Portfolio Strategy Review Q2 2022
The second quarter continued the negative trends that we saw in the first quarter. Interest rates and inflation increased, though there has been recent price relief in the housing, energy, and other commodity markets. The labor market remains strong with unemployment...
Portfolio Strategy Review Q1 2022
"I need ammunition. Not a ride." History Lessons from War, Appeasement, and Markets It’s useful to compare the events in Ukraine against history because we all have a stake in the outcome. In 1938, Hitler annexed Austria; and demanded a portion of Czechoslovakia that...
The January Effect
According to the zany theory called the January Effect, they are supposed to go up. January was rough across most markets. The doomsayers, armed with historical data, were out in full force predicting the “mother of all bear markets” is just around the corner. And...
Portfolio Strategy Review 2021
Between the pandemic that won’t go away and the politics of the day, US stock markets shrugged it off and delivered extraordinary returns in 2021. At least we are closer to the end of the pandemic. The politics I’m not so sure about. Economic growth forecasts for 2022...
Portfolio Rebalancing: You Can’t Spend an Average
Avoiding Bad Luck with Rebalancing It’s easy to be complacent as our account balances have risen over the past twelve years. The record fast market decline from COVID was offset by an equally fast recuperation, driven by large doses of fiscal and monetary stimulation....
Portfolio Rebalancing: The Dull Discipline
The famed economist John Maynard Keynes once quipped: “The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” Or employed. Or happily married. It’s easy to get complacent when we watch our account balance increase during the great melt up over the past...
Proposed Tax and Planning Updates
I spent 2 days last week at a continuing education conference with Ed Slott & Company. This is my third year in the program. Slott has been a thought leader in retirement and distribution planning for over thirty years. My Master Elite membership gives me full...
Portfolio Strategy Review Q3 2021
"I hope I never recover from this." William Shatner on his journey into space at age 90 Reflation, inflation, or deflation….that was so last quarter. This quarter “stagflation” also began to gain attention. Stagflation evokes fear of the 1970’s when inflation was...
Social Security Ain’t Going Broke!
Social Security Status: Ignore the Headline Hype Social Security issued its Annual Trustees report on August 31. The report discussed the long-term financial status of the program. However, different media sources report the same data in very different ways. Some...
Medicare Nightmares
Plan Enrollment Errors: Advance Planning is Good Medicine Combine the federal government with the US tax and healthcare systems and what do you get? One very complicated maze of rules and regulations called Medicare! Medicare’s complex rules are confusing and can...
