When it comes to getting objective advice for your financial well-being, do you know the difference between being a customer and being a client? Understanding the difference between the two can make all the difference in the world, especially for financial services. A customer relationship is driven by a transaction taking place, such as buying […]
What should I do with my stock options?
If you’re holding stock options from your employer, our Employee Stock Options Strategy will help you answer these questions: Should I exercise my options now or risk holding out for a higher price in the future? What are the tax consequences of exercising my options? How do my company stock options impact my overall portfolio? […]
Should You Follow Market Forecasters?
USA Today recently published an interesting article titled “How bad are Wall Street forecasts? Really bad.” The article reviews why you are probably better off ignoring financial advisors who try to predict the market. Not only is their combined track record horrible over time, you may get better results by simply tossing a coin – […]
The Federal Reserve’s Impact on Your Portfolio
Changes in interest rates have a disproportionate effect on your portfolio. Lower interest rates can help boost corporate earnings, and as earnings increase, market prices often do too. This is a key reason why stocks frequently increase in value as interest rates fall. Another reason is that lower interest rates drive investors to seek higher […]
Slow and Steady Wins the Race Investing
Research released last month is turning conventional investing wisdom on its head. At a top investment conference, researchers demonstrated that a number of widely held beliefs about stocks simply have not held up over time. Here’s what they found: Low volatility stocks outperform volatile ones in the long run: Looking at forty years of data, […]
Should You Have ETFs in Your Portfolio?
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have been attracting more and more attention in recent months. CNN Money recently published a detailed article titled “ETFs: Why so complicated?” which discussed how ETFs can be used and abused. I strongly agree with the article’s primary point: The key to success with ETFs is careful management. It’s no mystery […]
The Risk of Selling Now to Pay Lower Taxes
To quote the late Chief Justice John Marshall, “The power to tax is the power to destroy.” That’s why managing your portfolio in a tax-efficient manner should be an increasingly important part of your investment strategy—especially given the looming risk of higher taxation. After all, what really matters in the long-term is not your pre-tax […]
A Fun Article About How to Invest Your Lottery Winnings
In case you were one of the lucky few who won last week’s $577 million Powerball lottery, you can find our recommendations on how to invest your winnings at the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch site. The title of the article is “Fiscal Cliff May Clip Powerball Winner“.
Great Article on Dividend Investing
An excellent and timely article recently appeared in CNN Money–one that offers valuable insight for equities investors. Here’s the link: Want top stocks? Bet on brand names. As you can see from the title, the author, Scott Cendrowski, believes that shares of companies selling brand name consumer goods have been, and will continue to be […]
Retro Investing Article from WSJ
The Wall Street Journal recently published a very timely article about the current investment climate. Here’s the link in case you missed it: “Retro Investing – Look Back to Get Ahead.” As the title implies, the author suggests that history can offer important lessons to help us chart an investment path forward. I agree. In […]
