregiously speculative phases ever seen.”

Tech insiders are running for the exits and unfortunately the few shares that are being picked up are the day to day consumers. Those in the know may be unwittingly predicting the future trend for these tech shares.

The behavior by the top ranks at some of these big tech companies are possibly showing they believe a tock price fall in the future. Clocking in every day they probably have a good idea of what's going on and hopefully consumers and the average investor is watching.

It's always good to have eyes on your portfolio and the market to make sure your assets are being watched and informed.




Matt Golab was recruited to write a chapter in Tom Hopkins upcoming book, Victory scheduled to be released later this year. Matt also received the Editors Choice Award for his contribution to Victory, not every contributor is selected for this high honor.

Matt is an authority on creating innovative tax and investment solutions to help his clients succeed in their retirement years.  The strategies Matt Golab has established and passed on through successful financial planning with hundreds of clients over the years has launched him into the national spotlight. He is often featured in Senior Market Advisor Magazine, a publication which attracts the top financial planners in the country. Matt has been featured in newspapers around the country passing on the principals for a successful retirement. Golab is often asked by national websites that focus on the education of consumers to present his knowledge on the areas of retirement and retirement income plans. Matt is frequently featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, MSN Money, The San Francisco Chronicle,  Newsweek, TheSmartRetiree, Burlington County Times and soon will be appearing nationwide on ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC as well as USA Today.

Golab is the Author of The Consumer's Guide to Planning Your Retirement: Your Guide to Mental Peace and Financial Well Being. Matt Golab continues to expand the geographic reach of his audience and desires to bring his expertise to a nationwide television audience. Matt emphatically states his mission, “I want to change the way Americans view their retirement. They can succeed (stay retired) regardless of what happens in the market". Contact information for Matt is available at his website,
http://www.aaronmatthewsfinancial.com/

The Market; Are We Invested and Why Don't We Trust It?

As I sit here writing this the DOW is up at a record level high of 14,673 which is causing many to state beliefs that the market will continue unhindered. Now depending on who you ask, this statement is fact or fiction.

During my massive reading schedule and my time with clients I have noticed that many are untrusting of this current market run up. Now why would there be so much pessimism? After all the DOW from September 2007 to today has posted amazing numbers and offered many the opportunity to hopefully earn on their money.

However, many are still remembering the stress and fear from the Dot-Com crash and the massive drop and collapse of 2008. There's a reason the 2000's have been labeled as the "Lost Decade". This memory has not left most consumers and unfortunately this has caused many to break the rule of "Buy Low and Sell High". So many are still waiting for that clear sign in the sky to enter the market.

My firm is focused on educating those select clients we chose to work with to make sure they accomplish one thing; retaining their wealth. When we discuss the strategies available to them we often come back to one primary foundation; "Help me retire and retain as much of our assets as possible".

I often hear advisors tell consumers they need to be invested in the market and avoid conservative plans because they need to get the gains of the market in order to fight inflation. When our firm analyzes their investment portfolio we realize they are not invested 100% to follow the major market indexes either.

What I mean is consumers are told "don't leave and go work with another advisor, look how good the market is doing (referring to a major index). But what they are not told is their portfolio is not linked to major indexes but an allocation model of some sort that only gives them a portion of some of the market gains while still providing some of the market losses.

I believe the reason many are so untrusting of the current "bull market" is because most consumers have been placed in these "automatic rebalancing" portfolios that provide them very little security and little assurance of being able to stay retired.

The take away; invest in a way that allows you to take advantage of the market upside while keeping eyes on your portfolio to minimize or eliminate market downside. And always remember the best way to have a chance of beating inflation is not lose money.




Matt Golab was recruited to write a chapter in Tom Hopkins upcoming book, Victory scheduled to be released later this year. Matt also received the Editors Choice Award for his contribution to Victory, not every contributor is selected for this high honor.

Matt is an authority on creating innovative tax and investment solutions to help his clients succeed in their retirement years.  The strategies Matt Golab has established and passed on through successful financial planning with hundreds of clients over the years has launched him into the national spotlight. He is often featured in Senior Market Advisor Magazine, a publication which attracts the top financial planners in the country. Matt has been featured in newspapers around the country passing on the principals for a successful retirement. Golab is often asked by national websites that focus on the education of consumers to present his knowledge on the areas of retirement and retirement income plans. Matt is frequently featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, MSN Money, The San Francisco Chronicle,  Newsweek, TheSmartRetiree, Burlington County Times and soon will be appearing nationwide on ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC as well as USA Today.

