NY Stock Exchange

Just One Last Bubble, Please!

bubblesThe time-honored advice brokers have always given their investment clients is to "diversify, diversify, diversify!” It’s the basic law of investment – Investment 101 you might say – never put all your eggs in one basket. Which is why it is so odd to see the CEO of one of the largest investment funds in the world –BlackRock – insist that his customers ignore this basic rule and invest everything they have in equities.

CEO Laurence D. Fink says that we are living in a “New World” where it is impossible to earn a decent return on traditional bonds or other conservative investments. He’s right about that; Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has made it clear he intends to keep interest rates at zero percent through at least the end of 2014. Maybe this New World is a welcome relief for borrowers, many of whom are desperate to reduce their debts, or at least the interest cost on their debts if they can refinance at lower rates.

This is a dreadful world for savers, however. Many people who live off the interest on their savings, like retirees, have watched their income collapse to zero, and are being forced to liquidate their nest egg in order to afford food and medicine, the prices of which (along with energy) have been increasing at annual rates near 10%.