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What the Elections Mean for Your Investments
(Main Content/blog)
... In the year after the opposition party wins the presidency, markets tend to rise—and they rise a bit more sharply when the incumbent party remains in power. (Bonds, by the way, tend to slightly outperform ...
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The Coming Corporate Debt Cliff
(Main Content/blog)
... if economic growth continues to slow. And as they look to issue new bonds to pay off the expiring ones – this is the $4-trillion debt cliff -- they may find fewer investors willing to lend to them. That's ...
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Bond Yields Are Low – So Where Do You Find Income?
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It's difficult to find good income opportunities in the bond market right now. The 10-year Treasury, which was yielding more than 3% last fall, is heading into this fall at 1.7%. That's even less than ...
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Interest Rate Cuts: Too Little Too Late?
(Main Content/blog)
... It's gotten an extra boost from the anticipated Fed rate cuts. But the bond market, which is far larger than the stock market, tells a different story. Investors have been piling into long-maturity bonds ...
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Should You Invest in Real Estate?
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Real estate is often peddled as a get-rich-quick investment—and that lures some people in, and it turns some others off. The truth about real estate is that, like stocks and bonds, it can be a solid ...
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The Investment Outlook Is Changing
(Main Content/blog)
... hefty returns were fueled by low interest rates and economic stimulus engineered by the Federal Reserve to steer us out of the Great Recession. Ultra-low interest rates and the Fed's aggressive bond buying ...
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A Smart Investing Move to Start the Year
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... type (stocks and bonds, for example) after they've been doing well, and buying them after they've been doing poorly. Against the current backdrop, where stocks are down 5% from a month ago, that might ...
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Understanding What Drives the Market
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The stock and bond markets don't move up and down over time for no reason. When they advance or decline, you can be sure that unseen catalysts are at work: Think of the wind hitting the sail of a ship. ...
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What the Market Plunge Means for Investors
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... rates are bad for bond investors too. That's because the issuance of new bonds at the higher rates decrease the value of the old, lower-interest bonds investors may already own. As those longer-term bonds ...
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How to Invest in Bonds as Interest Rates Rise
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Rising interest rates are said to be the enemy of bond investors--and since we're not in an environment of rising rates, many people are wary of buying bonds at all. However, there are good reasons to ...
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Be Smart About Your Tax Windfall
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... have been great for stocks, and less good for bonds. As a result, if you originally had a 50/50 balance of stocks and bonds, those faster-growing stocks might now represent, say, 70% of your portfolio, ...
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How a Tax Failure Could Topple the Market
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... each individual stock, bond or fund in your portfolio passes the test of quality and price. And the best way to do that is to work with a qualified financial advisor. Don't hesitate to contact us if ...
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Choosing the Right Advisor
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... charge a fee based the total amount of assets they manage for you. Brokers are paid to sell investments; they earn commissions each time you buy a stock, bond or other investment, which can create conflicts ...
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Why ETFs Shouldn’t Dominate Your Portfolio
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... say, adding bonds or foreign stocks to the mix. ETFs are like corks on the water, rising and falling with the tides. In a word, they're dumb. That's why my clients' portfolios include individual stocks ...
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Why Your Advisor Should See Your Taxes
(Main Content/blog)
... tax returns each year. Using the information on your taxes allows a good advisor to maximize your after-tax rate of investment return. And in the current environment of low bond yields and stock-market ...
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When That High Yield is a Trap
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<p>Yields are miserable out there: The S&P 500’s average dividend yield is just about 2%. The highest-rated 10-year corporate bonds, meanwhile, are paying just a bit more than that on average.</p><p> ...
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Opportunities But Also Risks in High-Yield Bonds
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High-yield bonds are on a roll: The iShares U.S. High-Yield Bond Index ETF (ticker: XHY) is up more than 11% for the year. But before jumping on the bandwagon, be aware that there's lots of risk in high-yield, ...
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Record-High Stocks: Good News or Bad?
(Main Content/blog)
... uncertainty about the region’s economies and strengthened the appeal of U.S. stocks. Furthermore, rock-bottom bond yields in the U.S. and abroad have made stocks a more attractive alternative. If ...
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How to Invest in a Tough Market
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It's been a tough several months for investment returns. Since June of last year, the S&P 500 index is down 12.24%, and bonds, as measured by the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG), are down ...
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The Rate Increase and Your Portfolio
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... stock and bond markets have been in a funk lately. It hasn't helped that so many commentators have been hyperventilating over the subject. Times like these are when it's especially important for investors ...