Golab is the Author of The Consumer's Guide to Planning Your Retirement: Your Guide to Mental Peace and Financial Well Being. Matt Golab continues to expand the geographic reach of his audience and desires to bring his expertise to a nationwide television audience. Matt emphatically states his mission, “I want to change the way Americans view their retirement. They can succeed (stay retired) regardless of what happens in the market". Contact information for Matt is available at his website,
http://www.aaronmatthewsfinancial.com/

Impatient Governments May Cause Interest Rate Rise

CNBC recently published an article detailing the actions of some of the world's largest central bankers and the results are somewhat alarming if you hold government or any other type of bond.

“Central Banks Move Into Riskier Assets” – http://www.cnbc.com/id/100622127.

Now if you read this article that is based on a survey from 60 central bankers who control nearly seven trillion dollars you quickly understand what their issue is. The central bankers are impatient with the low interest rates of U.S. and other governments bonds. Now this is not to say they believe the dollar will collapse or will not be the reserve currency. This is obvious by the central bankers willingness to have their funds in these low interest investments for so long.

Pay Close Attention

If you have bonds of any type why should you pay attention to this article?

Because we are not talking about a few billion dollars here, the Central Banks control over $10 trillion in reserves and their job is to protect that money and to get a return on that money. They are currently showing they are not willing to lose money by holding low interest rate investments.

This survey that's sited in the CNBC article shows the 60 Central Bankers are looking to put their money in higher return investments.

A Very Clear Problem

Obviously, this is a problem for our Government and politicians. They love to spend money and open up programs to more and more people. But the problem may soon be that they have less and less money because these other Central Bankers may not be purchasing treasuries in the same way they would have in the past.

If treasuries are purchased at a slower pace our government will be outspending very quickly. We know that the cycle does not favor spending less but raising interest rates to draw those Central Banks back. This will also cause the interest rates of other debt vehicles (auto, mortgage, credit card...) to rise. Also when interest rates rise the value of portfolios who hold bonds will drop and could drop dramatically much to the surprise of the consumer.

What This Could Mean

This could be the start to an interest rate rises, make sure you have your bonds reviewed to see how they will be responding to rises and hints of rises in interest rates.




Matt Golab was recruited to write a chapter in Tom Hopkins upcoming book, Victory scheduled to be released later this year. Matt also received the Editors Choice Award for his contribution to Victory, not every contributor is selected for this high honor.

Matt is an authority on creating innovative tax and investment solutions to help his clients succeed in their retirement years.  The strategies Matt Golab has established and passed on through successful financial planning with hundreds of clients over the years has launched him into the national spotlight. He is often featured in Senior Market Advisor Magazine, a publication which attracts the top financial planners in the country. Matt has been featured in newspapers around the country passing on the principals for a successful retirement. Golab is often asked by national websites that focus on the education of consumers to present his knowledge on the areas of retirement and retirement income plans. Matt is frequently featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, MSN Money, The San Francisco Chronicle,  Newsweek, TheSmartRetiree, Burlington County Times and soon will be appearing nationwide on ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC as well as USA Today.

Golab is the Author of The Consumer's Guide to Planning Your Retirement: Your Guide to Mental Peace and Financial Well Being. Matt Golab continues to expand the geographic reach of his audience and desires to bring his expertise to a nationwide television audience. Matt emphatically states his mission, “I want to change the way Americans view their retirement. They can succeed (stay retired) regardless of what happens in the market". Contact information for Matt is available at his website,
http://www.aaronmatthewsfinancial.com/

The Bull Market We Love to Hate

When we look at the general stock market there is no denying the fact that there has been a significant run up since 2009. But there is equally no denying the lack of confidence in both its legitimacy and its continuance. If you ask most consumers they will tell you this is an artificial stock market rally and is doomed to fail.

I do agree the the market is being influenced by outside forces not organic growth and confidence in the economy and job market. However, I find it interresting that those who discredit the stock market are the very same scared to death about inflation. I've spoken about inflation over and over again in both my radio show as well as national newsoutlets. Inflation is said to be tamed at under thrree perrcent but many analysts site that if we addd in enerrgy, health care, and food were at about seven percent. If those scared of inflation are really scared wouldn't a good remedy be the market which has had great measurable growth over the last few years?

Why are we continually told to run from the market? Why are we told not to even look at products that allow us to be connected to the market without the risk of correction? Is it because the people we are looking to for advice are really only there to sell us fools gold? Yes, I am talking about gold peddlers. Gold can be a great inflation hedge, over a long period. In my mind over a twenty year period, but in the short term it can be a dangerous investment. One regulators site as a highly speculative investment.

You might be saying, Matt what about the dollar. The dollar is abused and devalued, it's not even backed by the gold standard anymore. Other countries don't want to use us at all. Well there is some truth to this, we have not been backed to gold for years and years. We essentially have changed our currency and survived for decades, the twenty dollar bill I hold in my hand is not the same twenty dollar bill from the 40's. We've changed our currency in one of the smoothest transitions ever recorded in history.

