As you may have heard, Equifax, which is a credit reporting agency, suffered a data breach that compromised the personal and financial data of more than 143 million Americans.1 The information accessed included names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers. While this data breach is the largest in recent memory, these types of occurrences have become all too common and put us all at increased risk of identify theft. Unfortunately, the risks of identity theft extend beyond to just identity thieves taking out loans in your name. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect yourself. Continue Reading …
Objective Investment Advice You Can Use
As you probably saw last week, global stock markets dropped sharply in value. There are a number of factors contributing to these recent declines including expectations of higher interest rates, falling oil prices and an economic slowdown in China.
As our focus is on the long-term, we welcome periods of sharp market declines as falling prices often produce for our clients buying opportunities with less risk. Also, periods of sharp market declines are historically normal and to be expected when investing in the stock market. Continue Reading …
S&P Downgrade
Lessons of Lower Ratings Regarding S&P’s decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating, the Wall Street Journal’s article Lessons of Lower Ratings provides an historical perspective of how other countries have performed after a cut in their credit ratings. As discussed in the article, history suggests the recent downgrade could actually be a long-term positive […]
