After a turbulent end to 2018 sent stock indices around the globe into bear market territory, equities staged a big recovery in the first quarter of 2019. For the quarter, the S&P 500 index gained 13.65% and was within a few percentage points of its record high. The Russell 2000 small stock index gained even more, rising 14.58%. Large cap... View Article
For decades, many individual and institutional investors have used a 60/40 asset allocation as common strategy for investing in stocks and bonds. This rule of thumb came from the work of two Nobel Prize winning economists, Harry Markowitz (1952) and Bill Sharpe (1964), and their contributions to modern portfolio theory continue to drive today’s innovation in finance. Since the dot.com... View Article
Investment fads are nothing new. When selecting strategies for their portfolios, investors are often tempted to seek out the latest and greatest investment opportunities. Over the years, these approaches have sought to capitalize on developments such as the perceived relative strength of particular geographic regions, technological changes in the economy, or the popularity of different natural resources. But long-term investors should... View Article
What did Fourth Quarter 2018 tell us about the future? Not much more than the rest of 2018 did. But in case you missed it, stocks around the globe experienced a significant decline during the quarter, a trend that began in October and accelerated rapidly in December. The downturn was widely attributed to the prospect of continued higher interest rates,... View Article
Once again, the media and talking heads are back at it mourning over the recent “crash” in the stock market and how diversification doesn’t work. Many social outlets such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are filled with many of our coworkers, friends and family predicting the next market downturn is just around the corner. They may be very right or... View Article
The end of the year presents a unique opportunity to look at your overall situation and take advantage of some personal financial planning. With factors like tax reform, life changes or just working towards your goals, now is an especially important time to review things. Taking what we now know about the new tax law and weaving together all of... View Article
It’s almost Midterm Elections in the US once again. For those who need a brief civics refresher, every two years the full US House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are up for reelection. While the outcomes of the elections are uncertain, one thing we can count on is that plenty of opinions and prognostications will be floated in... View Article
Many people have made predictions on when volatility would return. We agree that it has been unusually low for a few years and fully expected it to increase at some point. The truth is that we just didn’t know when nor would we ever try to time the market in anticipation of such events. However, there are many data points... View Article
While unrelated to tax law, once again Tesla has been the hype across the media given recent SEC action and the company’s legal woes. Regardless of which side you may reside on (for or against Tesla), it seems the roller coaster ride could continue for some time. Our recent blog post in August focused on very important IRS tax law guidance... View Article
Like many of you, fall is one of our most favorite times of year as the kids return to school and football is back. So each year when kids return to the classroom and football players take the field, many employers and small business owners also begin weighing the options for their 401(k) plan (or other qualified retirement plan option)... View Article