Avoiding Surprises at Tax Time: The W-4 Form
The tax filing season can often be filled with angst as many filers are unsure whether they will receive a tax bill, a refund, or make it through unscathed. Fortunately, much of this stress can be avoided by properly filling out (or updating) your W-4 form. Employees are required to fill out their W-4 forms […]
Bank Run News
It’s hard, and often counterproductive to comment about breaking news while it’s still moving through the proverbial grinder … which is why we usually don’t do so. However, we feel it’s worth commenting on the current, growing number of regional bank runs. Before taking a look at the details, we’ll lead with two larger assurances: […]
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, […]
Silicon Valley Bank Commentary
The Silicon Valley Bank failure that occurred late last week caused a flurry of news articles and speculation that have driven down bank stocks across the board. Investors may be concerned about the implications, but it’s important to understand the facts and how they may or may not affect individual investors and more importantly, Rockbridge […]
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 […]
Rockbridge Institutional – December 2022 Market Review
2022 in the Rear View Mirror Inflation, the Fed’s response and rising interest rates, a sharp falloff in stock and bond prices, uncertainty of a looming recession and Cryptocurrency implosion were all part of the investment landscape in 2022. Although we don’t know what’s ahead, glad this year is behind us. Inflation and Interest Rates […]
Secure Act 2.0 – Individuals
Just before the close of 2022, Congress passed a $1.7 trillion government spending bill. Within that 4,000+ page document was Secure Act 2.0, which introduced ~90 new provisions regarding retirement savings. We’re tracking the details of this bill as additional information becomes available, but here are some of the highlights for individual investors: 1) New […]
Rockbridge Institutional – November 2022 Market Review
MARKET COMMENTARY Stocks After this week’s ups and downs, stocks ended November up nicely – international and emerging market stocks leading the way earning 11% and 15%, respectively. While not as robust, domestic large cap markets were up 6% and small-company markets returned 2%. These results bring the quarter-to-date returns to 14% for domestic markets, […]
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. […]
Rockbridge Institutional – October 2022 Market Review
MARKET COMMENTARY Stocks Except for emerging markets, stocks were up in October. Domestic markets led the way – large cap (S&P 500) up 9%; small cap (Russell 2000) up 11%. International developed markets (EAFE Index) were up 5%, while emerging markets (MSCI Index) were off 3% due to sharply negative results in China. While uncertainty […]