September 1979 INFLATION – GETTING WORSE, OR BETTER IF YOU OWN SOMETHING LEVERAGED THAT’S APPRECIATING. Finished goods prices up 1.1 percent in July for an annual rate of 13.2. A reassuring report from the JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS PROJECTS A U.S. INFLATION RATE OF 140% OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS. The report states that the rate could be halved should the Government take proper measures, which is highly unlikely in an election year.

Continue reading “September 1979 Commonwealth Letters Vol. 1 No. 12”

August 1979 THE ECONOMY IS OUT OF CONTROL AND NO ONE HAS THE MEANS TO DO MUCH ABOUT IT! The Carter Administration is in disarray! Gold is on a rampage! The citizenry and their elected representatives, faced with recession, inflation, shortages, unemployment and labor unrest, seem capable of only lamenting the situation. AS A NATION, WE DON’T SEEM READY TO MAKE THE SACRIFICES AND HARD CHOICES NECESSARY TO GET THINGS BACK ON THE TRACK AGAIN. Now that Washington has proven its inability to cope, ONLY A SMALL MINORITY OF OUR POPULATION HAS ACQUIRED THE SKILLS AND DARING TO SEIZE THE INITIATIVE IN MEETING TODAY’S CHALLENGES. What does the future hold for us as small investors?

Continue reading “August 1979 Commonwealth Letters Vol. 2 No. 11”

July 1979 OVER ONE HUNDRED TRUSTEES OF THE COMMONWEALTH TRUST attended the Miller/Schaub Graduate Seminar in Denver. The “average” attendee owned over then SFH’s with many holding several multiples of that number. Trust assets represented totaled over $43,000,000.00.

Continue reading “July 1979 Commonwealth Letters Vol. 1 No. 11”

June 1979 After a couple of months on the road, I’ve just finished wading through a few hundred clippings, articles, and investment letters. Everyone seems to be trying to forecast the future in terms of his or her favorite investment medium. I must confess that my own personal crystal ball has been in the shop for several months. Oh it told me WHAT was going to happen, but it didn’t tell me WHERE or WHEN. I decided to go back to using my head and common sense in deciding how to invest. After all, there’s no “bad” or “good” news per se. there’s just “NEWS”. We see it as bad or good only in terms of the way it affects us personally. By maintaining our perspective and planning rational responses in advance we can prepare to take advantage of almost any turn of events.

Continue reading “Don’t Believe Everything You Read. . .”

May 1979 Last month we touched upon the economic commotion being caused by the Reagan budget. Looking at the “big picture” this seems to be a bloodless conflict of charts and graphs between economists of different hues and of little interest to ourselves as investors. Not so! Whereas the speculator might peruse the financial pages to see how his portfolio is doing, the long term investor must look to the front page headlines. These are the clues to the long term health of his invested capital. The headlines are turning grim!

Continue reading “Bankers /vs./borrowers – A Fight To The Finish?”

April 1979 CONDOS AND CO-OPS ARE ON THE MOVE in Chicago, New York, Washington, Boston, Houston, Santa Monica, Milwaukee, and points East, South, West, and North! IN SOME MARKETS, CONDOS ARE APPRECIATING AT A RATE 2%-3% ABOVE THE RATE FOR SINGLE FAMILY HOUSES. While we have long been leery of any involvement with Condos, the purpose of this letter is to give us all a changing perspective to match our changing times. Maybe this would be a good time to take a hard look at the ranges of opportunities in these multi-family situations.

Continue reading “Commonwealth Letters Vol. 1 No. 8”

March 1979 In most areas of the country the reports are the same regarding the house market: SALES ARE FAIR TO STRONG, PRICES ARE STILL INCREASING, AND FINANCING IS CONTINUING TO BECOME MORE DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN. People seem to have no objections to paying the high interest rates when money is available, but as practical matter people can only afford to pay so much of their disposable income for housing unless they change their traditional buying priorities. I think that AROUND THE MIDDLE OF THIS YEAR THAT THE HIGHER AND HIGHER COST OF EVERYTHING, ESPECIALLY HOUSING IS GOING TO HAVE A DAMPENING EFFECT ON NOT ONLY THE HOUSE MARKET, BUT THE WHOLE ECONOMY.

Continue reading “Commonwealth Letters Vol. 1 No. 7”

February 1979 THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS TO CONGRESS HAS BEEN GIVEN. As usual, it was filled with high-flown rhetoric about the challenges the future holds forth or our Government, coupled with clarion calls for sacrifice and perseverance on the parts of the citizen tax-payers. Once we get past all the glowing projections, I think the facts speak for themselves.

Continue reading “Commonwealth Letters Vol. 2 No. 6”

January 1979 “A title wave of new home seeking families will sweep the Unites States for the rest of the century”. That is my kind of prediction and was made by Nathaniel Rogg past Executive Vice President of the National Association of Home Builders. He bases his forecast on the number of Americans reaching 30 years of age in the next two decades. Over 84 million will achieve that fateful age in the coming twenty years compared to 55 million in the past twenty years, (over a fifty percent gain). Not bad news for the owner of a home or two or twenty.

Continue reading “Commonwealth Letters Vol. 1 No. 5”

December 1978 The 1978 Graduate Series was concluded with a total of 263 in attendance who were inducted into the CommonWealth Trust as Trustees. Through the use of advanced option and financing techniques, they will carry the burden of increasing Trust Assets while escorting them safely through the uncertain years lying just ahead. Trustees will meet in several locations throughout 1979 to consider ways in which the combined Trust Assets (which now total an estimated $67,000,000) will be preserved. Trust meetings will be announced on page 4 each month.

Continue reading “Commonwealth Letters Vol. 1 No. 4”