This week’s question is a popular one – with an equally unpopular answer. Question: What do you mean by emergency savings and how much should I keep in that account? Answers: It depends I know, I know. “It depends” can be a very frustrating answer and it is one that I find applies to many […]

As our clients will know, our primary custodian for clients’ investment accounts is Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”). Schwab has a retail presence (ie: individuals open brokerage accounts and trade/manage them on their own), as well as a very meaningful Advisor Services practice (where they diligently support Registered Investment Advisors (like Windermere) as we […]

I’m writing this post on May 19, 2022 as I sit in the Denver airport, on my way back home from a Schwab meeting in California. And admittedly, I’m experiencing a very strong sense of deja vu. The last time I was in the Denver airport was February 2020. I was on my way to […]

During a quarterly review meeting recently, a client asked why we include a schedule showing the sector weighting of their portfolio versus the sector weighting of the S&P 500. It was a great question and one I thought was worth diving into this week. First, a few definitions: S&P 500 index – this is a […]

Calm and perspective – two things we could all use some more of these days Recently, after a wild day in the markets, I decided to pull up two pictures, just to add some perspective Return of the S&P 500 from January 1, 2022 to May 11, 2022 Return of the S&P 500 from January […]

Earlier this week, I was doing my nightly Gmail inbox clean-out (yes, I strive for inbox zero and no, I can’t quite get there 😉 ). In between the ads, junk mail, and useful reminders was a hidden gem – an email newsletter from Dr. Brene Brown. If you know Brene’s work, you’ll understand that […]

Note: Each week in this column, I’ll address a question discussed in recent client conversations. Who knows, it may just be on your mind as well This week, the topic is Growth versus Value. Recently, a client asked for some clarification on what those two terms actually mean and if we have a preference in […]

Every month, Rick Rieder – Managing Director and Head of Global Allocation Team for Blackrock – conducts a monthly call, where he shares pages of charts, data, and statistics that explain where markets have been and more importantly, where they are going. To help aid in understanding or perhaps to alleviate some of the confusion […]

Markets have certainly given all of us much to think about in recent months. After an astounding recovery from COVID-driven recession to a relatively calm 2021, we have been greeted with volatility, uncertainty, and very bearish sentiment as we wrapped up the first quarter of 2022. There are always uncertainties and variables in play in […]

During 2020, I wrote frequently about the investing landscape.  I even drew a picture to illustrate what we were facing as we crossed the “Valley of Uncertainty” (you can read the blog posts from May, June, July, and September) So where is our investor now?  I was anxious to put my artistic skills to work […]