Market commentary: Q4 2020
Stock Markets Results over the past quarter are consistent with positive expectations due to the introduction of vaccines in November. Small company stocks and Real Estate markets have snapped back but not enough to bring the past year’s Real Estate returns into positive territory. Over longer periods, domestic stock markets have outpaced international and emerging […]
Market commentary: Q3 2020
Stock Markets Stocks continued to come back from their sharp declines earlier in the year. Over the September quarter, stocks are up across the board – Domestic Large-Cap stocks and Emerging Markets are up 9%. Since December 31st, a diversified global portfolio is off 8% year-to-date excluding the Domestic Large- Cap market, which is driven […]
Eight best/worst investment strategies during the coronavirus
The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time. — Michel de Montaigne For better or worse, many of us have had more time than usual to engage in new or different pursuits in 2020. Even if you’re as busy as ever, you may well be revisiting […]
Updating expected returns
Arguably the most important thing Rockbridge does is forecast what kind of lifestyle families can expect in retirement. We believe our attention to retirement planning, and all aspects of financial planning, separates us from other wealth managers in Syracuse and across the country. The fee-only fiduciary model puts clients first and delivers on things investors […]
Is the stock market overvalued?
Many of our clients have been asking why the stock market has recovered so much in the last two months while the economy is shrinking, and unemployment is hitting record highs. Implied in the question is whether the stock market is “overvalued” and will drop in the near future. The stock market may drop in […]
Paycheck protection flexibility act
The Senate just approved the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act. The Bill, which was passed by the House on May 28th, will ease many of the restrictions on how businesses must use PPP funds in order to have their loan forgiven. In addition to extending the deadline to apply for a PPP loan from June 30th […]
Deductibility of business expenses paid for with PPP funds
Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), to provide liquidity to small businesses dealing with the effects of the economic shutdown. It was clear from the language in the CARES Act that loans used for covered expenses would not be included in a business’ gross income. However, the Bill was silent on the deductibility of […]
Rebalancing – why buy stocks now?
Rebalancing the allocation among risky assets in your investment portfolio is an important discipline. It provides a structured way to maintain consistent risk exposure over time and forces us to “buy low and sell high” when it is not always the comfortable thing to do. This quarter is a good example, in the midst of […]
Three thoughts during scary markets
So, remember all those times we’ve said that investment risks and expected rewards are related? Coronavirus-fueled fears, driving economic insecurities, aggravating a host of simmering global sore spots, spiraling into stomach-wrenching market sell-offs … Be it confirmed. Today’s unfolding news is the realization of those risks we’ve been talking about all along. In case you’ve […]
Expected returns: a review of 2019 and looking ahead to the 2020s
Each year large Wall Street firms post their expected returns for the next decade. A year ago, we saw the following forecasts: * Denotes a seven-year forecast The biggest thing that stands out here is the poor performance expected by U.S. Equities. Despite 93 years of annualized returns in excess of 9.5%, the best research […]