I realize what I am writing right now will be viewed as crazy, but I want you to realize panic never accomplished anything. Sound financial planning and investing keeps those inn a crisis coming out on the other side substantially more well off than those around. The question I would ask you is are you ready for a financial crisis? Have you established a real plan for inflation. The other question I would ask is what if there are other options out there. We focus on education and exploring all the options not just those in TV and Radio commercials. Reach out to us and we can help you get educated on all your options.




Matt Golab was recruited to write a chapter in Tom Hopkins upcoming book, Victory scheduled to be released later this year. Matt also received the Editors Choice Award for his contribution to Victory, not every contributor is selected for this high honor.

Matt is an authority on creating innovative tax and investment solutions to help his clients succeed in their retirement years.  The strategies Matt Golab has established and passed on through successful financial planning with hundreds of clients over the years has launched him into the national spotlight. He is often featured in Senior Market Advisor Magazine, a publication which attracts the top financial planners in the country. Matt has been featured in newspapers around the country passing on the principals for a successful retirement. Golab is often asked by national websites that focus on the education of consumers to present his knowledge on the areas of retirement and retirement income plans. Matt is frequently featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, MSN Money, The San Francisco Chronicle,  Newsweek, TheSmartRetiree, Burlington County Times and soon will be appearing nationwide on ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC as well as USA Today.

Golab is the Author of The Consumer's Guide to Planning Your Retirement: Your Guide to Mental Peace and Financial Well Being. Matt Golab continues to expand the geographic reach of his audience and desires to bring his expertise to a nationwide television audience. Matt emphatically states his mission, “I want to change the way Americans view their retirement. They can succeed (stay retired) regardless of what happens in the market". Contact information for Matt is available at his website,
http://www.aaronmatthewsfinancial.com/matt

Cyprus and the World of Tomorrow

I'm sure you have heard a lot about Cyprus lately but I'm also sure you're wondering why do we care about Cyprus and where are hey in the world. They are an island country just under Turkey and to the left of Israel and they're banking system is collapsing. In case you’ve been under a rock the last week or so, the banking system in Cyprus is imploding.  

Now they are small and really shouldn't matter in a normal world. The only reason you should care about this at all is because they're being useed as a political guinea pig. Cyprus has a banking system that is collapsing, an economy that's barely breathing, and they need to borrow money to keep the light's on. To their benefit they are a part of the Eurozone and they asked for a Euro bailout. But the members of the Eurozone are realizing the expense of bailing out countries that are financially irresponsible so they thought Cyprus would be a great guinea pig for something new.

They told the Cyprus banks that they would loan them the money IF the banks deducted a percentage of each bank holder’s deposits to pay back the loan.  In other words, everyone who has money in a Cyprus bank would see a withdrawal out of their account to pay for these latest round of loans, EVEN THOUGH THEY DIDN’T DO A DARN THING TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE BANK’S PROBLEMS!

The people of Cyprus heard about this and a major run on the banks ensued.  The politicians reacted by closing the banks.  At this point, the banks are closed until Tuesday (now Thursday) at the soonest.

Again, why should you care?

Notice what European leaders are doing here.  They are working the "guinea pig” to see if they can get away with this.  If they can, you should expect to see them use the same tactics every time a country’s banking system goes kaput in the future (are you paying attention Spain?).  And once they start doing something in Europe, the rest of the world will take notice and potentially follow.
The bottom line is this – if they get away with this in Cyprus, it will change banking throughout the world.  People will lose faith in banks (rightfully so), and the law of unintended consequences may rear it’s ugly head.  Let’s hope Cyprus finds their way through this storm.

Matt Golab was recruited to write a chapter in Tom Hopkins upcoming book, Victory scheduled to be released later this year. Matt also received the Editors Choice Award for his contribution to Victory, not every contributor is selected for this high honor.

Matt is an authority on creating innovative tax and investment solutions to help his clients succeed in their retirement years.  The strategies Matt Golab has established and passed on through successful financial planning with hundreds of clients over the years has launched him into the national spotlight. He is often featured in Senior Market Advisor Magazine, a publication which attracts the top financial planners in the country. Matt has been featured in newspapers around the country passing on the principals for a successful retirement. Golab is often asked by national websites that focus on the education of consumers to present his knowledge on the areas of retirement and retirement income plans. Matt has been featured in Life Health Pro, The Inteligencer, Newsweek, TheSmartRetiree, Burlington County Times and soon will be appearing nationwide on ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC as well as USA Today.

Golab is the Author of The Consumer's Guide to Planning Your Retirement: Your Guide to Mental Peace and Financial Well Being. Matt Golab continues to expand the geographic reach of his audience and desires to bring his expertise to a nationwide television audience. Matt emphatically states his mission, “I want to change the way Americans view their retirement. They can succeed (stay retired) regardless of what happens in the market". Contact information for Matt is available at his website,
http://www.aaronmatthewsfinancial.com/