Juggling Dynamite

Mark Z. Jacobson is Director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program and Professor of Civil and Environmental  Engineering at Stanford University. He seeks to understand air pollution and global warming problems and to develop large-scale clean, renewable energy solutions to these major and urgent problems. His most recent book, published by Cambridge University Press, is titled 100 Percent Clean, Renewable Energy and Storage for Everything. The book is the culmination of Dr. Jacobson’s life’s work on transitioning the world to 100% clean, renewable energy, and it examines the technologies, economics, and social/political aspects of that transition.

On February 9, as part of the Joint Declaration of the Global 100% Renewable Energy Strategy Group, Dr. Jacobson joined other leading climate scientists and experts to propose a 10 point declaration to transform the world’s energy supply to 100% renewable energy. This statement will be specifically published in support of President Biden’s United States climate change agenda.

Here is a direct audio link.  You can skip the preamble by advancing the play bar to the 3-minute mark.

Rob Carrick’s Globe article last week bemoans a “second-opinion desert” for unbiased financial and portfolio reviews.  Noting a few online review services, Carrick concludes they are really designed as “sales promotion” for financial products and services.  That’s true, and it’s unfortunate because, particularly in the present financial mayhem, individuals are badly in need of unbiased, risk-assessments and insight on their holdings, plans and approaches. See What to do if you want feedback on your portfolio.  Here’s the gist:

In a hot stock market like we have now, we’re all genius investors. But realists know the test of smart do-it-yourself investing is to consistently generate the returns you need over long periods of time. If you have doubts about that, a second opinion makes sense.

Unfortunately, our current investing landscape is mostly a second-opinion desert.

…with newbies flooding into DIY investing these days, it’s a done deal that many are riding the wave and not thinking about the future much. A portfolio-health check, simplistic as it is, is better than flying blind into the next market downturn.

Not just do-it-yourselfers (DIYs), those with so-called ‘professional’ broker/fund/portfolio service providers can also benefit from a sober review and assessment.  The trouble is that in an equity culture dominated by product-underwriting, sales, services and firms, second-opinions often leave recipients none-the-wiser.

Even when wise financial counsel is found, many are not receptive and only look to change service-providers and approaches after major loss episodes.  Similar customer-migration patterns happen at the bottom of every cycle.  See this excellent article from The Medium for more insight on today’s mayhem: Everyone wants to get rich, and it’s driving us crazy.

In financial manias, the saying goes that ‘genius is before the fall.’  In real life, proactive review and sober risk management are a ‘genius’ with lasting benefits.

As forensic accountant Harry Markopulous explained in this interview from November, fraud has become rampant over the past decade enabled by lax regulation, complicit accounting firms and financial advisors and investors who are keen for gains but remiss in due diligence.  These factors all played a role in this recent Canadian story and thousands of others.

It was one of the biggest financial frauds in Canadian history. Millions of dollars were stolen from pensioners and every-day investors, some who lost their life savings. A judge convicted three Montreal men, including the founder of the once high-profile Quebec animation company Cinar. But while the perpetrators were sent to jail, a question persisted: Where was the missing money? Mark Kelley takes viewers on a journey searching for the missing millions, a story that includes secret accounts, exotic tax havens and even the Mafia. “The missing millions” airs on CBC Television on February 25.

Here is a direct video link.