Skip to content
Business
Link copied to clipboard

Investor events, seminars, and books for holiday season

Give yourself the gift of investment education.

FINTECH concept . US Dollar banknotes and technology finance icons background, Representing the cryptocurrency or digital money , Financial technology
FINTECH concept . US Dollar banknotes and technology finance icons background, Representing the cryptocurrency or digital money , Financial technologyRead moreBlockchain

Want to learn how the 2018 midterm election results might affect business and economic policy? Taxes, regulations, and spending and Federal Reserve interest rate policy?

The American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) will hold an event Tuesday titled "The Impact of the Midterm Election on the Economy and Small Business," with speaker William Dunkelberg, professor emeritus at Temple University and chief economist of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Before the midterm elections, small business job openings, job creation, capital spending, inventory, and investment plans were all at record levels. Record numbers of National Federation of Independent Business  members reported higher earnings.

Post-election, Dunkelberg will analyze the latest data to help investors. He was dean of Temple's School of Business and Management from 1987 to 1994, and currently serves as economic strategist at Boenning & Scattergood, a West Conshohocken investment firm.

Registration begins at 6 p.m. and the program starts at 7 at Bryn Mawr College Park Science Center, Lecture Hall 25, Bryn Mawr.

To sign up online, visit the AAII's Meetup site www.meetup.com/AAII-Philadelphia-Chapter or come in person. Fee at the door: $17 per person. Students with ID pay $5 per person, and it's open to the public.

On Wednesday, Fortis Wealth holds a seminar to address facts and confusion surrounding Social Security and Medicare benefits. The talk, "Medicare and Social Security 101," features Bill Wehmeyer and Chris Huber from Benefit Consulting Group.

The event takes place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Fortis Wealth's office, 1045 First Ave., Suite 120, King of Prussia.

The event is free and open to the public, but to attend you must RSVP to fortisevents@fortis-wealth.com.

(P.S. We've written about a recent boom in robo-calls for Medicare and other health insurance policies, preying on seniors. Medicare annual election is complicated and confusing enough without scammers hunting for unsuspecting seniors. Beware phone calls that come from unsolicited sales people trying to sell you insurance. Don't ever give your personal information over the phone, unless you contact Medicare or your insurance company directly.)

BetterInvesting's Philadelphia chapter will host Doug Gerlach Day on Saturday at the Super Giant Community Center (second floor) at 315 York Rd., Willow Grove.

Financial author and investment instructor Doug Gerlach, president of Iclubcentral Inc., a subsidiary of BetterInvesting, will speak at the BetterInvesting Investor Fair on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Topics include analysis of good-quality growth stocks due to the impact of China, tariffs and interest rates, as well as understanding risk, volatility and reward.  Gerlach will also help understand the pros and cons of buying a particular stock, and how to diagnose problem stocks in a portfolio.

Cost is $20 and includes lunch. The event is open to the public.

BetterInvesting (www.betterinvesting.org) is a nonprofit organization whose aim is to teach individuals how to become successful long-term investors through the use of investing principles, online tools for evaluating a company's investment potential, webinars and events.

Advance registration is requested at www.eventbrite.com/e/current-market-and-economy-overview-with-doug-gerlach-tickets-37982004197.

For more information, contact Gloria Mankonen by email (contact@philly.betterinvesting.net) or call 215-796-1214.

Finally, Wharton School professor Kevin Werbach's new book on the underlying technology blockchain hits shelves this week.

The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust was published this month by MIT Press, and attempts to answer why the world's most powerful companies and governments are excited about a technology beloved by criminals and radicals, and why people invest their money — or their trust—in mysterious cryptocurrencies seemingly based on nothing.

"In an era when trust in institutions is collapsing, the blockchain offers hope: Shared ledgers of information that no one controls but everyone can believe. Since its emergence a decade ago with the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, the blockchain has spawned hundreds of companies, billions of dollars of investment, and adoption by companies ranging from the New York Stock Exchange to Walmart," Werbach notes.