Quarterly Updates
My Friend Gandalf
As a financial advisor, I’m often asked where the markets are headed. Unfortunately, my crystal ball, affectionately named “Gandalf,” has been cracked and in the shop for years; frankly, I’m beginning to think I’ll never see Gandalf again. So, I’m forced to seek guidance from my second favorite source – data. It turns out…
Read MoreChaos and Bloodshed
Staying disciplined and invested can be difficult in times of chaos and market turbulence. History tells us this is the right time not to act.
Read More1Q2023 – AIn’t (Quite) Ready for Prime Time
Please excuse the delay in this quarterly newsletter, I was watching Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon…get canned. Too soon? Don’t worry, this quarter’s post isn’t about the rise and fall of the prime time television elite: it’s about the rise of AI tools in our everyday life. In a flash of brilliance (or laziness), I…
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 MoreKevin Bacon and Sidelined Cash – 2Q2022
As 80s heartthrob, loose-footed, and distant-relative-to-all Kevin Bacon asked in the classic 1978 comedy Animal House (based on Harold Ramis’ experience at my alma mater WashU), “Thank you, sir, may I have another?” After a difficult 1st quarter, the US markets delivered another blow to investor portfolios, ending the first half of the year down…
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 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 More1Q2020 Newsletter – Where Do We Go From Here?
Investors purchasing stocks/stock funds at these levels should expect a higher return over a long-term investment horizon than those who purchased in January, after 10 years of compounding double-digit growth. Likewise if the market continues to fall, that increases the investors’ expected returns.
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…
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