economics Archives - The Inside Press

Armonk resident Howard Yaruss released his book Understandable Economics in September 2022, a time in which poll results indicated that the economy was the top voting issue for Americans heading to the polls for the midterms. As such, Yaruss’s work, which aims to provide a better understanding of our economy without the use of jargon, formulas, graphs, or other technical material, was particularly timely. His book seeks to break down the economic system in a manner that is straightforward and accessible to readers, making use of analogies, real-world observations, and entertaining anecdotes. Find an exclusive excerpt below! – Illeana Baquero

Excerpt from Understandable Economics by Howard Yaruss:

“Although many economists may be reluctant to admit it, economics is not a scientific discipline which requires expert knowledge and specialized tools to gain understanding. It’s not like biology, where you need to know organic chemistry and have access to a microscope and other equipment to know what’s going on in living cells. It’s not like astrophysics, where you need to know the relationships among the forces in the universe and have access to powerful telescopes to figure out the properties of a black hole.

Like psychology, economics is a social science, an attempt to understand human interactions and how they affect the world around us. It focuses on those relationships as they relate to money as well as the goods, services and resources money buys. In order to tease out some precision regarding those relationships, professional economists use data and mathematical tools. But the fundamental relationships themselves can become apparent if you’re willing to observe the world carefully and apply your own common sense. The goal of Understandable Economics is to help you do that.

I’m not going to tell you what or how to think–there is no shortage of authors, pundits, influencers, and Twitter celebrities happy to do that. My aim is to demystify our economy by engaging with it in a direct, practical and (I hope) entertaining manner. I want you to be able to think through these issues for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

The need for this understanding is more important now than ever. The belief that our economic system is failing is at a record high. There has been a wide range of reactions from Occupy Wall Street to the election of Donald Trump. What is the one thing all of these reactions have in common? They have not resulted in any significant positive change in the lives of most Americans.

Understandable Economics seeks to change that. I believe that if more of us were armed with a better understanding of how our economy works, more constructive solutions for the problems we face would get implemented and we would finally see the economy improve for the average person.”

By Scott Kahan

Scott Kahan

It’s been a rough start for the equity markets in 2016. It’s hard not to panic and want to sell everything waiting for the markets to settle down. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a steady 4% return every year rather than all these ups and downs? Consider this: Since 1950, the U.S. markets have experienced a decline of between 5% and 10% in 35% of all calendar years; 20% of the time a decline of 10-15%, and 17% of our last 56 stock market years have seen downturns, at some point in the year, of more than 20%.

The very fact that stock downturns scare people is one reason why stocks deliver a higher return than bonds. Economists call it the “risk premium;” which is a form of compensation for investors who tolerate the extra risk–compared to that of a risk-free asset. Over their history, stocks have delivered higher long-term returns than bonds and cash.

But you should view your investments through a financial planning filter. Before you make changes to your portfolio, you should review your goals and objectives. If they haven’t changed, then there is probably no reason to make major portfolio changes. It may be a good time though to rebalance your portfolio based on your overall goals and objectives.

Market downturns give an advantage to those who are willing to practice disciplined re-balancing among different asset classes. Basically, that means that when stocks go down, any new cash goes disproportionately into stocks to bring them back up to their former share of the overall portfolio. This approach takes the emotions out of investing.

If you’re accumulating for retirement by putting money in the market every month or quarter, each downturn means you can buy shares at a bargain price while many other investors are selling out at or near the bottom. Over time, as the market recovers, this can give a little extra kick to your overall return.

If you are in retirement, you should have 12-18 months of liquid funds available in a money market so you don’t have to sell when prices are low. As you rebalance during the year, you fill that cash “bucket” to maintain the needed liquidity.

If you are focused on your financial planning, then market downturns should not be a time to panic, but rather viewed as a normal occurrence and possibly an opportunity.

Scott M. Kahan, is a Certified Financial Planner® professional and President of Financial Asset Management Corporation, a fee-only wealth management firm located at 26 South Greeley Avenue in Chappaqua. Call 238-8900 or write to skahan@famcorporation.com.