All Articles
Weekly Market Digest: What Impact Would an Impeachment Have on the Markets?
After a brief reprieve, politics returned to dominate the headlines this week as Nancy Pelosi announced that a formal Impeachment inquiry would begin in the House. Outside of politics, there was mixed economic news. On the positive side, Japan and the United States...
How Much Life Insurance Do You Really Need?
People need insurance for many different reasons. Adequate insurance coverage, or lack thereof, can have a huge impact on your financial life and long-term goals. One of the most common – and most important – types of insurance people choose to purchase is life...
Guide to Saving for a Child’s Education
There’s no doubt about it – education can be expensive. The cost of college tuition has risen over the past few decades. In fact, the average tuition for an American private, nonprofit four-year school has seen a 129% increase since 1988.
How to Financially Prepare for a Divorce
Whenever there’s a high-profile divorce in the news (this time it’s former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani), we feel that it’s time to raise the question of how a divorce might impact your finances. I know, it’s not something that’s comfortable to think about, but...
Weekly Market Digest: What is the Repo Market?
The focus was supposed to be the Federal Reserve meeting, but the spotlight quickly shifted to oil and money markets that surged early in the week in two unrelated incidents. The Fed proceeded with their largely expected quarter-point rate cut, but there was divide...
The Financial Impact of Hurricanes & How to File an Insurance Claim
We are now in what many experts consider to be the peak of the annual hurricane season, which runs from June through November. Earlier this month, Hurricane Dorian offered a reminder of the destructive power of a major hurricane when the Category 5 storm battered the...
How to Plan for Health Care in Retirement
The New York Times recently reported that the share of Americans with health insurance declined in 2018 -- the first drop in this statistic since 2009. For many Americans, health care costs are a major cause of stress and worry, but even more so for those approaching...
Weekly Market Digest: Trump Delays China Tariffs
Signs of deescalating trade tensions coupled with accommodative monetary policy gave investors hope that economic growth will resume and this bull market will march higher. Ten year US treasury yields jumped, with investors abandoning the safety of bonds and gold and...
529 Plan vs. Roth IRA: Which is Better for College Savings?
Outstanding student loan debt in the U.S. now tops $1.5 trillion. Yes, that’s trillion with a T. This has led to a national debate about what can be done to help college students and their families manage their student loan debt burdens. Of course, the best way to...
Let’s Be Honest…What’s the Cost of Living Like the Stars of Beverly Hills 90210?
Let’s be honest...despite its flaws, we’ve all loved the Beverly Hills 90210 reboot. Thirty years later and everything (and, yet, nothing) has changed for our former heartthrobs who played Beverly Hills highschoolers. The original series brought the drama of teenagers...
Weekly Market Digest: Trade and Interest Rates Continue to Dominate Headlines
Global stocks rose this week as the ping-pong game of sentiment around the trade conflict with China took a positive turn. Although new tariffs implemented by President Trump took effect, investors were encouraged by mutual agreement to renew high level talks. Reduced...
What Moved the Markets in August?
The Trade War Trade tensions with China escalated in August, dragging stocks lower for the month. President Trump surprised markets with additional tariffs and China responded by devaluing its currency and halting purchases of US agricultural goods by state owned...
On Recent Market Volatility
August was a wild month for capital markets. It can be hard not to get nervous about your portfolio when the market tickers are red more often than green, and you’re reading about an inverted yield curve as a predictor of bad things to come. So, we wanted to weigh in...
Weekly Market Digest: A CFP®’s Take on the Potential Purdue Pharma Settlement
This week markets continued their volatility on the back of increasing tensions between the US and China, with additional tariffs going into effect the day before Labor Day. Despite continued volatility, equity markets clawed back some gains from last week’s close...
Can I Contribute To A 401k And An IRA?
This question comes up frequently when it comes to retirement: can I contribute to a 401k and an IRA? Fortunately for your retirement nest egg, you can contribute to both types of retirement accounts. In fact, both workplace and individual retirement...
