Before COVID hit, a few family members and I were competing in our own version of Biggest Loser, trying to see who could lose the most weight over a set period of time. For the month of January, besides trying to exercise more, I took bread and cheese out of my diet entirely. By the […]
The question I get most often from clients is, “Why is the stock market doing so well when the economy is suffering?” For most of the summer, the stock market has been buoyant. According to Barron’s, equity investors are up $13.1 trillion or 55.7% from the March 23rd lows and up $2.2T or 6.3% since […]
Before we get to why I believe that we should finally put an end to the outdated and unnecessary Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rule, it is important to see how we got here. In 1986, as the popularity of the use of IRAs, 401(k)s and rollover IRAs grew, Congress began to become worried that these […]
Last week Brown University announced they would be offering an early retirement package to some of their staff. Dubbed the “Staff Voluntary Retirement Program”, Brown is clearly hoping to reduce payroll during a challenging time due to COVID. Brown University is the #8 employer in the state, so this could potentially affect a lot of […]
If you are a supporter of ESG investing (combining traditional investing with environmental, social and governance related issues), then COVID-19 may have a silver lining for you. ESG investing has been playing an outsized role in investment decisions since the beginning of the year. The virus has exposed the critical need for companies to beef […]
You will often hear, “so goes the consumer, so goes the United States economy.” This is a phenomenon that has grown during my lifetime, as we shifted away from a manufacturing economy to a more service-based economy. Look below at the chart and you will see that consumer spending does make up almost 70% of […]
There is no perfect measure to say how the stock market in the US is performing. Every major index you see mentioned on the news has some pros and cons. Typically, every nightly news report will mention the daily returns of the Big 3: the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500. […]
So what gives with the markets? Let’s use the S&P 500. It was down 33.9% from its 2020 high on February 19th to its low on March 23rd (shortest bear market on record). It then rebounded 31.9% until April 29th (a dizzying bounce) and has remained essentially flat ever since. Unfortunately, the S&P 500 is […]
During these unprecedented times, many clients are wondering if their goals have been derailed and if so, what it will take to get them back on track. There is no doubt that things have changed, and as a result many of us will need to adjust accordingly. But just how much do you need to […]
In hindsight, it appears surprisingly easy to shut down an economy – we just did it in a few short weeks. I suspect it is much harder to open an economy back up again. What inspired so many Americans to shelter in place was a combination of worry for their own personal health and an […]
