Staying the Course and Holding Fast to Your Investment Strategy
From social media feeds to financial news outlets, we’re constantly bombarded with a stream of updates, opinions, and analysis. Access to so much information can be empowering, but can also be overwhelming. How do we know which sources to trust and where should we focus our attention? With inflation making daily headlines, stock market volatility, […]
Silicon Valley Bank Commentary
The Silicon Valley Bank failure that occurred late last week caused a flurry of news articles and speculation that have driven down bank stocks across the board. Investors may be concerned about the implications, but it’s important to understand the facts and how they may or may not affect individual investors and more importantly, Rockbridge […]
Rockbridge Institutional – February 2023 Market Review
Stocks All stock markets were down In February no doubt reflecting the ongoing uncertainty of rising interest rates, inflation and an economic slowdown. With its 0.25% increase in its Federal Funds Target Rate, the Fed continues to signal its commitment to rein in inflation. While Consumer Price Index (CPI) increases are looking better recently, no […]
Why hire a fee-only financial advisor?
If you are looking for a financial advisor, you may have heard the term “fee only financial advisor” and wondered what it means. A fee only financial advisor is an advisor who is compensated solely by the fees they charge to clients for their services. They do not receive commissions from selling financial products, which […]
Rockbridge Institutional – January 2023 Market Review
Stocks Stocks continued to climb in January, with small company and non-domestic stocks earning between 8% and 10% leading the way. Domestic large cap stocks (S&P 500) returned 6% for the month somewhat less than other markets, which is a change from recent history. A globally diversified stock portfolio was up 8% for the month […]
Rockbridge Institutional – December 2022 Market Review
2022 in the Rear View Mirror Inflation, the Fed’s response and rising interest rates, a sharp falloff in stock and bond prices, uncertainty of a looming recession and Cryptocurrency implosion were all part of the investment landscape in 2022. Although we don’t know what’s ahead, glad this year is behind us. Inflation and Interest Rates […]
Secure Act 2.0 – Business Owners
Earlier this week we put out a summary of some of the changes that individual investors should be thinking about as a result of Secure Act 2.0 going into law. This article focuses on the changes that we think will be impactful to business owners going forward: 1) Small Business 401(k) Credits: For businesses with […]
Secure Act 2.0 – Individuals
Just before the close of 2022, Congress passed a $1.7 trillion government spending bill. Within that 4,000+ page document was Secure Act 2.0, which introduced ~90 new provisions regarding retirement savings. We’re tracking the details of this bill as additional information becomes available, but here are some of the highlights for individual investors: 1) New […]
Rockbridge Institutional – November 2022 Market Review
MARKET COMMENTARY Stocks After this week’s ups and downs, stocks ended November up nicely – international and emerging market stocks leading the way earning 11% and 15%, respectively. While not as robust, domestic large cap markets were up 6% and small-company markets returned 2%. These results bring the quarter-to-date returns to 14% for domestic markets, […]
Interest Rate Outlook – November 2022
In early November, the Fed raised interest rates by 75 bps, marking the sixth rate hike since March 17th, 2022, and four consecutive .75 bps increases. This puts the Fed Funds rate (the short-term rate guiding overnight lending) up to a range of 3.75% to 4.00%, pushing borrowing costs to a new high since 2008. […]