I am willing to bet that more than a few readers have experienced the painful medical condition that I suffered about a decade ago.  It started soon after the birth of my son. I was awakened in the middle of the night with a searing pain in my abdomen that radiated up into my chest. At first, I was terrified, thinking I was having a heart attack.  Fortunately, the hospital was less than a mile away from our home. I decided to drive myself to the emergency room to avoid waking my family.#-ad_banner-# The emergency room personnel determined that the… Read More

I am willing to bet that more than a few readers have experienced the painful medical condition that I suffered about a decade ago.  It started soon after the birth of my son. I was awakened in the middle of the night with a searing pain in my abdomen that radiated up into my chest. At first, I was terrified, thinking I was having a heart attack.  Fortunately, the hospital was less than a mile away from our home. I decided to drive myself to the emergency room to avoid waking my family.#-ad_banner-# The emergency room personnel determined that the source of the pain wasn’t my heart and that there was nothing wrong with my gastrointestinal region. By that time, the pain had faded, and the hospital gave me a clean bill of health, along with a prescription for painkillers.  Several days later, the debilitating pain returned. It lasted a few hours and then began to fade again.  This began to occur at least once a week, and I visited several medical facilities to determine the cause. No one was able to diagnose the cause, and painkillers remained the only solution to help me stay functional when the pain started. … Read More

I am willing to bet that more than a few readers have experienced the painful medical condition that I suffered about a decade ago.  It started soon after the birth of my son. I was awakened in the middle of the night with a searing pain in my abdomen that radiated up into my chest. At first, I was terrified, thinking I was having a heart attack.  Fortunately, the hospital was less than a mile away from our home. I decided to drive myself to the emergency room to avoid waking my family.#-ad_banner-# The emergency room personnel determined that the… Read More

I am willing to bet that more than a few readers have experienced the painful medical condition that I suffered about a decade ago.  It started soon after the birth of my son. I was awakened in the middle of the night with a searing pain in my abdomen that radiated up into my chest. At first, I was terrified, thinking I was having a heart attack.  Fortunately, the hospital was less than a mile away from our home. I decided to drive myself to the emergency room to avoid waking my family.#-ad_banner-# The emergency room personnel determined that the source of the pain wasn’t my heart and that there was nothing wrong with my gastrointestinal region. By that time, the pain had faded, and the hospital gave me a clean bill of health, along with a prescription for painkillers.  Several days later, the debilitating pain returned. It lasted a few hours and then began to fade again.  This began to occur at least once a week, and I visited several medical facilities to determine the cause. No one was able to diagnose the cause, and painkillers remained the only solution to help me stay functional when the pain started. … Read More

I am willing to bet that more than a few readers have experienced the painful medical condition that I suffered about a decade ago.  It started soon after the birth of my son. I was awakened in the middle of the night with a searing pain in my abdomen that radiated up into my chest. At first, I was terrified, thinking I was having a heart attack.  Fortunately, the hospital was less than a mile away from our home. I decided to drive myself to the emergency room to avoid waking my family.#-ad_banner-# The emergency room personnel determined that the… Read More

I am willing to bet that more than a few readers have experienced the painful medical condition that I suffered about a decade ago.  It started soon after the birth of my son. I was awakened in the middle of the night with a searing pain in my abdomen that radiated up into my chest. At first, I was terrified, thinking I was having a heart attack.  Fortunately, the hospital was less than a mile away from our home. I decided to drive myself to the emergency room to avoid waking my family.#-ad_banner-# The emergency room personnel determined that the source of the pain wasn’t my heart and that there was nothing wrong with my gastrointestinal region. By that time, the pain had faded, and the hospital gave me a clean bill of health, along with a prescription for painkillers.  Several days later, the debilitating pain returned. It lasted a few hours and then began to fade again.  This began to occur at least once a week, and I visited several medical facilities to determine the cause. No one was able to diagnose the cause, and painkillers remained the only solution to help me stay functional when the pain started. … Read More

Recently, I had the privilege of test-driving a new Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) electric sports car.  Growing up in the gearhead culture of Pittsburgh, I wasn’t expecting to be impressed. My uncle’s business sponsored a drag-racing team, and I spent many Sunday afternoons watching from the sidelines as an elementary school… Read More

The presidency of the United States is a position of privilege and power.  Although presidential power is tightly controlled by the Constitution and Congress, the office remains the most influential position on Earth. This political and social influence enables the president to strike up friendships and business relationships with powerful… Read More

I live in the Northeast region of the United States. Having purchased a home in 1998, I experienced firsthand the wild price appreciation between then and early 2006.  Homes in my neighborhood tripled in value during this heady time. Nothing seemed financially impossible… Read More

For a brief time in 1991, there was no question that I was going to earn a fortune.  By making a few lucky stock and option trades, I had accumulated a modest sum of trading capital in my brokerage account. Knowing that the United States was about to invade Iraq, I had no doubts that the markets would plunge as fears of Iraq’s weapons and military capacity reached a fever pitch around the globe. I decided to short the… Read More

For a brief time in 1991, there was no question that I was going to earn a fortune.  By making a few lucky stock and option trades, I had accumulated a modest sum of trading capital in my brokerage account. Knowing that the United States was about to invade Iraq, I had no doubts that the markets would plunge as fears of Iraq’s weapons and military capacity reached a fever pitch around the globe. I decided to short the market with all of my meager funds. Knowing that the U.S. would invade any day, buying put options on the S&P 100 index provided the most return for when the market plunged. As fate would have it, my timing on the invasion was dead on — the U.S. launched the first airstrike the day after I purchased the put options.#-ad_banner-# But I couldn’t have been more wrong with the direction of the market. U.S. Read More

For a brief time in 1991, there was no question that I was going to earn a fortune.  By making a few lucky stock and option trades, I had accumulated a modest sum of trading capital in my brokerage account. Knowing that the United States was about to invade Iraq, I had no doubts that the markets would plunge as fears of Iraq’s weapons and military capacity reached a fever pitch around the globe. I decided to short the… Read More

For a brief time in 1991, there was no question that I was going to earn a fortune.  By making a few lucky stock and option trades, I had accumulated a modest sum of trading capital in my brokerage account. Knowing that the United States was about to invade Iraq, I had no doubts that the markets would plunge as fears of Iraq’s weapons and military capacity reached a fever pitch around the globe. I decided to short the market with all of my meager funds. Knowing that the U.S. would invade any day, buying put options on the S&P 100 index provided the most return for when the market plunged. As fate would have it, my timing on the invasion was dead on — the U.S. launched the first airstrike the day after I purchased the put options.#-ad_banner-# But I couldn’t have been more wrong with the direction of the market. U.S. Read More

Gold and silver have always been and will always be many investors’ favorite precious metals. The summer sell-off and subsequent bounce in gold and silver has reignited investment fever in the commodities. Traders often substitute silver for gold… Read More

The stock market is one fickle beast.  Without rhyme or reason, investor sentiment can change direction like leaf being blown by a breeze. A company can be on top of the world one day with a soaring… Read More