Experience and evidence alike show us how severely bear markets test investor resolve, sabotage otherwise solid plans, and just plain hurt. We’ve also seen how damaging it can be to act on rash fear rather than rational resolve during market downturns.
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It has been more than 3,280 days since we hit the bottom of the Financial Crisis on March 9, 2009. The 17-month drop in Market Values that began on October 10, 2007 saw the Standard and Poor’s 500 lose more than half of its value as it dropped from a high of 1565 to its low point of 676. If you had retired at the start with $1,000,000 fully invested in the S&P 500 you would have watched your nest egg shrink to $430,000.
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Every new year brings a new set of financial planning challenges and opportunities. With the passage of the tax reform bill at the end of 2017, the new year is no exception. These new rules represent the most sweeping change in the tax code in a number of years, with most of the new rules taking effect in 2018.
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Happy New Year! With 2017 in the rearview mirror, we’re pleased to reflect on – and share with you – a newly released 2017 Market Review. Download PDF Overall, the view is quite pleasant for most global and domestic returns alike, even though few financial forecasters were predicting this sort of slam dunk at the […]
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The start of a new year is always a good time to take stock (pun intended) of where you are. This certainly means a review of your investments in terms of your current asset allocation versus your target allocation.
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Happy New Year! Now that 2017 is a wrap, one of the best presents you can bestow on yourself and your loved ones is the gift of proper preparation for rest of the year. Want to get a jump-start on it? Here are 10 financial best practices to energize your wealth management efforts. Save today for […]
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What makes you happy? As we wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on this timeless question. You probably already realize that piles of possessions by themselves aren’t enough. But it may be less clear what does generate enduring happiness and how we, as your financial advsior, might […]
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Eastman Kodak was one of the worlds most admired companies in 1996. Although Kodak invented the digital camera, their market dominance in film blinded them to the disruptive technology that they had created. By 2012 Kodak had filed for bankruptcy and in that same year, a 2-year-old digital photography company called Instagram with 13 employees sold for $1 Billion.
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Today, around 30% of homes in the US are owned free and clear; 17 million of that 30% are people over age 60. In this post-era of the housing crash, home ownership has decreased to 63% from 69%. However, that news is not necessarily bad! We have greatly rebounded in real estate values and are on a more sustainable home ownership trajectory. The American Dream is alive and well!
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If you’ve taken our past advice about ignoring the onslaught of breaking market news, you probably didn’t read Russell Investments’ recent “2017 Global Market Outlook Q4 Update.” We’re not prone to pore over these relatively unremarkable analyses ourselves, but we do scan a representative sampling of them as part of our due diligence. That’s how we […]
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