April 2016 Monthly Insight: Recession or No Recession?
Recently, the focus for investors has been all over the map. This is not an all-inclusive list but it adds up to a whole host of worries investors are grappling with in the short term: Oil prices Corporate earnings The global economy China’s economy China’s currency (the Yuan) Anxieties about banks (especially in Europe) The Federal Reserve’s next move “Brexit,” – the possibility that Britain will exit the European Union Emerging market debt Political uncertainty in the U.S. Despite all this, U.S. stocks in...
read moreMarch 2016 Monthly Insight: Lessons From Buffett’s Shareholder Letter
Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is one of America’s great investors—arguably, the greatest ever. Over the last 50 years, Buffett (now 85) and his partner Charlie Munger (91) have executed one of the greatest allocations of capital in history. They have transformed Berkshire Hathaway from a failing textile company to a worldwide conglomerate comprising about 90 businesses across diverse industries. Last year, Berkshire Hathaway had total revenue of $210 billion and net earnings of roughly $24 billion. I find Buffett’s...
read moreFebruary 2016 Monthly Insight: The January Barometer
“As January goes, so goes the year.” At least that is the case according the old adage made popular by the Stock Trader’s Almanac. This phenomenon is also known as the “January Barometer.” It simply means that January’s market’s performance, as measured by the S&P 500 Index, is a harbinger of how the market will do for the year. According to a recent story in the New York Times, the January barometer has been right 88% of the time since 1950 (ignoring basically flat years) and 75% of the time including all years....
read moreDecember 2015 Monthly Insight: The Clouds Part
Bernard Baruch is not a household name, so a quick background is in order. He was a financier, a stock investor, a philanthropist, and an economic advisor to Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. Baruch once quipped, “The main purpose of the stock market is to make fools of as many men as possible.” While he earned his fortune in an earlier period, few today can consistently amass wealth by trying to time the market’s ups and downs. Or, for that matter, ride a few hot stocks and cash in at the right time. So from that vantage...
read moreNovember 2015 Monthly Insight: Budget Bill Changes Social Security Strategies
October was a wild month for the markets—and for many baby boomers who planned for retirement income by synchronizing and coordinating their timing for claiming Social Security benefits. The last week in October saw Congress put an end to two Social Security filing strategies that many couples have used to add tens of thousands of dollars to their retirement incomes. However, there is a six-month window in which couples who are at least 66 years old can still take advantage of these strategies, and a partial reprieve, through grandfathering,...
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