Muhlenkamp Library
Muhlenkamp Library

(724) 935-5520
Muhlenkamp & Company
5000 Stonewood Drive
Suite 300
Wexford, PA 15090

2024

Letter to My Daughters: On Politics and Markets

October 1st, 2024|Categories: Letters to My Daughters, Politics|

Your mother asked me to write about "The Impact of Political Uncertainty on the Markets,” which is pretty simple. The markets hate uncertainty; they hate not knowing what the rules of the game are or are going to be; and the more uncertain things are the worse the markets behave (meaning they go down and you lose money). However, there are more nuanced, subtle, and complicated impacts that politics have on markets, economies, and prosperity for individuals and nations. Over the last several months (or has it been years?), I’ve been writing to you about the importance of work, the [...]

Five Key Moves for Generation X Before Retiring

September 13th, 2024|Categories: Investing, Retirement Planning|

As Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) approaches retirement, planning is more critical than ever. Sandwiched between baby boomers and millennials, Gen Xers have faced unique economic challenges, including the dot-com bubble, the 2008 financial crisis, job changes, and, most recently, the pandemic. These experiences have reshaped retirement realities, making it essential for them to adopt proactive financial strategies. Here are five key moves to consider before hanging up the proverbial work boots: Maximize Catch-Up Contributions At age 50, Gen Xers can make “catch-up” contributions to their retirement accounts, such as 401(k)s or IRAs. These higher contribution limits are [...]

Thoughts On: The Yo-Yo Problem with Investing

September 3rd, 2024|Categories: Investing, Prices, Stocks|

The job of a professional money manager is to make people money.  As difficult as that is, the job of the client service manager can be even harder.  Client Service has to make people happy.  I used to think that if we made people money, then they would be happy.  I have learned we have to help people be happy long enough for us to make them money. Out of necessity, I have formulated some ideas about helping people be happy about their investments.  The most critical (and some might think the most obvious) lesson I have learned is that [...]

Thoughts On: Corrections, Crashes, Recessions, and Inflation

August 8th, 2024|Categories: Articles, Investing, Recession|

On Tuesday, August 6, I had two separate conversations with two very different people: a client with a million-dollar portfolio and a friend who has some Bitcoin.  And they asked the same question, “What should I do?” I had not been paying attention to the world since Thursday, so my first question was “About what?”  They replied,  “The Market!” and caught me up on all the terrifying things that were happening. Once I was up to date my immediate (and terse) response was “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”  They found that less than satisfactory and asked me to elaborate just [...]

Memorandum #151

July 29th, 2024|Categories: Memorandum|

Jeff and Ron discuss the state of the economy, inflation, the bond and stock markets, and they outline, in broad terms, their current investments. Read their insights and outlook in their Quarterly Letter.  Tony Muhlenkamp writes “Letter to My Daughters: On Financial Freedom” where he offers his fundamental principles that point you in the direction towards financial independence. Link to full PDF: Memorandum #151, April 2024

Letter to My Daughters: On Financial Freedom

July 11th, 2024|Categories: Letters to My Daughters, Saving|

Your Grandpa and your Uncle Jeff have written a LOT about how to work, save, and invest.  So you should read Grandpa’s book[1] and Uncle Jeff’s article because I’m not going to repeat what they have already written.  Instead, I want to talk about some fundamental principles that I think are the core for being free financially.  If you really own these ideas everything else will fall into place. 1.        Be a profit center.  Before you can save a nickel (or a dime, or better yet a quarter) you have to make a dollar.  And at your age, that’s probably [...]

The Language of Investing

June 3rd, 2024|Categories: News, Risk|

So much of our conversation assumes that each word has only one meaning, no matter who uses it.  But my experience is that different people have different definitions for the same words–which is one reason I think there is so much confusion surrounding investing today, and why I think it is useful to look at the multiple definitions that exist for some common investment terms. I want to start with what most people might think are statements of investment fact, but that I think are statements of investment opinion: Statement 1:  Stocks are riskier than bonds. Statement 2:  You [...]

Thoughts On: Active and Passive Investing

May 3rd, 2024|Categories: Investing|

I had the opportunity to talk with students in the Finance Department at Duquesne University about Active and Passive Investing. We covered a LOT of ground in a short period of time and ran into the problem of trying to drink from a fire hose. So, I’m writing on the topic in the hope of a more coherent presentation. The topic of Active and Passive Investing suffers from a severe bootstrap problem because each term has multiple definitions, the concepts have changed over time, and you keep having to go one level deeper to make sense of things. It’s fascinating, [...]

Letter to My Daughters: On What Grandpa Taught me

April 3rd, 2024|Categories: Investing, Letters to My Daughters, Saving|

Girls, you know how I can get sentimental about family sometimes. This is one of those times. As you continue to make your way in the world, I think about how much Grandpa has tried to teach me over the years, and how important it is to me to pass those ideas along to you. Here are my “Top 10”: 90% of life is mental. This includes work, school, sports, happiness, everything. Your body, heart and soul will follow your mind. Decide you are a hard worker, decide you are happy, and you will find that you are IN FACT those [...]

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