4 Dec 2014

Perpetual Income

The question about when interest rates will rise has been a big question around here for several years, and we still don’t know. Most investors are worried about rising interest rates and most people, including me, have been very surprised this year to see the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note fall from 3.00 percent to 2.29 percent, as of yesterday. The direction of interest rates matters when you… Read More

3 Dec 2014

We Are the World: Global Investing

The good news is that the S&P 500 is up almost 14 percent this year through yesterday. The bad news is that no other equity asset class is doing nearly as well. Most clients that I’ve been talking to understand why we diversify, but a few of them have said something along these lines: ‘Dave, I hear what you’re saying and you’re probably right, but shouldn’t we do something different?… Read More

2 Dec 2014

Using Donor Advised Funds

After shopping-centric Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s refreshing to know that today is Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday is actually a relatively new effort – the first one was in 2012 and it is actually part of November’s nonprofit awareness month. But giving in the US is not new at all. In fact, the US is one of the most generous countries on earth. Here are some of the facts… Read More