Fixed Income Risk in Your Portfolio
With interest rates near historical lows, some investors may be anxious about a possible rate climb and its potential impact on their fixed income investments.
Market Analysis
Equity Markets Equity markets finished the third quarter with a very strong performance in September, bringing all major categories into positive territory for the year to date (YTD).
Our Fiduciary Responsibility: Avoiding “It’s Bad and Getting Worse” Mentality
Experienced investors have heard this before. It is a headline used many times over the last 60 years. Fear sells. So the media sells high unemployment, potential deflation, and pending economic gloom. Some in the investment community join in the chorus, but fiduciary advisors have a responsibility to muffle the noise and help investors take […]
Following a Fiduciary Standard of Care
Meeting new people or reconnecting with acquaintances often leads to the question of where I’m working these days. I reply, “I work for Rockbridge Investment Management, which is a ‘Registered Investment Advisor’ (RIA).” With that response I usually get a nod and a change of subjects.
Risky Business
After a pretty robust recovery in 2009 and 2010, the stock market took a dive in the last two months. The talk of a “double-dip recession” is reaching a fever pitch.
Fear Returns to the Market – Good for Investors?
First quarter stock market gains were erased during May and June leaving values well below the high water mark reached in the fall of 2007. As the chart shows, large-cap stocks (S&P 500) have lost nearly 10% annually over the past three years.
Market Analysis
Financial markets continued their winning ways in the first quarter of 2010 marking four consecutive quarters of positive stock market returns. The chart at right shows the impressive performance of small company stocks during the past three months and the fact that all major asset classes had positive returns.
Is it Time to Convert Your Traditional IRA?
Individuals are permitted to convert their Traditional IRAs (“TIRA”) to Roth IRAs if they meet current income limitations set by the IRS. In 2010 the income limits are removed allowing anyone to convert. I set out to examine when OR if a client should convert their traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.
Control the Controllable, Ignore the Rest
Like most things in life, the simple approach to doing something almost always tends to be the best. This theory holds true when it comes to investing and is one of the cornerstones behind our investment philosophy. “Gross return in the financial markets, minus the cost of financial intermediation, equals the net return actually delivered […]
Market Commentary
The Year Was Good, But Not Remarkable By Historical Standards The history books will show that 2009 was above average but an unremarkable year for stock market performance. The S&P 500 returns exceeded 26% for the calendar year, which barely qualifies as top-quartile performance as 19 of the previous 80 calendar year periods saw higher […]