Market Commentary April 2016
Stock Markets After January’s rough start, stock markets bounced back nicely in March, bringing most numbers into the black for the quarter. Domestic Small Cap and International Developed Markets are the exception – down about 1.5% and 2%, respectively. Notice from the accompanying chart that it was Emerging Markets that led the way, earning nearly […]
Tempted to Trust Your Gut? – Another Reason to Commit to a Disciplined Strategy
“The three worst words of stock market advice: Trust Your Gut.” That was the headline of a recent article by Jason Zweig in The Wall Street Journal, reporting on a new academic study. Dr. Robert Shiller of Yale, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2013, has been surveying investors about their expectations since […]
Market Commentary January 2016
Stock Markets In 2015, domestic large cap stocks (S&P 500) and REITs were up while other markets were down – emerging markets were off big! The positive results in the S&P 500 were driven by just two stocks – Amazon and Google. Otherwise it would have looked like other market indices. These results, I think, […]
The Problem With Diversification – Emerging Markets
One of the tenets of successful long-term investing is the practice of portfolio diversification. Through diversification, investors can increase their expected long-term return for a given level of risk (volatility). This is accomplished by investing in assets that are not perfectly correlated to one another, but each asset individually has a positive expected return. This […]
Investing and Action Movies
When we go to a good action flick, we enjoy the suspense and surprises, but no one wants that experience when investing. James Bond and Mission Impossible would not be box office hits without some interesting plot twists, and an occasional victory by the villain, and yet the end result is usually something we expect […]
You, Your Financial Well-Bring and the Federal Reserve
It’s been nearly a decade in the making, but time has finally come: On December 16, 2015, the U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed) raised the federal funds rate by 0.25 percent. In and of itself, it’s a small move. But it’s being reported as “a historic moment,” since it’s the first federal funds rate increase […]
A Look Into The Recent Social Security Changes
Last week, Congress passed their “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.” Among the typical budgetary items, there are a few alterations that will impact the Social Security benefit filing system. Anyone who turns 62 in 2016 or later will no longer be able to take advantage of the “file-and-suspend” strategy for the purpose of receiving spousal […]
Market Commentary October 2015
Stock Markets The chart to the right shows what we have had to put up with recently: all but REITs were down for the quarter (all were down since the beginning of the year), and emerging markets were downbig, showing variability over the trailing twelve months. These periods remind us that markets do go down, […]
Patience and Perspective
No one likes to see their savings decline in value. Times like these are not much fun for investors, watching markets “correct” in the face of abundant global uncertainties. As investment advisors, one of our most important jobs is to help long-term investors keep hold of their long-term perspective. Here are some things to consider. […]
Part 3: Can’t I Do This Myself?
Believe it or not, the simple answer is, “You can, but most likely you won’t.” Emotions – How do you feel about a 10% market downturn? If you have $10,000 in savings, the $1,000 loss stings, but it is not the end of the world in terms of retirement. How about if you have $1,000,000? […]