Market Commentary
Market Update – August 5th, 2024
After fielding some questions from clients over the past few days, I wanted to provide a quick update on what’s going on in the markets. What’s Happening In The Markets and Why Are They So Volatile? Today the markets continued last week’s selloff, on the heels of weaker-than-expected employment numbers Friday, and an over 12% loss in the…
Read More2022 Annual Review – Everything Will Be Okay
Ouch. Let me be the first to admit I thought we had another six months to a year before the markets woke up from their years-long drunken (on easy money) binge. After all, 2022 began the year with a strong labor market, easy money and record low interest rates, and Elon Musk still wealthy (I…
Read MorePredictions, Money and Mattresses
I don’t usually make short-term market guesses – my crystal ball has been in the shop for almost 20 years; at this point I can’t remember if it was cracked or just fogged. I believe in the power of long-term markets, good diversification and poor performance as a result of short-term market prognosticating.
Read MoreRemembering the Good Times
It’s often said that the market takes the escalator up and the elevator down. For concrete evidence, simply look at the performance of the indexes the past few weeks. A close look at the headlines or nightly news (caution: this may be bad for your health and is proven to be bad for your portfolios) and you may think it’s only a matter of time before the indexes hit an all time low! And no, that’s not really a thing!
Read MoreDealing With Fluctuating Markets: Q3 2021 Quarterly Market Review
Whether you’re a long-time investor or you’re new to the market, fluctuations – and losses – can feel jarring. In fact, we know from research that losses are significantly more painful than gains of a similar size are rewarding. Yet successful investors continue to invest because they know that over long periods of time, investing…
Read MoreYou Only Live Once: 2021 Q1 Quarterly Market Review
You only live once! Social media investors have banded together on unconventional platforms to drive up the prices of a handful of “meme stocks,” seemingly without traditional evaluation of investing risks and rewards. They made headlines with their “short squeeze” of GameStop (GME), and, as they garner media attention, their tactics continue. While it’s not…
Read More2020…A Decade to Remember
Living through 2020 felt like living through an entire decade. I’ll leave it to you to decide which decade you’d like to relive, but I’m going for the 1960s – though maybe skimming a few years from the late 60s and adding them to the late 50s.
Read More2Q2020 Newsletter – Why Are Markets So High?
The markets will continue to be choppy in the coming months, due to the Coronavirus and upcoming elections. Don’t let that derail your long-term investment goals.
Read MoreVolatility 2.0
An investor’s inclination to sell or buy is strongly inversely correlated to the proper time to do so. If your investment objectives and time horizon have not changed (other than being one day older), studies have consistently shown that your best course of action, difficult as it may be, is to remain invested.
Read MoreA Note On Market Volatility
Surprise! Stock markets can be volatile. Ask your fee-only financial advisor to help you remain disciplined.
Read More2019…A Year to Remember
As is often the case following a negative year, (the US Markets lost over 5% in 2018), 2019 was (globally) a banner year with total US Market returns over 30%, International markets over 20% and even the US and Global Bond market’s joining in the celebration with returns of over 8.5% and 7.5% respectively. In fact, US Stocks were THE place to be in 2019; they were the tickets to Hamilton, U2 and BTS (Boomers, find the nearest Millennial and ask them) wrapped up into one beautiful gift basket!
Read MoreWhen Batting .700 Isn’t Good Enough…
You’re smarter than the average investor, right? You’ve done the research and despite hearing how difficult it is to predict the market’s direction over a specified period of time, you’re confident you know better than the CFAs, Ph.Ds and Quant’s building the algorithms on Wall Street. You even understand that, by definition, if the stock market…
Read MoreRiding High… 2Q2019 Review
The sky is falling mentality has just pushed the stock market to record highs. That the housing market is slowing, wages are stagnant-or negative in real terms, and you can get a higher return investing your money in 3-month government debt than 10 year debt (yield curve inversion) doesn’t seem to matter and the markets…
Read MoreWinter is Coming… but When?
After a bruising final quarter of 2018, 2019 kicked off with a bang, with US Stock Markets finishing the first quarter up roughly 14% and US Bond Markets up nearly 3%. International Developed Markets and their less-developed emerging brethren also performed well, up 10.45% and 9.92% respectively. Unfortunately, those gains weren’t enough to push international markets…
Read MoreA Valentine’s Day Gift
December’s market selloff- or rather, January’s recovery, provided investors with a tremendous gift. We now have the rare opportunity to reassess our portfolio and perhaps more importantly, our behavior and tolerance for risk, without the usual triggers for such evaluation; namely significant loss of capital. As many studies have shown, the vast majority of investors…
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