While most of America was focused on setting their NCAA brackets earlier this week, market watchers were placing “bets” of their own on the Federal Reserve and the path of interest rates. As was widely expected, on Wednesday the Federal Reserve once again left rates unchanged (leaving the Federal Funds rate range at 5.25-5.5%). They […]

In talking with a client this week, the subject of property and casualty insurance came up and I mentioned umbrella policies. She had not heard the term before. This is an important type of insurance to have in place as you age and your earnings and net worth increases. Let’s cover the highlights below but […]

There is something about the month of March as major market events tend to occur during the third month of the year. There are three major market events that are celebrating anniversaries this month – do you know what they are? Here they are – starting with the most recent in 2023 and going all […]

Don’t look now – the 2023 tax filing due date (without extension) is only a month away. As the date approaches, you may have questions on certain tax-related matters (there a lot of things to keep track of!) As a result, I thought I’d cover a question I received from a client this past week […]

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified in front of the House Financial Services Committee for two days this past week. These briefings have become “must see TV” for market watchers as the question of 2024 remains – will the Federal Reserve cut interest rates this year, and if so when and by how much? Powell […]

A year certainly goes quickly. It’s hard to believe that it was almost a year ago that Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed and sparked a “mini” banking crisis. This week, another bank was in the news with related solvency concerns – New York Community Bancorp (“NYCB”). A client asked what had occurred at this bank […]

On February 29th (happy leap day!), the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure – Personal Consumption Expenditures (known as Core PCE) was released for the month of January 2024. (Note: Core PCE excludes food and energy, which can be very volatile.) Core PCE increased 0.4% for the month and 2.8% year-over-year, exactly in line with expectations […]

I fully appreciate how much industry jargon there is in the financial world, so I do my best to not use it. Finances are confusing enough in plain English right?! However, when talking to a client this week, I accidentally used a jargon phrase and was asked to stop and clarify. The phrase was “clipping […]

The Federal Open Market Committee released the minutes from their latest meeting this week. As with all meetings, these recorded details of the actual conservations given market participants a bit more color regarding what the interest-rate setting body is thinking. These minutes covered the proceedings from January 30-31, 2024. There were a few interesting takeaways […]

At least once a month, I have a client ask me about a cyber security related question (setting up two-factor authentication, best practices regarding wi-fi use, password issues, etc). It’s a great topic to discuss and sadly, it is also one that is becoming increasingly important with each passing minute. Our custodian, Charles Schwab, does […]