Mike Rivers' Blog

After 8 1/2 years on blogger, it's time to move on.   My new posts will be on WordPress at athenacapitalblog . Please follow me ther...

When the stock market is tanking, like it has been recently, I find many people are scared to talk to me about it. They seem to think that d...

In the investing world, diversification has the feel of holy writ. No one conventional will ever question it. The reality, however, is tha...

Surprisingly--to me, at least--the market has finally woken up to global economic risks. The signs were there before: commodity prices tan...

Outstanding article on China from Stratfor.  The image that many have of China's economic growth and political freedom are at odds with...

Paper was first invented in China. So was paper money, and thus runaway inflation. It is interesting to see China return to its historical r...

Just a couple of weeks ago, you couldn't look at the news without seeing dire predictions about Greece leaving the European Union or Chi...

Athena Capital's latest client letter is available.  In it, I cover client investment performance, what I think is happening with the e...

While most of the world was overly focused on Greece, bigger things were afoot in China. First, the Chinese economy is the 2nd largest in ...

It's been five years since I've written about Greece. Given the market's current infatuation with that subject, it's not a ...

With the stock market hitting new highs, it's a good time to assess what can be expected for market returns going forward.  I think a ...

Some this and that of interest this week: Investors are once again over-confident about future returns. 10% returns are expected from tho...

Reed Hastings and Netflix might want to be careful what they wish for. Reed Hastings is the fabulously successful founder and CEO of Netfl...

The good news: life expectancy in the U.S. increased by 50% during the 20th century. The bad news: we'll all need a good deal more money...

Two-thirds of workers plan to work in retirement, mostly because they know they haven't saved enough to support their current standard o...

Athena Capital's 1st quarter 2015 client letter is available. Nothing in this blog should be considered investment, financial, tax, o...

Income inequality has become a big political topic recently. Unfortunately, the debate is filled with more emotions than facts. What shoul...

How you withdraw your money in retirement can have a big impact on how long your money lasts (or how much you can withdraw each year). The...

When most think of building a fortune, they think of starting a business, taking a big gamble, or getting wildly lucky. The reality is tha...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 to regulate broadband internet yesterday (under Title II of the Communications Act of ...

Everyone knows they need to save more for retirement. But most don't because they think they can't afford it. The reality is that ...

Building wealth over time requires the fortitude to stick to your plan. Colorado Spring's own Allan Roth made this point nicely in a r...

I remember well how much I loved to program computers. As a cadet at the Air Force Academy taking lots of astronautical engineering courses,...

Not many outside the investing business have heard of Howard Marks. He is a very successful money manager at Oaktree Capital with a reputati...

When it comes to improving at anything, there is just no substitute for good, old fashioned hard work. I've been reminded of this late...

Jonathan Tepper is a very successful hedge fund manager. When I saw him in a TV interview, I envied his intellectual honesty and self-confi...

I recently finished a wonderful book by Guy Spier, The Education of a Value Investor . In it, he spells out his own history as a value inves...

The recent plunge in oil prices raises lots of questions. If you haven't noticed, the U.S. and world price for oil per barrel have plu...