Investor Behavior: Market Timing Pitfalls
Dalbar, an independent communications and research firm, has done countless studies trying to quantify the impact of investor behavior on real-life returns. Their studies focus on the difference between investors’ actual returns in stock funds to the average return of the funds themselves. Basically, they are comparing the return the investor gets to the return […]
Four Ways the Financial Media Causes Investors Harm
ONE: Focus on the near term. A recent headline reads, Anxious financial advisers scale back summer vacations. “Still haunted by the 2008 financial crisis, many financial advisers are scaling back their summer vacations or giving up on them entirely. Many are afraid to be out of the office in case this is the third straight […]
Market Commentary July 2012
Equity markets had a rough second quarter. For the period ending June 30, 2012 the S&P 500 index (large stocks) was down 2.8%, the Russell 2000 index (small stocks) was down 3.5%, and the MSCI EAFE index (international stocks) was down 6.9%. The international index might have seen a double-digit decline were it not for […]
Financial Planning Etiquette: Clients First!
“The interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about money.” This is a direct quotation from Greg Smith’s recent op-ed that he penned after stepping down as a senior executive of Goldman Sachs. Holding himself up as a man of integrity, Mr. Smith couldn’t stand working […]
What About Bonds?
Bonds will be a terrible investment over the next 10 years. That is the conventional wisdom in the investment community lately. “Bonds are the worst asset class for investors,” says Professor Burton Malkiel, the author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street, in an opinion piece published in late March in The Wall Street Journal. […]
Market Commentary April 2012
Equity markets got off to an outstanding start in 2012. Returns for the first three months represented the best yearly start since 1998, as the S&P 500 was up 12.6%. As you can see in the chart, equity markets were generally up 11%-13% with emerging markets up 14%. The broad bond market essentially broke even […]
The 2012 Income Tax Season Observations
I haven’t come across many new issues this tax season, but, as usual, a few surprises have popped up. Make Work Pay Credit Gone Many are disappointed with the amount of refund or amount owed compared to last year, primarily due to the elimination of the Make Work Pay credit that could be as great […]
The Tradeoff: Preserving Capital or Preserving Purchasing Power
Many aspects of life require careful consideration and balancing of the tradeoffs that arise from competing demands. For example, a common lifestyle tradeoff is working longer hours versus spending more time with your family. The competing demands within this decision are the income necessary to provide a suitable quality of life for your family versus the immeasurable […]
A Decade Lost?
The holiday season is a great time to see friends of old who are back in town and catch up with family you don’t get to see as often as you would like. While getting caught up on each other’s lives, and amidst the small talk, most people these days bring up their dissatisfaction with […]
2011 Review and 2012 Plans
Over the holidays, many of our clients and friends asked how business is going. I thought it would be a good time to provide an update on Rockbridge Investment Management and what we are looking forward to in the New Year. Financial Results As a firm, Rockbridge continues to grow steadily. Over the past two […]