Normally, I prefer to discuss the economy or to tell other people's stories, but this time is a little bit different. This time I have news to share with you that I think is very exciting and I hope you will too. Here is the press release for my new book, being released next month.  

In my column on the stock market a year ago, I referenced the above long-quoted observation that I had come to know from my earliest days as a neophyte on Wall Street. That epigram, commonly called the “January Barometer,” refers to the year’s direction of the S&P500 stock index. The measure has been uncannily accurate, correctly forecasting nearly 90% of the time since 1950. It worked in spades last year, and with a strong stock market now behind us in January this year, one could anticipate that 2024 might well be another positive year for stock market returns.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Albert Bourla, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pfizer. The event took place at the Bruce Museum—a Connecticut-based museum of both science and art—an appropriate setting to hear from a man of science, who had recently published a book, Moonshot, with the subtitle: Inside Pfizer’s Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible. 

I’m an early riser—sometimes an exceedingly early riser—and it is in those pre-dawn hours that I have found a new and pleasurable pastime. It’s best enjoyed in an environment of solitude because it takes a certain amount of concentration.

An unpretentious coastal town off US Route I-95, in the southwest corner of the smallest state in the country, with a year-round population of about 20,000—it’s not likely that you’ve heard of the place unless you’re a New Englander.

Friends are the flowers in the garden of life—they come in many varieties and they blossom when the conditions are right. Some take their time to show their colors, while others burst into bloom as if by magic. Occasionally, there are those who hibernate, but when they re-emerge, they are the same flower.

One day, when I was seven years old and had just learned how to do long subtraction, I took a piece of lined paper and wrote the number 2000 at the top of the page. Beneath it, I wrote the number 1948, put a minus sign to the left of it, a line under it, and did the subtraction. The result was fifty-two. That was how I discovered, to my horror, that I would be fifty-two years old at the beginning of the next century.

In 1980, shortly after being hired at Citicorp Investment Management, Inc. (CIMI was how we referred to ourselves), I was introduced to Bob Davis, a full-blooded Texan, who ran the company’s investment office in Houston. We had important things in common—primarily, our youth (we were both thirty-two at the time) our passion for the world of investing, and our endless drive.

Americans are among the most generous people in the world. Charities Aid Foundation, a UK-based charity compiling data from 140 countries, creates an annual country-by-country index of charitable giving. It is constructed from three forms of activity: donating money, volunteering time, and helping strangers. In 2022, the United States ranked #3, closely behind Indonesia and Kenya, two countries where religion plays a strong role in the culture of giving.

Three months ago, at the end of December, President Biden signed into law a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package that covered the gamut from defense appropriations, to funding for Ukraine’s military in its war with Russia, to emergency disaster assistance for the west and southwest areas of the country impacted by natural disasters. Buried deep inside that 4000 page document was also a two-year extension of a number of telehealth provisions for Medicare patients. Some may react by saying, “That’s great.” However, I say, “Why was that extension for only two years? Why not forever?”

Some of the greatest scandals in the world of investments have involved insider trading, which is taking advantage of significant non-public information to reap personal profits from stock transactions. Anyone who has worked in the financial industry can appreciate and understand the validity of both the letter and the spirit of the regulations surrounding inside information.

It may seem like an understatement to say that 2022 was an unpleasant year in the stock market when the total return on the S&P500 was a negative 18.1%, but as down markets go, there have been far worse. Remember 2008 when the index declined a whopping 36.5%?

It’s been well over a dozen years since the last sustained “bear market” in this country, defined as a twenty percent correction in stock prices from a recent high. The COVID-related crash in March of 2020 was technically a bear market, but its duration was so short and the subsequent bull market so strong, that it created little to none of the anxiety associated with a traditional bear market.

It’s of value to remember the quote from the great American statesman, Senator John McCain, who, in 2015 upon returning from a visit to Ukraine, said, “Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country.”

There is a wise and witty lady who lives in Annapolis, Maryland. Her name is Marion. She has a keen mind, a wicked sense of humor and is proud to let you know that she is ninety years old. She had recently been exposed to COVID and alerted her family and friends that she would be getting tested, promising to share the results as soon as they were available.

When I was a little girl, the Old Testament story about Methuselah was one I found fascinating. It was a true story—I knew that because I’d been taught that the Bible was the word of God and represented truth.

There would have been flights to book, people to invite, and maybe even a little haggling: “Why can’t Aunt Lydia come to our house this year? She was with you last year.”

By almost any measure, the level of employment in this country has recovered miraculously since the frightening days of the onset of COVID. From an impressive low of 3.5% in February of 2020, unemployment spiked to a frightening 14.8% just two months later.

Early morning walks—just as the sun is rising—are my favorite form of exercise. Three to four miles, and I’m set for the day. I think of it as both energizing my body and, equally as important, oxygenating my blood, so that my brain can function at full capacity for the next twelve hours.

Her name is Gabby and she and I have been friends since she entered the sixth grade at Our Lady Queen of Angels School (OLQA) on 112th Street in East Harlem. That was seven years ago.

A daily distraction in a busy life is the hazard of misplacing things, or more accurately forgetting where items have been left – most often very useful ones: eyeglasses, cell phone, wallet, hearing aids, face mask and on and on. In my office, that can include a favorite pen, even my still warm cup of tea. As the ad for the ghost busting agency in the movie, Ghostbusters, asked (and do pardon the appalling grammar), “Who you gonna call?”

Some holidays are accompanied with fanfare – of the fireworks sort. Others are somber events, celebrated with flags and flowers on gravestones. There are also religious holidays – better known as holy days – which generally entail going to church, and some holidays celebrate history with parades and bands. Mother’s Day falls into none of those categories. It’s a “quiet” holiday – meant just for the family.

It was June 1989 when the movie, “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” came out. I gagged at the title – not because the idea of shrinking the kids was abhorrent; it sounded rather whimsical. But because of the title’s egregious grammatical error.

Have you ever noticed how many public holidays there are in the European Union? They total about fifteen days that are in common among all the member countries. In addition, each country claims an array of other days off to celebrate national events. And in Europe, when the Government is closed for a day, so are most other businesses.

Some issues have outsized importance.

Do you remember that mix of uncertainty and excitement when you started your first full-time job? Your first day, when you had to show up at nine o’clock and stay until five in the afternoon, or some equivalent of a 40-hour work week? Do you remember the hourly rate of that first job? I’m imagining that many of you do, because a first job is a significant new phase of life, a milestone – one that marks independence, autonomy and authority over your own life.

On a nearly daily basis, we read or hear of tragic stories about people around the country, often the elderly, who are desperate to become vaccinated but who cannot get into the online system or who end up waiting for hours on the telephone in the hope of speaking to someone who can get them an appointment.