Investing

Stocks have recently been in a pullback period after what has been a great year so far. After a year like 2022 where both stock and bond markets had terrible returns and inflation peaked at 9.1% year-over-year, we all... Continue Reading

​Are we at the start of a new bull market? Is FAANG striking back after abysmal performance in 2022? A couple of weeks ago I wrote to you about market trends I am watching, specifically around growth stocks and... Continue Reading

Honest investors can attest that stock picking is hard. A strong conviction pick can lead to out-performance one year and under-performance the next. Or, vice-versa. I recently saw a discussion on Twitter among financial professionals based on the following... Continue Reading

The US debt ceiling is all over the news today, so let’s talk about it. Before 1917, Congress had the ability to use the Power of the Purse at their own discretion. In effort to make the federal government... Continue Reading

The Fed raised rates again today - the 10th hike in this current cycle. As a range, Fed funds rate was 0.00%-0.25% just 13 months ago. With today’s hike, it is now set a range of 5.00%-5.25%. The Fed... Continue Reading

Making better financial decisions requires an effective and structured process. Consistently following such a process can be challenging, especially when emotions come into play. Emotions can cloud our judgment and steer us away from the logical path. This generally... Continue Reading

Banking systems and FDIC insurance have captured public interest in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failure. How much do you know about the fractional reserve banking system? In a fractional reserve banking is a system, banks... Continue Reading

The fiduciary standard is one of the more misunderstood and misquoted obligations in financial services. Many financial advisors would say they take on a fiduciary duty. At the same time, many advisors are not truly bound by the standard.... Continue Reading

When you hear the word RECESSION, what goes through your mind? How does it make you feel? Is it a scary word? Or, is it an opportunity word? With words like RECESSION, we have three factors to consider: The... Continue Reading

Who should do financial planning? What is the point of financial planning, especially if you've already been investing for some time? In this video, I provide a visual aide for how your financial life and your investments work best... Continue Reading

Where is the market headed in 2023? The real question is where is the Fed going in 2023? One year ago, the Fed was suggesting that the inflation we were seeing was transitory. I was suggesting my clients that... Continue Reading

After seeing the market go up 5% earlier this week, only to retrace gains at the tail end of the week, is this market a bottomless pit? I recently wrote about the fallacy of waiting for things to normalize.... Continue Reading

These are the words that keeps crossing my mind. "Will this market ever normalize?" We are now a good 11 months into this market downtrend. Actually, if we're being picky, the tech market peaked in February 2021 and has... Continue Reading

Inflation persisted in the month of August. The release of the inflation readings this morning sent the market on a selling spree. Gas prices - the pain of the summer - are lower; however, food, shelter, and medical costs... Continue Reading

What defines a recession? Well, the answer depends on who you ask. A Google search of the definition is currently returning all sorts of interesting results. For example, the Wikipedia definition has a disclaimer right at the top of... Continue Reading

Think financial planning is only for people planning to build wealth? What if you already have wealth? I've written about how financial planning helps build and protect wealth; in this article I'll speak to wealth management for those who... Continue Reading

Today's CPI report shows inflation is up 9.1% from one year ago.  It's the highest rate in more than 40 years - again - and it appears we may still not yet have seen peak inflation. As a quick... Continue Reading

Do you remember 1970? 1970 is a few years (plus a few more) before I was born, so I had to look up some of the events from that year. Of note: The Beatles officially disbanded after less than... Continue Reading

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 75bps, or 0.75%. It's the most aggressive single rate hike going back to 1994 in an attempt to combat soaring inflation. Fed officials also significantly cut their 2022 GDP growth... Continue Reading

Looks like we're in it... you know, the dreaded "it". Bear market territory The S&P 500 has officially entered bear market territory. Gains in the index going back to the end of January 2021 have been taken off the... Continue Reading

By now you may have heard about Series I Bonds. They've been featured on the news, on social media, and probably in conversation with someone you know. Given the recent popularity, I've had quite a few clients reach out... Continue Reading

After holding the line for multiple days, the S&P 500 fell into bear market territory yesterday…. only to bounce back in the final 20 minutes of trading, closing flat on the day. As a refresher, a bear market is... Continue Reading