Understanding Sequence Risk
If you are like lots of investors, you’ve probably never heard of sequence risk — also called sequence-of-returns risk — but it is a particularly pertinent concept for those nearing or just entering retirement. Simply put: Sequence risk refers to the order or the...
What Happens to Your 401k When You Leave Your Job?
Are you one of the millions of Americans who contribute a portion of your salary each pay period to a 401k retirement savings plan? Unlike an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), 401ks are sponsored by employers. So this brings up the question: What happens to your...
Weekly Market Digest: What Are Negative Interest Rates?
A relatively range bound and choppy week for the US stock market ended with a busy news day on Friday and ultimately a steep decline in equity markets as US/China trade developments continued to worsen. China announced additional retaliatory tariffs on about $75...
The Oblivious Beneficiary: Do You Have Unclaimed Life Insurance Money?
As financial advisors, we often consult with our clients about insurance needs. And one that we get a lot of questions about is life insurance. While your advisor can talk to you specifically about what might be best for you, we wanted to share an interesting aspect...
Weekly Market Digest: What’s Going On With Treasury Yields?
The market does not like uncertainty – and this was heard loud and clear this week! The week got off to a rocky start with new tariff threats flying back and forth between the U.S. and China. That was accompanied by weaker economic data out of China and Germany,...
3 Moves to Make in a Volatile Market
This week was a wild one for Wall Street, with the markets taking a nosedive to record their worst day of the year on Wednesday and the media coming out with splashy headlines about an inverted yield curve. This kind of volatility tends to give investors whiplash, and...
Beginner’s Guide to Portfolio Diversification
Managing risk is important. Every day we use tools like seat belts and helmets to manage the inherent risks arising from daily activities like driving a car or riding a bike. Managing risk does not guarantee a positive outcome, but statistically and historically...
Weekly Market Digest: Will Tariffs Lead to a Recession?
Renewed fears of a trade conflict driven recession fueled volatility in capital markets. Stocks finished modestly lower and bonds and gold rose. Most of the selling came on Monday following President Trump’s assertion that he would add 10% tariffs on an additional...
Avoid Emotional Investing for Greater Stability in Your Portfolio
What do we know about the basics of investing? Buy low sell high. Diversify. Invest for the long-term. Sounds easy, but it’s not. Every day I talk to investors who understand these concepts but have difficulty executing them. For many, the gap between the knowledge of...
What Happened in the Markets in July?
“Good enough” corporate earnings and continued optimism around accommodative monetary policy propelled US stocks and bonds modestly higher for July, though gains were promptly erased by trade tensions to start August. On the last day of July the Fed announced a widely...
Weekly Market Digest: The Fed Cuts Rates by 0.25%
This week, the U.S. Fed and the trade war each took turns knocking global stocks down from recent highs. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.25%, but Chairman Jerome Powell indicated additional rate cuts were far from certain, leaving investors...
The Capital One Breach: What to Know & How to Protect Yourself
On Monday, news broke that Capital One had suffered a security breach on April 21st exposing credit card or credit card application data to an unauthorized individual. The news comes on the heels of other recent big data breaches such as the Marriott breach, and...
How to Find the Right Realtor for You
Home-buying season is in full swing, and one of the most important considerations when it comes to either buying or selling your home is deciding on which real estate agent to work with and how you want to engage them. We generally recommend working with a realtor...
Weekly Market Digest: What’s Happening with Brexit?
This week, US equity markets climbed higher from the last week, led largely by some of the most well-known technology companies, while other asset classes had a relatively uneventful week. Some of the US’ largest Tech Companies were under fire this week for a variety...
A Beginner’s Guide to ETF Investing
A Beginner’s Guide to ETF Investing What Are ETFs — and Should You Invest in Them? You’ve probably heard the term “ETF” whether from your advisor or when reading investing news or blogs. But when I talk to people about their portfolios, sometimes they have questions...
