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 […]

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 […]

One silver lining of 2020 is that we hear from clients far more than we used too! If there ever was a year we all need to talk financial matters out, 2020 was it! We are loving the frequent discussions, debates, and opportunities to work thru this challenging time together. We’ve heard some similar questions […]

Like many of you, I’ve had to come up with new ways to workout during the pandemic. I’ve switched from in-person spin classes to at-home rides using the Peloton app. For those of you not familiar, these rides are part workout/part media production, as the instructors take you thru ride prompts while also interspersing wisdom […]

I’ve been participating in a personal development course called “30 Days of Excellence.” I’ve always gravitated towards opportunities to learn and improve, and the group leading this effort are individuals I want to learn from. The leader of the group is Jesse Itzler, serial entrepreneur behind Marquis Jet and Zico Coconut Water. (If you want […]

“Are we there yet?” When I was a kid, within about 20 minutes of any road trip, I would inevitably shout this question from the back of the station wagon. As we enter our sixth month of “life since COVID-19,” I’d venture to guess we are all asking ourselves this question in many areas of […]

If you are looking for a guiding light, read on! I recently re-read some market commentary from late 2019 (including my own) and it’s shocking to think of all we’ve been through in the investing world since those words were written. The world has been upended by a virus that is yet to be contained, […]