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TESTIMONIAL

"Karen was excellent at turning Ken Polcari's notes, which were heavily technical, into narrative-driven content that was friendly to a wide investment audience. I am a technical trader myself, but I read the 'Kenny (Karen's Version)"' articles instead of his."

- Dawn Pennington, Editorial Director, Weiss Ratings

★★★★★

Featured Bylined Articles

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below.
DataCenterKnowledge •

Investing in Millennials, "the Next IT Buyers"

In the summary of his upcoming Data Center World session focused on managing millennials, Shawn Mills, president and CEO of Green House Data, points out that, “smart organizations will strive to appreciate and understand millennials—as many are entering their mid-30s—because this group is poised to become the next IT buyer.”They’re already the most reliant on and the biggest buyers of technology in general, so it stands to reason that a career in data centers might be very attractive to the coll...
Medscape •

Are You Leaving Tax Money on the Table?

As the 2017 tax season enters the final stretch, hopefully you've either already met with your CPA and filed your taxes or prepared them yourself ahead of the April 18 deadline, like the majority of Americans.
If you are expecting a refund, you are in the majority. Of the 152 million returns processed by the IRS last year, nearly 111 million resulted in a check from Uncle Sam, averaging $2857, according to IRS statistics.
Yet, many physicians pay far more in taxes to the government t...
TaxRise •

Your Four-Step Action Plan As Shutdown Paralyzes IRS

What’s good for the goose is definitely not good for the gander when it comes to the IRS. Here we are 30+ days into a federal government shutdown with many officials taking extremely long siestas (getting paid, too, by the way). And as a taxpayer, you might be thinking, "Well, if they're not working, maybe I get a break on my payments, or can put off returning that document, right?"
Wrong.
The stark reality is that the IRS has made it crystal clear that “all tax deadlines remain in effect,” and...
Weiss Ratings •

The Inevitable Ebb in the Post-Election Wave

I don’t have to tell you that stocks have shot up since the recent election. What’s interesting, though, is the exuberance that comes with indexes blasting through round numbers. Many experts refer to those as psychologically important levels.

The broad-based S&P 500, for example, now sits right at 6,000. That gives it a current year-to-date gain of 25%.

That’s a lot. The big-cap index is lucky to rise 10% in any single year.

In fact, it’s hard to name one group of investments that hasn’t go...
Weiss Ratings •

AI and PCs Enter a Money-Making Marriage

PCs don’t get much love anymore. And major developments for desktops come far and few between. However, the biggest advancement for this taken-for-granted industry in more than 20 years is being made right now.

And this may be just what AI needs to reach that final, elusive stage in its development cycle: widespread adoption.

That’s good news because, if you look at Gartner’s Hype Cycle chart (below), AI is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Or, as Gartner calls it, between the “Peak of...
Weiss Ratings •

AI is Dead in the Water Without This Resource

AI is destined to become the most impactful technology since the advent of the internet. But it’s dead in the water without enough key resources.

As a result, AI is also proving to be challenging to implement.

Early on, we discovered that super chips and GPU servers were key to furthering the development of AI.

Then we learned that many data centers charged with housing these massive servers lacked adequate infrastructure to support AI.

That would also be the case if data centers — including...
Weiss Ratings •

4 Stocks to Buy After CrowdStrike Disaster

I’d love to be able to breathe a sigh of relief now that we know the cause of the “largest IT outage in history,” as experts describe the July 19 debacle.

I mean, the fact that neither a security issue nor savvy, AI-armed cybercriminals had anything to do with it should be comforting.

We should all be shouting from the rooftops that malice didn’t play any role in crashing 8.5 million devices running Microsoft (MSFT) Windows that day.

But, alas, the (alleged) root causes are even more disturbi...
Weiss Ratings •

How to Play the Private Pickleball Investing Game

Happy Labor Day! We hope you get a chance to take a break from your own labor and spend some time with your family today. Maybe have a barbecue … or enjoy your pool one last time … or even try your hand at pickleball.

Pickleball, a cross between ping-pong and tennis, has become the fastest-growing sport in the U.S.

Some 4.8 million people now play, almost double the number from five years ago, according to the Sports and Fitness Association.

Even if you have yet to pick up a paddle and try...
Weiss Ratings •

Hacker-Created AI Is No Stranger to This Cybersecurity Pioneer

Happy Cybersecurity Awareness Month again! In last week’s article, I addressed how the use and misuse of Open AI’s ChatGPT by 100 million-plus people over just two months is setting the stage for a cybersecurity nightmare. However, on the flip side of the coin, AI is also creating surging new revenue streams for companies fighting on the front lines of the ongoing cyberwar.

