Understand Schwab’s role

Selecting an investment advisor is a significant decision. And choosing the right brokerage firm to custody your assets is an important decision for you and your advisor to make together. When you place your assets at Schwab, you are choosing a custodian experienced in serving the unique needs of independent advisors and their clients. Learn […]

Fact checking stock market wisdom

Claim: Stock market volatility has been crazy this month. Our Ruling: True! This past month has been shockingly volatile. On average, there are 21 trading days in a month. Looking back on the previous 21 trading days ending 3/23/2020, we see an average daily move of 4.56%. There were more days with a 9% or […]

Nine points to consider on the outlook for equities

Given the volatility in the financial markets beginning the week of February 20th, it’s helpful to review the state of the U.S. economy entering into this stressful period, what’s happened since, and some of the potential economic impacts. Here is my take on those topics.  At the beginning of 2020, the U.S. economy was […]

Questions every investor needs to ask themselves right now

In the 1960s, sociology professor James Henslin spent time with a group of cab drivers in St. Louis to understand their gambling habits. When the drivers finished their shifts for the night they would play craps into the wee hours of the morning, typically from 3 am to 7 am. Henslin sat in on nearly […]

IRS extends tax filing deadline to July 15

The IRS is extending the federal income tax filing deadline to July 15 as part of a growing effort to stem the financial pain from the coronavirus pandemic, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Friday. The move gives Americans three months more than they normally would have to file their income tax returns for the 2019 tax year, […]

Circuit breakers and dimensional’s approach to trading

Recently, several markets, including in the US and Brazil, have hit circuit breakers, where trading is paused for a period after a specified percentage decline in the market. In all cases, trading resumed as planned. Circuit breakers can serve a useful function: they mandate a short halt during which participants can assess new information and […]

US equity returns following past downturns

Sudden market downturns can be unsettling. Sticking with your plan helps put you in the best position to capture a recovery. A broad market index tracking data since 1926 in the US shows that stocks have generally delivered strong returns over one-year, three-year, and five-year periods following steep declines. Fama/French Total US Market Research Index […]