Newsletters

Living trusts enable you to control the distribution of your estate, and certain trusts may enable you to reduce or avoid many of the taxes and fees that will be imposed upon…

Market Commentary – 11.12.13 When Bad News is Good News and Good News is Bad News Market movements, especially those that occur over a short term, often puzzle investors. However lately, market…

Monthly Market Monitor – January 2015 Recap Market Indices1 January Year-to-Date S&P 500 -3.00% -3.00% Russell 3000 -2.78% -2.78% MSCI EAFE 0.49% 0.49% MSCI Emerging Markets 0.60% 0.60% Barclays US Aggregate Bond…

Moving Into a New Phase Since the end of the Great Recession, economists have repeatedly predicted that the United States would soon step onto a path of above-trend growth, only to see…

Changing tax rates, steady inflation, and higher interest rates : put them together, and this might be a good time to consider the real return on your investments. As an investor, you…

Some business owners don’t think about succession possibilities or when they might retire, because they love running their companies and don’t want to stop any time soon. But unfortunately, about half of…

After an unusually calm year in 2017, the stock market turned unusually volatile in 2018. How volatile was it? Consider this: In 2017, the S&P 500 had only eight days when the…

Market Commentary – 10.27.14 Losing Hurts More Than Winning Can Offset Quietly, the S&P 500 posted its best weekly gain in nearly two years. Although the news headlines for the week looked…

U.S.–China Trade War: Who Pays the Price? On May 13, 2019, escalating trade tensions between the United States and China sparked a worldwide stock sell-off that wiped out more than $1 trillion…

Market Commentary – 10.27.14 All Eyes on the Federal Reserve This Week The Federal Reserve takes center stage as its Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meets Tuesday and Wednesday with a policy…

Most homeowners make their regular mortgage payments every month for the duration of the loan term, and never think of doing otherwise. But prepaying your mortgage or making biweekly payments can reduce…

Many variable annuity contracts offer “living benefit” guarantees. For an additional cost, the contract holder may be able to purchase guarantees regardless of the account value.

On August 14, 2019, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 800 points, losing 3% of its value in its biggest drop of the year. The Nasdaq Composite also lost 3%, while the…

Maintaining an appropriate balance of stocks and bonds is one of the most fundamental concepts in constructing an investment portfolio. Stocks provide greater growth potential with higher risk and relatively low income;…

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has made the tax code more favorable for small businesses. Still, owners will want to take full advantage of every legal tax break they can find.…

Conflict in the Persian Gulf has spurred modest oil price volatility in recent weeks, but prices didn’t spike to high levels seen during some past conflicts. That’s partly because rising U.S. oil…

The yield curve is a graph with the rates of U.S. Treasury bonds plotted by maturity. The slope of the curve is the difference between short-dated bonds and long-dated bonds. Normally, it…

About 43% of small employers (with fewer than 500 employees) applied for credit in 2018, up from 40% in 2017. Fortunately, nearly half of applicants received the full amount requested : 47%…