A 2014 Fidelity study of the best performing 401K accounts came to an interesting conclusion…the best performing accounts over the time period of 2003 to 2013 were those held by an estate or by participants who had totally forgotten about their account.  In both cases, the accounts were marked as inactive due to

As we approach the end of the year, a lot of our clients are asking what they should be doing before 2022 comes to a close. There are plenty of things-to-consider-before-the-end-of-the-year lists out there, but if you have investments in taxable (non-retirement) accounts, you may want to consider tax loss harvesting.

To repeat the obvious, we are still in a period of extreme market volatility and overall decline in 2022. We have said it in this space many times before, but it is almost impossible to time the market. And data and history tell us that trying to “get out and get back in” often hurts […]

One of the historical realities of the stock market is that it typically has performed poorest during the month of September. The September Effect is a worldwide phenomenon; it doesn’t only affect U.S. markets. A reason could be that most mutual funds cash in their holdings to harvest tax losses. Another particular

As much as I try to avoid the noise and focus on what matters to our clients and the investments we hold, I still find myself getting frustrated when I see the financial (and many other) news outlets reporting on the levels of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (aka The Dow or DJIA). Why is […]

If you’ve turned on the TV, seen a newspaper, been on social media at all–or followed this blog–you are already aware that it has been a rough year so far in the markets.  In fact, it has been historically awful.   The challenge in times like these is to stay focused and clearheaded when our […]

Recently the yield curve inverted for the first time since August 2019 and today that curve steepened ever further (which means that interest rates on 10 year treasury bonds have dropped below rates for 2 year treasury bonds). So why does this matter and why do we pay attention to this? Some believe that the […]

Unfortunately, there has been a lot of talk about a looming recession sometime in 2022, and the market has certainly priced some (if not all) of that in so far this year. A recent Wall Street Journal survey of economists says there’s a 44% chance of a recession. But, what exactly is a recession? And, […]

Stock market decline, and how much lower for how much longer remain among the top questions we are getting from clients lately. All you have to do is look at our recent blog posts to see that! This is despite an S&P 500 return of +6.6% for the last week of May. Granted, we are […]