During each Federal Reserve rate decision meetings of 2024, I have been immediately transported back to my childhood. In these flashbacks, I am sitting in the backset of a station wagon, wedged between my sister, our cocker spaniel Clover, and some luggage, asking (repeatedly) “are we there yet?” And regardless of if we were within […]

The year is half-over. It’s a perfect time to schedule a time to complete a mid-year financial review. Here are five things you may wish to add to your agenda! 1.) Spending and savings plan – If you took my advice at the outset of the year, you have a rough plan in place in […]

If you have read any of my posts over the past two years, you are familiar with at least one part of the Federal Reserve Bank’s dual mandate – price stability (said another way, combat inflation). We have spent many a Fridays dissecting the latest inflation data and debating when (or if) prices would start […]

As the first half of 2024 comes to a close, I keep hearing this cheer in my head as the letter K is once serving as the perfect depiction of the current market dynamics. Loyal readers may remember references to the letter K during the COVID years (I know, let’s not revisit those years right?!) […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]