The markets have always been a predictor of what’s to come. Everything feels bad, looks bad, and the outlook seems pretty bad on many fronts for the rest of this year. The market, both on the stock and the bond side, agrees with that sentiment. Hence, the terrible performance for both stocks and bonds so […]

Recently, we have been fielding many questions about whether it is more prudent to use excess cash to pay off a mortgage or go invest.  While we do answer this question with regularity, the interest in paying off (or accelerating paydown) a mortgage seems to have risen over the past month.  Maybe because of the

In most cases, inflation is the enemy of investors. There are multiple repercussions when prices rise, most of which are bad. Gas prices are up throughout the country. In a recent trip to the PNW I filled up for well over $5/gallon! The Federal Reserve typically looks at raising interest rates to fight inflation.

It has been a rough start to 2022, and as quarter numbers are finalized, they are just confirming how rough it has felt for all investors:   Source: Bloomberg, FactSet, FTSE Russell, MSCI, NAREIT, Standard and Poor’s, JP Morgan Asset Management.   The only thing that is positive in 2022 so far is energy

Just because you are eligible for Social Security benefits doesn’t mean you should start taking them right away. We often hear our clients ask about taking social security as soon as they are able, using reasoning such as:   “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be around.” – none of us do! Although,

When thinking about the blog topic for the day, the only thing that seemed appropriate to write about is the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the economic fallout seen in the market over the past few weeks.  Heavy topics to take on in a short blog post, so please excuse the length of this one. […]

Most people have plans to retire and even have a fairly good idea of how they’ll use that new-found free time, but few actually know how much money they’ll need to save in order to afford retirement. There’s an old age golden rule of having $1 million set aside for you to retire, but everyone […]

In all the market drama of January, Google’s announcement of a stock split went unnoticed by many investors who were distracted by all the other crazy market moves. On February 1, Google parent company Alphabet said it would split its stock 20–1. That means that for every 1 share of Google an investor owns, after

As the calendar turns to 2022, many people immediately start to think about filing taxes. While it’s generally a good thing to avoid procrastination (which I try to tell myself all the time!), you must wait for a) the IRS to actually accept your return and b) your tax forms to get prepared. Believe it […]