We all have aspirations for our children to be successful at what ever they choose to do. But unless children are prepared to deal with the fruits of their successful labors, the happiness that we assume will come with vocational success may be elusive. Money can bring lots of worries if we are not careful.

So, how can you prepare children to handle money? Simple. Give them some and let them make mistakes. By starting young the mistakes will normally be small, inexpensive ones.

Most kids get allowances, but by getting creative with the process, we have an opportunity to teach them a little about how the world works.

My Christmas Gift To You

Bad news attracts attention more than good news, and this year has  certainly had  no shortage of bad news.  However, the worst of the economic decline appears to already be behind us and it is time to begin planning for the inevitable recovery, so I am going to focus on what is going on that is good and pointing to brighter times.

Besides it's Christmas.  Let's get in the holiday mood with some good tidings.  Let's focus on some of the positive aspects and opportunities in the investment markets.

The stock market gyrations are not the only strange thing going on in the market. The dollar, accustomed to having sand kicked in its face like a 98 pound weakling on the beach, is now the strongest currency in the world - by far. What's going on with that?

In the past 3 months, the dollar has soared, and clearly broken out of its multi-year slump. Just like when you travel abroad you have to buy local currency to use,  investors also need to buy local currencies to  purchase investments.  Over the past few years there has been a lot of investment overseas, and those currencies were in greater demand than ours.

Now, once again, everyone wants to own dollars so they can buy T-bills, CDs or just be out of what are recognized as weaker currencies. The US, despite all the political rhetoric to the contrary, is still considered the safest of the safe havens.

But there is more driving the dollar right now.

I had breakfast a year or two ago with Richard Russell, writer of the Dow Theory Letters for almost 50 years, and his lovely wife Faye. Richard pointed out that having debt is like a "short" on currency.

Shorting involves selling something you borrow, generally a stock, hoping to buy it back at a lower price to replace the borrowed stock and make a profit. This is measured by the difference in what you sold for and what you it bought back for. If the price goes up, you can lose - sometimes a lot, because, theoretically, the price can go up forever and you have to replace the stock regardless of how much you have to pay to get it.

Part 1 - Introduction

Arizona continues to face revenue shortfalls and the need to cut its budget.  Those revenue declines affect Prescott, both from less revenue flowing from the state and local sales tax revenues that continue to decline. We monitor our sales tax revenues closely and they are still continuing to decline. I am particularly interested in the trend line, which is still showing a downward slope – we have not yet reached the bottom. 

There are politicians who are flat-out anti-environmental - they just don't buy the argument.

As long as they state their case plainly and honestly, we can at least respect their right to their opinion, however misinformed it may be. Others, however, have taken to deceit, crafting back-room deals that are a negative for the environment but then trying to sell the public on the new regulations by claiming they're an environmental improvement. We think that 's a clear form of environmental hypocrisy and can be described as "listen to what I say, but don't watch what I do."

First we had "limousine liberals" - defined as people who claimed to be champions of the poor but who themselves led lifestyles of wealth and luxury and were generally disengaged from the activities and consequences of their proposed solutions. Then we had "Lexus liberals" - members of the upper-middle class who espoused left-leaning opinions about how society should solve its problems while they themselves cloistered in suburban McMansions. Both phrases were developed by right-wing politicos to serve as clever verbal shorthand to describe positions they thought were hypocritical.