Clearing Up Confusion About New Social Security Rules
As you may have heard, there have been some drastic changes to Social Security regarding the file-and-suspend and restricted application methods of filing. These changes were announced back in October 2015 when Congress passed their 2016 budget. (You can read more about the specifics of these changes in this article.) As expected, there has been […]
Tax Efficiency: Index Funds vs. Actively Managed Funds
Tax season is in full swing, which may bring up many questions and considerations about your investments. Am I saving in the most tax-efficient locations for my financial situation? Are my individual investments tax-efficient as well? A recent article by Vanguard discusses how broadly based index funds are more tax-efficient than actively managed funds. Rockbridge […]
Market Commentary January 2016
Stock Markets In 2015, domestic large cap stocks (S&P 500) and REITs were up while other markets were down – emerging markets were off big! The positive results in the S&P 500 were driven by just two stocks – Amazon and Google. Otherwise it would have looked like other market indices. These results, I think, […]
The Problem With Diversification – Emerging Markets
One of the tenets of successful long-term investing is the practice of portfolio diversification. Through diversification, investors can increase their expected long-term return for a given level of risk (volatility). This is accomplished by investing in assets that are not perfectly correlated to one another, but each asset individually has a positive expected return. This […]
What’s Happening At Rockbridge
2015 was an exciting year of growth and change at Rockbridge. Market returns were less than ideal for the year, but we continue to see growth in our fee-only business model as prospective clients seek out unbiased advice and professional investment management. We are the leading fee-only investment management firm in Central New York, managing […]
Investing and Action Movies
When we go to a good action flick, we enjoy the suspense and surprises, but no one wants that experience when investing. James Bond and Mission Impossible would not be box office hits without some interesting plot twists, and an occasional victory by the villain, and yet the end result is usually something we expect […]
Road to Rockbridge
Our Rockbridge team is continuing to grow, and as a new member, I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Lisa Cellucci. I was born, raised, and educated right here in Syracuse. Even as a little girl, I always loved math and numbers. But maybe even more than math and […]
You, Your Financial Well-Bring and the Federal Reserve
It’s been nearly a decade in the making, but time has finally come: On December 16, 2015, the U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed) raised the federal funds rate by 0.25 percent. In and of itself, it’s a small move. But it’s being reported as “a historic moment,” since it’s the first federal funds rate increase […]
The Devil’s Financial Dictionary
There is an endless amount of terminology that surrounds the finance and investment industries. It can certainly be confusing to the average investor, and may be responsible for some uncertainty when it comes to how to invest and which advisor to trust. The Devil’s Financial Dictionary is a book that has recently been released by […]
Surprising New Changes To Social Security
Recently, Congress included surprising Social Security rule changes in the 2016 budget legislation. The bill has now become law and the updated rules will become permanent over a phase-in time period. We wanted to reach out to all of our clients to help better explain what you may be hearing in the news and describe […]