Rather than engage in the sort of selective retention that so many investors tend to do and pretend mistakes never happened, I prefer to 'own' them. This allows me to learn from them and, with any luck, avoid making the same errors again.

'Returnless risk' is not how you prepare for a decent retirement.

Maybe the reason the VIX has dropped so low is that the options guys in Chicago are so exhausted from watching the Cubs,

We very much benefited this year from the still-low interest rates, with the Home Depot's and Lowe's of the world doing well, ... The whole universe of homebuilders and mortgagers did really well, too, but as interest rates continue to rise next year, that's going to dry up some.

There is a lot of economic news to digest between now and the next meeting. If we see economic signs that are positive, then that would encourage the Fed to stay on the course of gradual rate hikes, but if things slow down then maybe they would skip a meeting or two.

We've seen expectations cut and cut and cut. When you lower the bar enough, eventually it becomes easy enough to hurdle over.

When you see a 250-point spurt like that in less than two months, that's not sustainable. What this pullback is doing, and I think will continue to do, is bring us back to a more sustainable level.

We've got a nice snapback today. We got shellacked over the last few days, so it's not surprising to see a little bounce back.

When you stop and think about it, if the Fed were to pause, what does it actually do for anybody ... in the afflicted Gulf region? At this point they're more concerned with basic food and shelter and not really comparison-shopping for mortgages.

You want less of the annoying nonsense that interferes with your portfolios and more of the significant data that allow you to become a less distracted, more purposeful investor.