Making the Case for International Exposure
“Why would I invest in anything other than the S&P 500 if it continues to do so well?” This is a question that is commonly asked by many of our clients over the past few years. To truly optimize your portfolio and ensure you’re not missing out on potential opportunities, it’s crucial to understand the […]
Consumer Sentiment Vs Market Returns
It’s safe to say that both, market prices and investor confidence have taken a hit since the start of the year. Heading into 2022, we had experienced three years of S&P 500 performance averaging over 20% annually- not to mention this was all while dealing with a global pandemic. Since then, the S&P 500 has […]
Ignore the Headlines
Recent headlines have been dramatic as “Inflation Soars to Highest level in 40 Years!” and “Stocks Plunge to 2022 Lows!” It sounds like the authors are all shouting, and we should really panic. It feels like we should “do something” but let’s take a step back from the headlines, and put today’s market in perspective […]
2020 active vs. passive
Each year the financial services company, Morningstar, issues a report of how actively managed funds performed relative to passive funds. Historically, actively managed funds have not performed as well as funds designed to simply replicate a market or published index. However, one argument active fund managers make is that they are “nimbler” during times of […]
The january effect was strong this year
In Syracuse, we see lake effect snow every January. But there’s another sizable “effect” in January if you know where to look. This one’s in the stock market. The “January Effect” is the outperformance of small-cap stocks versus large-cap stocks in the first month of the year. Going back to 1926, small companies have rallied […]
Great results, but greater expectations
Last week we saw some of the largest tech companies in the world report their earnings from the first quarter of 2021 and the numbers were impressive. Headlines on CNBC read: “Apple reports blowout quarter, booking more than $100 billion in revenue for the first time” “Tesla posts record net income of $438 million, revenue […]
Bonds are down on the year and that is ok
Most of our clients hold bonds and most of those bonds have “lost value” in the first three months of the year. That does not mean any of the bonds have defaulted. In fact, almost no bonds have defaulted in 2021. Rather, interest rates have risen causing the value of existing bonds to drop. It […]
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 […]
An investing lesson found in bank earnings
Last week, the largest U.S. Banks reported earnings. Since then, sellers of news have been scouring the information in an attempt to entertain their viewers and readers with insights into the future of stocks and the economy. Let them, but know the real value to the investors is not in the headline earnings miss, the […]