In May, Money Grab visited Amsterdam. I kept looking for dikes and windmills, but it turns out there’s only one windmill left in Amsterdam and all the dikes are by the ocean, not in the city. What the city does have plenty of is bicycles, which are the preferred mode of transportation. I almost got [...]
Behind the Book
Turning to Mysteries: Trust No One by Paul Cleave
In his mystery Trust No One, New Zealand writer Paul Cleve pushes the concept of the “unreliable narrator” to new heights. Protagonist Jerry Grey, a writer of crime novels under the pseudonym Henry Cutter, has developed early-onset Alzheimer’s at age 49 and finds himself unable to distinguish between fiction and reality. He confesses that some [...]
Should You Sell in May?
A familiar saying on Wall Street is “Sell in May and go away,” which means you should sell your stocks and move to cash until later in the fall. There is evidence to back up this strategy. According to Doug Ramsey of Leuthold Group, since 1926 annualized stock performance from November through April has been [...]
Money Grab Book Launch
I had a wonderful time at my talk at The Woman's Club of Richmond and at Money Grab's book launch. Thanks to Kelly Justice of Fountain Bookstore for all of her help!
Money Grab Visits the Homestead
Over Easter weekend, Money Grab traveled to Hot Springs, Virginia to visit the Omni Homestead Resort, first established in 1766. Twenty-three U.S. presidents have visited the resort, famous for its mineral waters, nationally ranked golf courses, and variety of indoor and outdoor activities, including tennis, horseback riding, and falconry. The Easter bunny, dancing spring flowers [...]
Turning to Mysteries: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Author Ruth Ware, riding the popularity of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, has published The Woman in Cabin 10. Like The Girl on the Train, Ware’s book has an unreliable narrator. Did journalist Lo Blacklock, who is prone to panic attacks, really witness a murder? Or was it just a hallucination brought on by [...]
Picking Winning Stocks
What if your team lost 90% of its games year after year? Would you stick with it? Most active fund managers are facing this dilemma. The SPIVA® U.S. Year-End Scorecard for 2016, issued by S&P Global, shows that over the past fifteen years, the performance of 92% of large-cap fund managers, 95% of mid-cap managers, [...]
Travel Tips: St. Martin
Money Grab has several scenes set in the Caribbean Island of St. Martin, which is half French and half Dutch (St. Maarten). The French side has topless and nude (Orient Bay) beaches and marvelous restaurants. The Dutch side has cruise ships, casinos and festive street markets. Parts of the island are incredibly lush, with beautiful [...]
Turning to Mysteries: In the Woods by Tana French
In the Woods by Tana French is one of my favorite mysteries ever. It’s set in Ireland, where three children disappear overnight in the woods behind their homes. The next day one of them is discovered clinging to a tree, scratched and bloody, with no memory of what happened. The other two are never found. [...]
The Odds of Madness in March
March Madness means college basketball, that wild scramble to the final 64-team roster in the NCAA tournament. Sports fans eagerly toss money in the pot and fill out brackets to predict the winner. It’s a classic risk/reward decision - should you bet on the top teams, or go for the long shot? Money Grab has [...]