Category: PSA’s

We all know brokerage firms have been in a race to zero commission fees.  Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, etc, have all been lowering their commission fees to attract (and keep) clients.  One would say “every trade only costs $12.95!”, then the next would say, “no, our trades only cost $11.95!”  Then $9.95, $7.95, $3.95… you get the picture. Well, Charles Schwab decided to peel off the band-aid faster buy going straight to zero commissions on any trades.  Holy cow, that’s a great deal!  Of course, the other brokerage firms followed suit.  TD Ameritrade announced the very next day that they don’t have any commission fees either. All of their stocks got crushed on the announcements, too.  Did they doom themselves to zero profits?  Perhaps in the short-term, but long-term they’ll figure out how to charge other fees…

You've probably seen articles where all jobs created since the great recession have been destroyed. Current unemployment numbers aren't as bad as they seem, though, because the current numbers are artificially inflated: 1) The most obvious reason - we voluntarily shut down the economy!  What did people expect?  Joe's Pizza Place didn't just decide it couldn't afford to pay its employees and fire them.  Customers didn't just decide they didn't like Joe's pizza anymore.  Once covid19 is past us, Joe's business will be back to full power.  Maybe not 100% the day the stay-at-home orders are lifted, but it will get there. 2) The less obvious reason - the government adjusted the unemployment formula which makes unemployment more attractive than working.  Instead of unemployment aiming to give 40% of their previous earnings, it now gives 40%…