It’s official. As of earlier this week, all three major indexes (Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq) all ended in correction territory. What is a correction? A correction is when the stock market experiences a 10% drop from it’s highs. Is it notable? Yes. Should it be worrisome? No. Let me explain. Over the last 50 years, the S&P 500 has entered into a correction 29 times. That is…
Our clients often ask us about real estate, and what we think about buying or selling a primary residence, a vacation home, or an investment property. This is hardly surprising—for many of our clients, their family home is by far their largest asset. What’s more, most of our clients live in either the Seattle or San Francisco areas, both of which have experienced extraordinary real estate appreciation in recent…
Congress and the President recently passed the biggest tax reform in over 30 years. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 aims to make the United States corporate tax rate more competitive and therefore increase corporate investment domestically. The bill also provides for individual tax breaks beginning in 2018, that will expire at the end of 2025. What Does This Mean For My Portfolio? Corporations will now be taxed…
For decades, it has been conventional wisdom in American business that the one proper objective of corporate managers is to increase the company’s share price. That is the principal behind stock options, which tie compensation to share price. Other considerations, such as worker satisfaction, civic engagement, or environmental impact, have been perceived as irrelevant, except to the extent that they bear on profitability, and thus on share price. The…
Many people are aware of the benefits of a Roth IRA: you put your after-tax money into it, after 20 or 30 years when you retire, you pull all of the money out tax-free. This can be a big benefit when you consider the effect of compounding returns over time. There are other benefits such as that you may be in a lower tax bracket when you pay taxes…
Currently, one of the nation’s biggest banks, Wells Fargo, is in the middle of a serious scandal. The company fraudulently opened extra customer accounts without their consent or knowledge in order to boost revenue. (Click here to read story) Prior to the latest news, Wells Fargo was considered to be one of the darlings of Wall Street. Warren Buffett, a major stakeholder, loved to talk about the bank. However, since the…
The global investment community has been focused on the recent vote by the UK to leave the European Union, broadly referred to as the “Brexit.” This historic event will have economic impacts on the UK and the European Union, as well as their trading partners. Unsurprisingly, equity markets experienced sharp declines in the days following Brexit and have since seen a significant rebound. If you haven’t already, please read our…
The global investment community has been focused on the recent vote by the UK to leave the European Union, broadly referred to as the “Brexit.” This historic event will have economic impacts on the UK and the European Union, as well as their trading partners. Unsurprisingly, equity markets experienced sharp declines in the days following Brexit and have since seen a significant rebound. If you haven’t already, please read…
How do you solve a problem like commodities? Sound of Music, anyone? Well, if you are not a fan of musicals, that is okay. Chances are at this point in the market cycle, you are probably not a fan of commodities, either. Commodity prices are clearly a hot-topic right now and not in a good way. As anyone who owns commodities knows, returns for the asset class have been more than frustrating the…
Halloween is almost upon us and it seems the market is doing its part to spook investors. As a result, many people may experience higher levels of anxiety regarding their investments. We prepared the following commentary as part of our most recent quarterly update to our clients. We think it provides useful perspective. Market Volatility The global equity markets the past two quarters can be summed up in one word: volatile. As…
