21
Apr
2016
Tubman Unseats Jackson, Saves Hamilton
Last June, we learned that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was considering dumping THE original American financier, Alexander Hamilton, from the face of the $10 bill. Instead, Lew wanted the ten spot to feature an important American woman, an idea that we can all support. But Hamilton? Why get rid of Hamilton, why not get rid of Andrew Jackson – he wasn’t so hot, how did he get on the $20?… Read More
18
Apr
2016
Portfolio Insights
We are pleased to provide a digital copy of Portfolio Insights, our quarterly newsletter. Table of Contents: Stock Market Summary Bond Market Review Healthy Aging Strategies Drawdowns: A New Perspective Is Value Investing Dead? The Big Picture and Fast Facts Click here to read the issue: 2016 Q1 Portfolio Insights
18
Apr
2016
Tax Trivia to Ease the Pain
Although we all know that ‘tax day’ is April 15th, a holiday in Washington DC pushed back the due date until today. Here are some fun facts from efile.com to help ease the pain: In 1705, Russian emperor Peter the Great taxed beards in the hopes that more men would adopt a clean shaven look. Playing cards and dice were taxed in England going back to 1710 and rose to… Read More
15
Apr
2016
Want to Make a Bet?
Spring has finally arrived, which means baseball is back. Here in St Louis, conversations always tends to lead back to our beloved Cardinals and speculation about how they will perform this year. Any discussion about the Cardinals these days also involves speculation about our friendly rivals up north, the Chicago Cubs. Despite a history of futility, fans of the small bears are always optimistic this time of year, and that… Read More
15
Apr
2016
Yale Bets Big Overseas
One of my favorite reads of the year is from the Yale Investments Office, which manages their $25.6 billion endowment. You can find the report by clicking here. Yale is routinely the best-performing endowment in the world and has earned a remarkable 13.9 percent return over the last 30 years – well above the 10.7 percent return for US stocks, 8.7 percent return for foreign stocks and 7.1 percent return… Read More
11
Apr
2016
Watching Your Fellow Shareholders
When you own individual stocks and bonds, you don’t have to pay too much attention to what your fellow shareholders (or bond holders) are doing. A mutual fund is a little different, though, because the actions of your fellow shareholders can affect your returns, especially on an after-tax basis. Morningstar reported last week that of their 500 most widely followed mutual funds, 168 have seen outflows of more than 10… Read More
8
Apr
2016
Healthy Aging: Building Your Social Network
This is the third part in a series on the successful transition to retirement. The first article addressed The Challenge of Leisure and was followed by Why Put Family First. This one will expand from family to your broader social network. As a reminder, researchers have shown that strong social relationships keep us younger, healthier, and lower our mortality risk. In addition to living longer, healthy people lead happier lives in… Read More
7
Apr
2016
Welcome, Broker-Dealers. Seriously.
In 1981, IBM unveiled their first personal computer and in response, Apple, who had created their first personal computer in 1977 and mass produced a second version the next year, published an ad in the Wall Street Journal welcoming Big Blue to the personal computer business with the headline, ‘Welcome, IBM. Seriously.’ IBM had previously scoffed at computers for the masses and was the undisputed king of corporate computing at… Read More
6
Apr
2016
Yield Curve Madness
Bond yields continued their downward march and fell to a five-week low yesterday as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury hit 1.73 percent. After starting the year at 2.24 percent, the benchmark yield dropped to 1.63 percent when the stock market bottomed out on February 11th and then climbed to 1.98 percent before falling again. As low as your yields are today, they are among the highest in the… Read More
5
Apr
2016
Capital Markets in Perspective
We all know that the first quarter was a wild ride as the S&P 500 fell -10.29 percent through February 11th and then rocketed back over the rest of the quarter and finished in the black. When I tallied up the results for the first quarter, I have to admit that I was surprised by the range of returns within the major asset classes, from the -5.4 percent decline in… Read More