There is no question that we haven’t even started to see the economic impact of the coronavirus, since all of the data that we get is in arrears. For example, last week we got two important pieces of data about unemployment that told different stories. The good news is that the unemployment rate in march was 4.4 percent, which is an increase from the previous month, but not bad. However,… Read More
Stocks rallied in response to the fiscal and monetary policy response from the government. On the monetary side, the Federal Reserve announced that they would provide ‘unlimited’ quantitative easing (QE), and announced new facilities to support credit markets. The Fed had recently committed to buying $500 billion in Treasury bonds and $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities, and said that it would continue in the amounts needed to support smooth market… Read More
**UPDATE** We’d like to share an update to the original post below. Acropolis has re-opened our office. Details below: Acropolis employees have returned to the office. Clients are welcome to visit according to their comfort level. Client Zoom meetings will still be available. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Portfolio Manager or any of our leaders with any questions or concerns. ___________________________________________________________ Original Post – March… Read More
Today, I thought I would cover two topics. First, I want to update you on how Acropolis is operating, and, second, offer some thoughts on what one prominent economist is saying about the impact of the coronovirus. Regarding Acropolis, it appears that our regular disaster recover preparations were worth their time and energy. As a Registered Investment Advisor, Acropolis is required to have a disaster recovery plan in place and… Read More
As I noted here last week, despite the market turmoil, it is important to remember that we planned for this. We have prolonged periods of market stress built into our financial plans. It’s also moments like this when we can see whether we’ve accurately assessed your risk tolerance. Every client has an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) that estimates how much an allocation could lose over certain periods. Importantly, we don’t include… Read More
The selloff was mostly driven by concerns about the spread of the coronavirus outside of China. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) said that it was not yet a pandemic, it increased its risk assessment from ‘high’ to ‘very high.’ Although the bond market received less media attention, the results were equally dramatic. For reference, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury on January 31st was 1.51 percent. On Friday,… Read More
It’s finally official! The IRS announced the 2020 Retirement Plan Contribution and Benefit Limits. See how much you can save in your 401(k) plan in 2020.
As noted above, the big story last week was about the on-again-off-again trade deal between the US and China. It’s impossible to know where the deal goes from here, but the options are basically as follows: Talks Continue. The negotiation deadline could be extended as it was before with tariffs frozen and additional sanctions possible. The status quo should be stabilizing for markets for a while, despite the policy uncertainty…. Read More
Click to check out the details!
You know the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting is coming up when every financial media outlet has a story on the company or its leader, businessman and investor extraordinaire, Warren Buffett. My favorite from the weekend was an article in The Financial Times that draws extensively from an interview with Buffett. You can find the article here, but it may be behind a paywall. One of the points made in the… Read More
