Wealth Building Strategies

Renewables Boomed In 2019, But This Year May Be Different

Posted by Irina Slav

on Wednesday, 8 April 2020 9:24

Renewable energy projects constituted three-quarters of all new power generation capacity projects in the world last year, the International Renewable Energy Agency said in a new report. In even better news, IRENA said that renewable capacity additions rose by 7.6 percent last year and that they exceeded fossil fuel power-generation capacity additions by a factor of 2.6.

2019 was a good year for renewables, it seems, with solar and wind accounting for as much as 90 percent of the total. And yet the 176 GW added during that year was lower than the 179 GW added in 2018 in new capacity, suggesting a slowdown in new solar and wind additions, which may or may not be surprising given a change in the Chinese subsidy regime for new renewable projects and cost-efficiency considerations.

“While the trajectory is positive, more is required to put global energy on a path with sustainable development and climate mitigation – both of which offer significant economic benefits,” said the head of IRENA, Francesco La Camera. “At this challenging time, we are reminded of the importance of building resilience into our economies. In what must be the decade of action, enabling policies are needed to increase investments and accelerate renewables adoption.” CLICK for complete article

Warren Buffett’s Advice on How Investors Should Respond to a Super-Contagious Disease

Posted by Keith Speights

on Monday, 23 March 2020 9:59

If there’s one person investors should listen to during a market correction, it’s Warren Buffett. At age 89, Buffett has lived through quite a few downturns. And he’s made out pretty well: His net worth is in the ballpark of $85 billion.

Through the years, the Oracle of Omaha has given a lot of great advice in his annual letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. He has even written about a specific approach for how investors should handle a “super-contagious” disease.

It’s not what you think

Warren Buffett has been interviewed in recent days about his thoughts about what investors should do in response to the global coronavirus outbreak. His take was that it wasn’t a good idea to buy or sell stocks based on daily headlines. But that’s not the advice I’m referring to.

In early 1987, Buffett wrote to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders about what to do in the face of an epidemic. This was, of course, way before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus that’s causing worldwide concerns today. It was even before the avian flu, Ebola, SARS, or MERS made the news.

But more than 30 years ago, Buffett addressed two “super-contagious diseases.” He told readers that there are “occasional outbreaks” of these diseases and that they will “forever occur.” Buffett admitted, though, that “the timing of these epidemics will be unpredictable,” cautioning to “never try to anticipate the arrival or departure of either disease.”

What were these two diseases? Fear and greed among investors. Buffett stated that his goal to deal with these “epidemics” was “to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.”

Time to be greedy

There’s no question that plenty of investors are fearful right now. The so-called fear index — the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) — has skyrocketed over the past couple of weeks. When the VIX goes up a lot, it’s a clear sign that many investors are scared. If you think that Warren Buffett was right in 1987, though, that means it’s time to be greedy….CLICK for complete article

COVID Crisis Update

Posted by Dr. James Thorne

on Friday, 6 March 2020 10:34

Dr. James Thorne, a regular on MoneyTalks was kind enough to send us this report on the seriousness of the COVID 19 crisis and its emotional affects on the market. ~Ed. Over the past week, global stock markets experienced the most severe 5-day market correction in history.  As news of the global spread of Covid-19 intensified, fears of a global pandemic increased.  The three major US market indices, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, The NASDAQ composite, and the S&P 500 fell more than 10% from the record peaks achieved a few weeks ago.  In 5 short days, the markets went from the euphoria of record highs to extreme fear.  In our 2020 market outlook presentation we examine the most recent work by Dr. Robert F. Shiller, “Narrative Economics: How Stories go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events”. Click here for full article

Inside the ‘Growth Machine’ that Made Vancouver World Class Unaffordable

Posted by Christopher Cheung, TheTyee.ca

on Wednesday, 19 February 2020 10:29

Our friends over at Hawkeye Wealth sent us this fascinating article on the events that lead Vancouver’s real estate market to become the “growth machine” that it is.  ~Ed.  

For years in British Columbia, the elected powers looked at rising home prices and saw that it was good. It’s “a challenge that virtually every other jurisdiction would like to have,” said former BC Liberal finance minister Mike de Jong in 2016. Such is the gospel of growth.

In 1976, sociologist Harvey Molotch wrote of the alliance between government and the development industry to intensify land use. Molotch called it the “growth machine,” where…click here for full article.

How The Continued Rise Of Nationalism Will Hit Real Estate Capital Flows And Values

Posted by Mike Phillips, Bisnow London

on Wednesday, 22 January 2020 10:01

Because most people employed in real estate today have only ever worked in a globalised world, it can be hard to imagine how it could be any other way. But the prevailing mood around the world is increasingly opposed to globalisation, with political and economic nationalism and protectionism on the rise. From Brexit, to President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and America-first policies, to an increasingly…Click here for full article.