IBJ Articles

Bond investors facing Q1-2021 statement sticker shock Mickey Kim / April 7, 2021 The following is an excerpt from Kirr, Marbach & Co.’s first quarter client letter, available at here. Conventional investment wisdom is stocks are “risky” and bonds are “safe.”  Owning stocks is exciting—you can make or [...]

Robinhood, Reddit and ‘commission-free’ trades a toxic combo for young investors Mickey Kim / March 12, 2021 Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett (age 90) is an investing legend, famously known as the “Oracle of Omaha.” Buffett’s 97-year-old longtime business partner and Vice Chairman of Berkshire, Charlie Munger, generally [...]

Has GameStop ‘flash mob’ changed rules for successful investing? Mickey Kim / February 5, 2021 TThe recent fireworks in GameStop (GME) have dominated headlines over the past couple weeks.  Folks are naturally curious about what happened and how does it end.  So, I thought you might find it [...]

Plan ahead so chaos, conflict and cost aren’t part of your legacy Mickey Kim / December 18, 2020 One of the many “life lessons” the pandemic has reinforced is the end-of-life (or becoming incapacitated from injury or illness) can come at any time, a topic nobody wants to [...]

This Thanksgiving, give back by investing in a K-12 classroom project Mickey Kim / November 20, 2020 Being a public schoolteacher in the richest country on the planet is a daily struggle, even in non-pandemic times.  It’s widely acknowledged there’s no profession more important to our society than [...]

“Rich” is different than “Wealthy” and time is key to success Mickey Kim / October 23, 2020 In nine-plus years writing this column, I’ve been fortunate to become familiar with the writing of a small number of investment professionals who are “in the trenches” every day and are able to convey [...]

COVID-era “K-Train” heads in different directions for haves, have-nots Mickey Kim / September 25, 2020 Who can ever forget the Muppets’ “Alphabet Song” on Sesame Street?  “B” is for Bert.  “C” is for Cookie Monster.  Certainly not Wall Street pundits, who debated which letter would best describe the path [...]

Don't Let Partisan Storm Crash Your Portfolio Mickey Kim / July 31, 2020 I never make predictions, particularly in writing, but it’s a sure bet the vitriol and partisan political assault we’re going to be subjected to over the next 100 days will make 2016 seem like an ice [...]

To understand stocks’ wild price swings, think of it as a “Spock” Market Mickey Kim / July 3, 2020 Stock market volatility was epic during the first half of 2020, six months that shook the world.  U.S. stocks hit a new all-time high “way back” on February 19, [...]

Investors, future is unpredictable and ‘tail-end consequences’ can devastate Mickey Kim / June 5, 2020 We humans hate uncertainty.  In dangerous times, we crave assurance if we do X and Y, then Z will occur and all will be good again.  To feed the media beast, there is [...]