Luck or Skill? There’s an ancient question in the investment markets, which is affecting the marketplace in a variety of ways: is an active manager’s investment performance the result of luck or skill? The layperson’s answer would be obvious: anybody who has expertise and works hard at something should, eventually, produce results superior to what […]
Shifting Economic Balance Ever wonder how the balance of the world stock markets have changed over the last 120 years? Here’s a really interesting snapshot (see graphic), which shows the size of many countries’ stock markets at the beginning of the 1900s (as a percentage of the total), and as of the start of this […]
Buried in a recent report by Fidelity Investments was some remarkable news. Last summer, the mutual fund and retirement plan provider noted that there were more than a million people with more than $1 million in their 401(k) accounts. Then December hit, wiping out almost 20% of the value of the S&P 500 index, with […]
Lesson Learned? Investors who reacted emotionally to market movements have been humbled yet again. When U.S. stocks (measured by the S&P 500 index) fell 13.97% in last year’s fourth quarter, most of us felt in our gut like the market was in the midst of a major bear market collapse. The downturn would continue into […]
President and Senior Advisor, Phil Ratliff gives us the details on the first quarter market update and also the 4th quarter 2018 performance update! Watch Now:
I’ll take my chances… Chances are, you’ve already heard or read endless predictions about… everything. The direction of interest rates. Market returns and whether the markets will go down or up. When the next recession will hit. The movements of the cryptocurrency markets. If the market gurus were being honest, they wouldn’t give us definitive […]
What’s the best strategy for navigating choppy investment markets? The classic advice is to hang on for dear life. But is there a better option? Taming the Roller Coaster A recent article by Michael Batnick of Rithold Wealth Management helpfully reminds us that we have experienced two VERY choppy market periods since 1999. Buy […]
Would you like to lower the volatility of your investment portfolio? There’s an easy solution. No, the solution we’re thinking of is not to retreat to cash—which, even in times of low inflation, is a strategy doomed to steadily lose the buying power of your portfolio. All that does is guarantee a downside. Diversification will […]
Here’s a question that a lot of older Americans ask themselves from time to time: I’m over age 65. Can I still make a contribution to an IRA or a Roth IRA? Can I reinvest some or all of my required minimum distribution in an IRA or a Roth IRA? The answer, generally, is that […]
