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, […]
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 […]
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. […]
Six Financial Best Practices for Year-End 2022
To say the least, there’s been plenty of political, financial, and economic activity this year—from rising interest rates to elevated inflation, to ongoing market turmoil. How will all the excitement translate into annual performance in our investment portfolios? Markets often deliver their best returns just when we’re most discouraged. So, who knows! While we wait […]
Fee-Only Advisor vs Fee-Based Advisor? What’s the difference?
As if the financial industry weren’t complicated enough, there are fee-only investment advisors and fee-based advisors — and a Registered Investment Advisor firm can be either. As the wording implies, fee-only investment advisors like Rockbridge receive NO commissions or any other forms of compensation from ANY outside sources. At the other end of the spectrum, commissioned brokers receive most or all of their […]
Six Ways a Recession Resembles a Bad Mood
There’s been a lot of talk about recessions lately: Whether one is near, far, or perhaps already here. Whether we can or should try to avoid it. What it even means to be in a recession, and how it’s related to current market turmoil. To put market and recessionary concerns in perspective, it might help […]
Capital Market Activity – 05/31/2022
Stock Markets Although rebounding lately, all markets are down year to date. Since December stock markets are off more than 10%. Tech stocks are especially hard hit – an equally weighted portfolio of the largest domestic tech stocks (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook) is off 25%. The premium to value markets, domestic and international, […]
Major Firms predict Expected Returns in the coming Decade
Every year large Wall Street firms publish their forecast of expected returns for the coming decade. The following table shows what each firm expects from capital markets in the coming 10-years. The first thing that jumps out is the poor expected performance by U.S. equities. Despite averaging nearly 10% over the last 100 years, forecasters […]
Retirement Plan Contribution Limits & Other Tax Changes for 2022
Every year the IRS reviews a variety of retirement plan contribution limits and other important fiscal boundaries. Here’s a list of changes made effective January 1st, 2022. Item 2021 2022 401(k) Employee Max $19,500 $20,500 401(k) Catch Up $6,500 $6,500 401(k) Total Max $58,000 $61,000 HSA (Individual) $3,600 $3,650 SIMPLE IRA $13,500 $14,000 SIMPLE IRA […]
Things to be Thankful For: Stock Market Returns, Not Bank Interest
Over the last 90 years, the stock market has been great to investors. No one knows what the market will do tomorrow, but the longer your horizon, the more the odds are in your favor – and you don’t have to wait very long for the numbers to look pretty good. With bank interest close […]