After all, it’s just a matter of time before more AI-based apps burst onto the scene — some prematurely — making cybercr...
Weiss Ratings •

Bear Market Math Can Come Back to Bite You

If you’re the kind of investor who skids through stop losses and other technical signals, I’d like to introduce you to bear market math.It just might change your mind about how you do — or don’t — manage risk.In fact, not being familiar with the math of investing is one of the biggest mistakes average investors can make.They assume that a stock down by 10% merely needs 10% to recover. Unfortunately, that’s not even close to what happens in reality.The cold, hard truth is tha...

Ghost-Written Articles

Here are some of the articles I've ghostwritten over the years.

TaxRise •

Gambling Grows Riskier, IRS Grows Richer in 2026 | TaxRise

You play Bingo occasionally, mostly to socialize. And ever since winning $1,000 on a scratch-off lottery ticket last year, you make weekly stops at the corner market.
Finally, on your annual winter escape to Sin City, you bet on the Super Bowl like you always do. You then spend the balance of your time, eating and wrestling with one-armed bandits on the Las Vegas Strip.
You mostly gamble for fun, realizing the odds are always stacked against you and with the house.
When you do win, though, you d...
Weiss Ratings •

6 Startup ‘Tells’ to Keep You Safe

I have terrible news to share that many other private equity and pre-public investors wouldn’t even acknowledge … Startup scams have increased 250% since 2013.But … I’ve also been diligent in this time frame to dissect and identify these scammers. And I'm here today to show you everything that I do to avoid being suckered by con artists.As you know, scams and frauds are not new. I wish it weren’t true, but it's an unfortunate reality in the world of finance.Think about crypt...
Weiss Ratings •

3 Hidden Truths About Startup Investing

Startup investing can be as frustrating as it is lucrative.
Let’s say you conduct due diligence researching a potential investment opportunity and decide the startup is worthy of your support. However, as soon as the amount hits their bank account, the founders whiplash you like an old rickety roller coaster.

They move on and leave you in the dark in record speed. No updates, no emails, no news, no thank you. No idea if the startup is even still in business.

Getting the c...
Weiss Ratings •

3 Red Flags to Avoid Losing Millions on Startups

As you probably already know, I love startups, investing in startups and talking to founders. I especially love educating new investors.That’s because private equity can be tricky, and it’s not good to go into it  mindlessly.So many of us want to be able to put $100 into a project one day … and talk about making millions the next. But with so many moving parts, it’s not that simple and pocketing big bucks won’t happen overnight. That said, most sound startups will eventually...
Weiss Ratings •

How to Adopt a Foolproof Exit Strategy

by Kenny Polcari

I am not a big fan of moving the goal posts — further or closer — but the Federal Reserve apparently is very fond of the practice.You know what I’m talking about: You set a goal; maybe it is an amount of money you want to save over the next three months or you want to set a personal record on your next round of golf.Let us say in either situation, you unfortunately fall short of your goal. Instead of saving harder or taking a putting lesson or two, you simply come up with e...
Weiss Ratings •

Banks: Which Will Fail First in 2024?

Here’s a topic that’s probably long gone from your memory: banks. Whilst the failure of four regional banks dominated headlines and people’s attention early last year, they managed to stay under the radar in the second half of 2023. But now that some of the biggest banks kicked off earnings season last Friday, they’re back in the spotlight.

As Weiss’s Director of Research and Ratings, though, I never stop thinking about them. And as we start a new year, I can’t help but question if there will...
Weiss Ratings •

Auto Stocks Are Too Bloody Risky to Own

The auto industry is one of, if not the, most economically sensitive industries.  That’s a historical truth, but probably never truer than it is today.

High interest rates make it more expensive to finance autos. Consumers face crippling costs for food, gas and housing, so they’re not exactly clamoring to buy big-ticket items.

Inventories rise and fall due to kinks in supply chains (i.e., computer chips from China). Empty lots push up prices, and higher prices discourage buyers.

It's a pretty...
Weiss Ratings •

Tame the Insurance Firestorm with These Industry Rock Stars

What’s that? You don’t live in Mother Nature’s most frequented places like Florida, California, Arizona, Colorado or Texas?

Count your blessings, but don’t waste a lot of energy doing so. It’s just a matter of time before the insurance firestorm in those places spreads to your state, too.

I’ve learned a thing or two after 15 years in the insurance ratings business, one of which is that most firms do a fantastic job “talking out of both sides of their mouths.”

In public, they plead poverty as...