To say the first (almost) six months of 2024 have been an interesting time in the markets would be an immense understatement. Virtually everything that has transpired (zero rate cuts, 15%+ return in S&P 500, 10-year interest rate well above 4%, massive concentration in returns among large cap tech stocks, etc) was NOT the consensus […]

This past week, Wednesday June 12th was a big news day for markets. It doesn’t happen often that a monthly inflation report (Consumer Price Index) and a Federal Reserve Rate announcement happen on the same day, but that is in fact what occurred this week. The result? Happy markets and happy investors. Let’s start with […]

Welcome to June! With the advent of a new month comes another round of economic data. A few key data points were released this week which are discussed below. Let’s start our June lap around the data track! Please note the main events for the month (May’s jobs data and Consumer Price Index) will be […]

We’ve talked about the term Safe Harbor before (in regards to estimated tax payments – you can revisit that post here). This week, a client reached out regarding another type of Safe Harbor. She said her friend had brought up the concept of Safe Harbor retirement plans and she wondered not only what they were […]

While meeting with a client this week, we were discussing cash balances and potential uses. One topic that came up was the pre-payment on debt instrument (in her case, a mortgage). Let’s take a closer look at things to consider when evaluating debt prepayment Basics of Consumer Debt Debt serves a useful purpose for many […]

Hope you had a nice holiday weekend! If you’re like me, you may be shocked at how quickly this shortened week flew by! Market participants likely feel the same way as it was a relatively light week in terms of market-moving news and economic data releases. I thought we’d take advantage of that break and […]

To those of you that live in a four-season area, congratulations! We have once again made it thru winter and once again find ourselves (almost) immersed in the glorious days of summer. I fully appreciate that any free summer days are mostly spent taking road trips, working on yards & gardens, relaxing by the pool, […]

A client reached out this week with the exciting news that she had been offered a new career opportunity. She asked for a call to discuss the opportunity and sent me the offer specifics to review. Since this is a situation others may find themselves in amidst this active job market, I thought it was […]

In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten a few client questions about emails they’ve received from Charles Schwab, alerting them the “Vote Now” regarding an individual stock position held in their account. These diligent clients have asked what these emails are referring to and if there is anything they should do to address them. This […]

My dad has taught me a lot about investing over the years, but one adage of his I always reminder myself of is “some days (or weeks) are better than others.” That has held particularly true in 2024 as market direction, investor sentiment, and my resulting emotional state (ha!) have seemingly changed by the week […]