Roth conversions
Roth IRA conversions can be an important potential tool for implementing a tax efficient retirement plan. At its core, a Roth conversion involves prepaying a deferred tax liability in exchange for tax free growth going forward. Conversions are ideal for people who are in lower tax bracket today than they are likely to be in […]
Deductibility of business expenses paid for with PPP funds
Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), to provide liquidity to small businesses dealing with the effects of the economic shutdown. It was clear from the language in the CARES Act that loans used for covered expenses would not be included in a business’ gross income. However, the Bill was silent on the deductibility of […]
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 […]
Assessing market volatility
In the last quarter of 2018, the market was down 20% from previous highs and we had many clients reaching out concerned about declines and high volatility. But when we examined the market’s movements, we found the volatility to be higher than normal but far from extraordinary. Recently, we have gotten similar questions from clients […]
Rebalancing – why buy stocks now?
Rebalancing the allocation among risky assets in your investment portfolio is an important discipline. It provides a structured way to maintain consistent risk exposure over time and forces us to “buy low and sell high” when it is not always the comfortable thing to do. This quarter is a good example, in the midst of […]
Market commentary: Q1 2020
Stock Markets The damage to stocks from the Coronavirus pandemic is shown in the chart below as all markets are down dramatically. The domestic large cap stock market (S&P 500), driven by the largest tech companies, held up a little better. Except for this market, this quarter’s falloff brought the five-year returns to essentially breakeven […]
Fact checking stock market wisdom
Claim: Stock market volatility has been crazy this month. Our Ruling: True! This past month has been shockingly volatile. On average, there are 21 trading days in a month. Looking back on the previous 21 trading days ending 3/23/2020, we see an average daily move of 4.56%. There were more days with a 9% or […]
Three thoughts during scary markets
So, remember all those times we’ve said that investment risks and expected rewards are related? Coronavirus-fueled fears, driving economic insecurities, aggravating a host of simmering global sore spots, spiraling into stomach-wrenching market sell-offs … Be it confirmed. Today’s unfolding news is the realization of those risks we’ve been talking about all along. In case you’ve […]
How to be positively skeptical part 1: the benefits of having a doubt
“I’m not an optimist. That makes me sound naïve. I’m a very serious ‘possibilist.’ That’s something I made up. It means someone who neither hopes without reason, nor fears without reason, someone who constantly resists the overdramatic worldview.” — Hans Rosling, Factfulness Whether you’re considering an investment opportunity or simply browsing various media for insights […]
Putting the national debt in context for investors
The following article by Ethan Gilbert was recently published on Jim Cramer’s website, “TheStreet”, in their retirement section. Ethan began being a guest contributor in 2019. With recent headlines around the increasing national debt, our firm has had clients reach out to ask if they owned Treasuries and if the national debt is something that […]