The topic of inflation is impossible to avoid these days whether you are witnessing increasing prices of goods at the store or reading about inflation in the news on a daily basis. To compound matters, the stock market is down nearly 20% in value since the beginning of 2022 and the bond market is down nearly 10%…
The past few months have been marked by lots of volatility and a downturn in the markets. During these market downturns, it can be helpful to take a bird's-eye view and get some perspective. The graph below shows the percentage return for the stock market each year from 1926 through 2021. When you zoom out and look…
Geopolitical unrest, like military or economic conflicts, is one of the many risks that can affect the stock market. Such events are not new and have occurred many times over the course of the last several decades. Our investment approach centers on using information in current market prices rather than trying to outguess them. We believe the most effective way…
We will cut right to the chase, on Wednesday the Social Security Administration announced that 2022 will bring a 5.9% increase to Social Security payments. That's the biggest increase in 40 years!The average benefit will have a cost-of-living increase of $92 per month, while for someone receiving a $2,500 per month benefit they will see an increase of…
We are pleased to present you with our third quarter market review. During much of the third quarter global equity markets pushed higher regardless of continued concerns over COVID delta variant infection rates. Toward the end of the quarter, regulatory risks from China and politics in the US eventually diminished the third quarters advances. The Federal Reserve has indicated…
We want to share with you one of the recent trends in retirement, something we like to call The Retirement Test Drive. Like test driving a car, it allows you to check out the comfort and feel of the experience without the commitment. Just like car shopping, you can test out multiple options to see which one you like…
All the talk of inflation in the news is making some folks nervous about the prospect of future prices for goods and services. For several reasons we don’t think it’s worth too much worry. 1) The federal government has many stop-gaps in place to combat runaway inflation (they’ve learned from the past). 2) Historically, stock prices tend…
We are pleased to present you with our second quarter market review. The more wide spread rollout of Covid-19 vaccines allowed both US and global equities to advance during the second quarter with the S&P 500 index reaching a new all time high. US and global bonds also saw modest increases during the last quarter. Although the…
At the end of March one year ago, the stock market was down by approximately 30 percent; certainly an abysmal first quarter, but as we now know, the markets went on an unexpected tear for the rest of the year. The first quarter of 2021 continues this momentum propelled by three factors: vaccine progress, government stimulus and expectations for more economic…
Last Thursday, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) into law. This article breaks down the major provisions of the Act that impact investors, retirees, families, and small businesses. Please know that there are many additional provisions in the 600+ page Act and we are here to help you decipher anything that affects…