November 2020 Monthly Insight — Courageous Control
“Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared.” — Eddie Rickenbacker, American fighter ace in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient By now we have all come to expect the unexpected. But even with everything that has been thrown at us this year, we still don’t like unpredictability, especially when it comes to our money and investments. Because one of the major effects of the coronavirus pandemic has been increased market volatility, if you invest, you’ve likely been experiencing some...
read moreWhat’s Your Long-Term Care Plan?
By Lee Sherbakoff, CPA/PFS, CFP®, RICP® There are a lot of things you don’t want to gamble with in life, like your retirement savings, how you raise your kids, or your health. Unfortunately, many Americans take one particular risk with their health, possibly without even realizing it, and that’s neglecting to make a long-term care plan. (1) Since 70% of people will need some form of long-term care during their lifetimes, it’s critical to have a plan to pay for these costs. (2) When you are healthy and thriving, it’s easy to focus solely...
read moreOctober 2020 Monthly Insight — Think Slow
“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” — Earl Nightingalea, American radio speaker & author Heuristics are mental shortcuts, derived from previous experiences, that let us make decisions quickly and efficiently. They may have literally saved humankind from extinction. If our ancestors were in danger, heuristics let them quickly decide between fight, flight, or freeze. Pick the right option, and you live to fight another day. Heuristic decision-making is...
read moreSeptember 2020 Monthly Insight — A Lack of Foreknowledge
“We really can’t forecast all that well, and yet we pretend that we can, but we really can’t.” –Alan Greenspan, Former Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States “Weather forecast for tonight: dark.” –George Carlin, American comedian Imagine yourself at the beginning of the year. You have knowledge that within weeks a novel virus will emerge that will shut down much of the global economy. Businesses will close, sporting events will be canceled, your daily routine will be altered, travel plans will be derailed,...
read moreAugust 2020 Monthly Insight — Pace of Recovery
“The pace of recovery looks like it has slowed.” —Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, July 29, 2020 Last month’s Monthly Insight spoke briefly to our strategic general principals about the markets and investing. That short introduction was followed by a review of the first six months of 2020. One of the key takeaways from the mid-year review was the sheer unknowability of the short- to intermediate-term market moves and economic productivity. Clearly, much of the economic data at that time was extremely negative, with record...
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