Beware of Fancy Financial Advisor Titles
Tara Siegel Bernard writes in the NY Times, “Most investors don’t realize that when they walk into a bank or brokerage firm branch, the representatives there are essentially free to emblazon their business cards with whatever titles they please — financial consultants, advisers, wealth managers, to name a few. But if you’re looking for someone […]
Four Ways the Financial Media Causes Investors Harm
ONE: Focus on the near term. A recent headline reads, Anxious financial advisers scale back summer vacations. “Still haunted by the 2008 financial crisis, many financial advisers are scaling back their summer vacations or giving up on them entirely. Many are afraid to be out of the office in case this is the third straight […]
Market Commentary April 2012
Equity markets got off to an outstanding start in 2012. Returns for the first three months represented the best yearly start since 1998, as the S&P 500 was up 12.6%. As you can see in the chart, equity markets were generally up 11%-13% with emerging markets up 14%. The broad bond market essentially broke even […]
2011 Review and 2012 Plans
Over the holidays, many of our clients and friends asked how business is going. I thought it would be a good time to provide an update on Rockbridge Investment Management and what we are looking forward to in the New Year. Financial Results As a firm, Rockbridge continues to grow steadily. Over the past two […]
Lessons From 2011
ONE– Stock market returns are seldom what we expect. The S&P 500 index was up 2% for the year, after being up 8% at the end of April and down 12% at the beginning of October. Large stocks did better (Dow up 7%); small stocks did worse (Russell 2000 down 4%); and international stocks did […]
Planning for Medicare – Part Deux
The new 2012 Medicare & You booklets have been mailed and Medicare eligibles are receiving mailings from insurers daily about their products. This booklet contains over 150 pages of details about Medicare and the related Medigap and Medicare Advantage plans. Here are some of the key things to consider when choosing coverage for 2012: Medicare […]
Social Security and Medicare Decisions on the Horizon for Baby Boomers
Two of the biggest concerns for aging baby boomers are longevity risk (i.e., not outliving your money) and rising healthcare costs. Social Security and Medicare are programs that we all pay into and expect to partially address these concerns. Social Security is often a cornerstone of a well thought-out retirement plan. It is adjusted for […]
Five Reasons You Should Not Panic in the Face of Market Volatility
1. It is not really “different this time.” Vanguard, in a recent study entitled “Stock Market Volatility: Extraordinary or ‘Ordinary’?”, concludes that recent volatility appears extraordinary compared to the relative calm of the markets in 2010, but is in fact “ordinary” when compared to similar periods characterized by major global macro events – they cite […]
Planning for Medicare
Why would an investment advisor’s website contain a blog about Medicare? The cost of health care is an increasingly important piece of retirement planning, and it is a shock to many who have been covered under an employer plan that is often subsidized by the employer, sometimes at 100%. Most employers either reduce the subsidy […]
Retirement Income Strategies
I was recently challenged by an investor couple attempting to determine the amount of annual spending they can make based on their portfolio. How, they asked, can we make a rational decision when we do not know the future return in investment markets, the future rate of inflation or their life expectancy? My general rule […]