Market Watch – Make Financial Planning Work for You

We all realize that financial planning is important. Done correctly, a good financial plan can provide direction and meaning to your financial decisions. While I am sure most of you are familiar with the term “financial planning,” I thought I might take some time to flush out what it really is all about and provide …

Market Watch – Time to Rebalance?

Investor optimism has greatly improved over the last two years and it is easy to see why. The world’s equity and commodity markets have enjoyed a dramatic charge upward since the darkest days of the financial crisis in late 2008 and early 2009. While such positive sentiment is by no means unanimous, optimism clearly has …

There is Always Going to be Something to Worry About

Earthquake in Japan, nuclear meltdown, tensions in the Middle-East, rising gas prices, high unemployment, soaring deficits, and the European debt crisis—wow, what an incredible list of things to worry about! Yet, the equity markets continued to move higher. How can this be? I would argue that seeing the market go up during times of worry …

U.S. Companies Go Global…Are You?

A transformational shift is taking place within the U.S. economy. Our world has become a place where people, businesses and economies are increasing interconnected. The rapid growth in emerging markets has created an export boom for U.S. companies. These exports have made a historically high contribution to our current economic recovery. After every recession since …

Are Muni Bonds Safe?

The fiscal problems here in California and other states have been making headlines the last few months causing uncharacteristically high levels of volatility in the municipal bond market. This volatility has sent muni prices down and has led to sizable outflows from muni bond funds and ETFs. Many investors are wondering if they should be …

Are You Prepared for Retirement?

The results of recent studies on retirement show that many Americans are not even close to being ready for retirement. Worse yet, many are not doing anything about it. One of the country’s most established and comprehensive studies is the Retirement Confidence Survey sponsored by the Employee Benefit research Institute. Now in its 20th year, …

Don’t Fight the Fed

The Federal Reserve’s recent actions continue to show that the Fed is unwilling to accept anything other than above-trend economic growth and higher inflation. Back in November of 2010, the Federal Reserve reiterated its pledge to keep interest rates low for an extended period and they also announced plans to buy $600 billion in U.S. …

A New World Order

I believe that it is more critical than ever for U.S. based investors to pay attention to what is happening outside our borders and particularly in the emerging markets. There appears to be a widening divergence between the expected economic growth rates within the developed world and the emerging markets. According to investment firm PIMCO, …

Your Brain… Investing Friend or Foe?

Recently, I saw some interesting information about how our brain functions. The brain has 3 parts: The Hominid Brain which is responsible for higher thought and reasoning, the Mammalian Brain which is responsible for feelings like love, hate, lust, fear, anger, and hurt. This part is also in charge or our “fight or flight” response, …

The Risk May Be In Bonds

Investors have been flocking to bond mutual funds at record levels the last several months. Those tired of zero- return cash are pulling money from money market funds and reaching for yield by piling into other options such as bond funds. Other investors, still smarting from the financial crisis and weary of our current economic …

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