Invest like you’re driving, drive like you’re investing
I’ve been watching people drive all my life. I’ve been an individual investor and an investment advisor guiding clients for more than half of my adult life. I’m a curious soul and during a recent trip from Syracuse to Atlanta, I had quite a bit of time to watch and observe the behaviors of all […]
Quarterly market commentary – january 2019
Stock Markets December’s market reminds us that risk is real – even after the uptick at the end of the month, a global stock portfolio is down about 15% for the quarter and 12% for the year. Technology stocks (Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Netflix), which have been driving the market to new heights […]
Rockbridge’s guide to a “Bear Market”
Depending on the news you read, you may have come across headlines talking about bear markets and stock market corrections. The following is a guide to what they mean and how to put them in the context of history. The conventional definition of a bear market is a price drop in a stock market index […]
Market commentary – October 2018
Stock Markets For the last quarter, stocks are up except for Emerging Markets, which were close to flat. Domestic stocks are seemingly shrugging off the uncertainties of increasing interest rates, trade wars and tariffs. Year to date, an Emerging Market stock portfolio would be down almost 9%. It is not surprising that today’s uncertainties […]
Market commentary – july 2018
Stock Markets Returns from various stock market indices over several periods ending June 30, 2018 are shown to the right. Here are a few highlights: Domestic stocks continue to lead the way. REITs were up nicely for the quarter, but non-domestic stocks were down. Due to political turmoil and the specter of a trade war, […]
Market commentary – april 2018
Stock Markets Returns from various stock market indices over several periods ending March 31, 2018 are shown to the right. Here are a few highlights: While not observed in these graphs, volatility seems to have come back, which is normally how stock markets work. Except for emerging markets, stocks were down over the past quarter […]
The ABCs of behavioral biases: O-R
So many financial behavioral biases, so little time! Today, let’s take a few minutes to cover our next batch of biases: overconfidence, pattern recognition and recency. OVERCONFIDENCE What is it? No sooner do we recover from one debilitating bias, our brain can whipsaw us in an equal but opposite direction. For example, we’ve already seen […]
The ABC’s of behavioral biases: A-F
Welcome back to our “ABCs of Behavioral Biases.” Today, we’ll get started by introducing you to four self-inflicted biases that knock a number of investors off-course: anchoring, blind spot, confirmation and familiarity bias. ANCHORING BIAS What is it? Anchoring bias occurs when you fix on or “anchor” your decisions to a reference point, whether or not […]
Market commentary – October 2017
Stock Markets Equity market returns over several periods ending September 30, 2017 are shown on the graph to the right. Here are a few highlights: Stocks provided above-average returns over the past quarter – REITs lagged. Non-domestic markets led the way in recent periods; over longer periods it was domestic markets. While it would be […]
Market Commentary – July 2017
Stock Markets The chart at right shows stocks performing well in the past quarter and six-month periods. Year to date, domestic large-cap stocks were up about 9% while small-cap stocks were up 5%. Stocks traded in international developed markets and emerging markets were up 14% and about 19%, respectively. Over three, five and ten years, […]