Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) has been all over the media lately with his plans to impose new regulation on the financial industry. One of the proposed changes to the current body of regulatory law includes the potential of designating brokers and other financial advisers as fiduciaries. Now, you may have [...]

President Obama just submitted a new 10-year federal budget that has me very worried. The primary reason for my concern is tax hikes. As I expected, the mammoth $3.8 trillion budget for the next fiscal year raises taxes on businesses and upper-income households by $2 trillion over 10 years. And after what [...]

You might not be thinking about taxes with the holidays now in full swing, but my friend and CPA Lee Haight called me the other day to remind me that there are several strategies I can employ before the end of the year to reduce my tax burden. Lee asked me to pull together [...]

The 44th president has been in office now for nearly six months, and so far his rather ambitious agenda has me very concerned. Regardless of which side of the political aisle you sit, there’s no denying the president’s goals are increased government involvement in the economy. This increased involvement includes more stimulus spending, [...]

The literati out there will likely remember the famous refrain, “The best of all possible worlds,” from Voltaire’s master work, Candide. In the novel, Voltaire set out to expose what he considered a fallacious line of thinking proffered by the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. According to Leibniz, because God is both good and [...]

The just-released 2009 Social Security Trustees Report shows that the recent economic woes have had a big negative impact on the Social Security budget. The report projects that by 2016 Social Security spending will exceed the revenue it receives each year from all of us. But just how bad is the situation? Social Security is a [...]

Many of my Fabian Wealth Strategies clients have expressed a big fear about the threat posed to their financial well-being from inflation. This justifiable fear has been engendered by the huge expansion of the federal budget, and the huge increase in government spending. This governmental intervention in the economy was ostensibly done to [...]

Today is tax day, a dreary day for most Americans—especially if you have the skills, ability and fortitude to earn a substantial amount of money each year. Yes, this is the day the government says, in essence, pay up, sucker! Now you’ve probably heard about the many tax “tea parties” being held today throughout our [...]

Today’s stock market beast is not the same animal it was a decade ago. In fact, the pace of change has been relentless in recent years, and even the most conscientious individual investor has had a tough time keeping up with the all of the financial market upheaval. If you’re managing your own money, are you [...]

Just because we don’t know what the market’s future will bring doesn’t mean we can’t make a few proclamations about the nature of markets, and the operation of market psychology. First, whenever you get big sell offs like we’ve seen so far in 2009, and for that matter since Nov. 2008, a buying opportunity—even if only [...]

Mutual funds control the majority of Americans’ retirement assets through 401(k)s, IRAs and annuities. Sadly, a gullible public has bought into the idea that steady investments in mutual funds, regardless of market conditions, is the way to make their financial dreams come true. This is one of the biggest fallacies of investing, and why mutual funds [...]

According to the SEC’s Office of Investor Education published statistics, over 50% of investors seek the advice of some type of advisor when making financial decisions. If you have an advisor managing your money after a volatile year of losses in 2008… how do you know you have the right advisor? It may never be more [...]

It’s time to start looking at the roadmap. The roadmap I am speaking of here is the financial roadmap for 2009. Unlike planning a road trip, knowing where you are going to turn before you start doesn’t apply to investing. Nobody can predict all of the twists, turns, and forks in the [...]

Now that the election is in the books, Wall Street can refocus on corporate America’s books. Unfortunately, those books aren’t going to be an uplifting read. All of the major economic metrics will likely be much lower in the fourth quarter, and that’s following an already dismal third quarter. The unemployment rate will likely [...]

You already know we’re in the midst of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. We’re living through a financial hurricane. I know many of you are feeling extremely anxious about your investments, your income streams and your financial future. That’s why I have posted my latest free seminar to download entitled: The Election, [...]

As much as I hate to tell you this, I think at this point Congress is going to have to approve this $700 billion dollar bailout proposal lest we face a virtual crash in our financial markets. All of this talk about the next “Great Depression,” if we don’t act right now, likely will have a [...]

In this election year we are going to hear a lot about tax cuts and tax hikes, but I believe there is a much bigger story being missed by the financial media. This bigger story is the likelihood that estate taxes are going to go up no matter who wins the White House. Sen. Obama [...]

One of my favorite things to do is speak at corporate events. I love interacting with the crowd, answering questions and meeting new people. The subject of my next corporate speaking event is how to “get real” with your finances now, before you find yourself in dire straits. The title of my talk is, [...]

If you’re like me, you love reading all kinds of opinions about where things are headed. I recently read two articles that I thought really showed just how diverse the range of opinion is amongst the experts. In the bullish camp was famed Wall Street giant, former Morgan Stanley global chief investment strategist and now hedge [...]

Some pundits are saying that we are in a recession; others call it a mere economic slowdown. The answer in my opinion is what difference does this technical distinction make to you? The one thing everyone agrees on, bull or bear, is that we’re living in uncertain times. As a result, it is of utmost importance [...]

I came across an interesting story on one of my favorite websites, Minyanville, about how the debt crisis in this country has manifested itself in our culture.  I live in Newport Beach and continually see people spending money they don’t have to be someone who they are not.  In other words, they are sacrificing their [...]

Michael Fabian, Director of Client Services at Fabian Wealth Strategies, recently spotted an article on Yahoo Finance! about the explosion of wealth in the U.S. and how households with a net worth of between $1 – $25 million are becoming increasingly common. The real story here is that these wealthy individuals are not getting the [...]

“How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service!” —Charles Darwin One of the greatest scientists of all time, Charles Darwin, was a stickler for cataloging observation. But more than that, he put that observation into the service [...]

I know this won’t come as much of a surprise to some readers, but the media has once again missed the boat. This past Sunday the Los Angeles Times ran a cover story in the business section about buying a used car. What? Nowhere in the entire business section was there any article on the troubles in [...]

You’ve probably heard a lot about “risk management” lately in the financial media. Many pundits are saying that the Federal Reserve is in risk management mode, meaning that they think the central bank is very concerned that we could see a system shock that disrupts consumer confidence and throws the economy into recession. Traditionally, the Fed [...]

Doug Fabian recently presented his views on the financial markets for 2008 in Southern California. How to navigate an uncertain economic environment in the face of a real estate bear market, a slowing economy, a falling U.S. dollar and global competition. The audio recordings and Powerpoint presentations are now available! Share and Enjoy:

It’s now official. The Federal Reserve just slashed interest rates again — this time by 50 basis points. Combine today’s rate cut with last week’s surprise, 75-basis-point cut and you have the fastest decline in interest rates in years. The federal funds rate, an overnight bank lending rate that affects how much interest consumers pay on [...]

Do You Know The 5 Common Estate Planning Mistakes that Rich People Make? Although you may not consider yourself to be rich, if you have an estate in excess of $2 million, you certainly need an estate plan. Here are five common mistakes many investors make with their estate plans: Mistake #1: Not having an estate [...]