Financial Insights Archives
Cybersecurity Tips to Better Protect Your Data
The following are tips for consumers to consider in reducing the risk or impact of data breaches.
Read MoreHave the Tech Giants Been DeFAANGed?
Investors expecting FAANG1 stocks to continue the extraordinary performance of recent years must be disappointed by their returns in 2022 (see Exhibit 1). Four of the five stocks lagged the broad US market through May 5, with Amazon, Facebook (now known as Meta), and Netflix suffering big-time losses. The group collectively underperformed the Russell 3000…
Read MoreQ1 Market Commentary
2022 has started out mostly negative for both the global stock and bond markets, as the economy responds to increasing prices and the conflict in Ukraine. Rising prices started well before the Russia/Ukraine conflict as strong demand for products was met with a simultaneous shortage of supply for almost everything. A simple economic concept illustrates that when quantity…
Read MoreMarket Update: The Impact Of Inflation And Geopolitical Conflict On The Markets
Stock and bond returns have been under pressure since the end of 2021 as increasing prices indicated that the inflation rate was the highest it has been in 40 years. This usually means that the Federal Reserve will try to slow the economy down. They have a couple of tools to facilitate that, with the…
Read MoreNavigating Geopolitical Events
Recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine is an important reminder that geopolitical risk is a part of investing in global markets. Navigating geopolitical events requires expertise and flexibility. Global Developments and Their Impact Geopolitical events like military or economic conflicts can affect stock markets in many ways. These events are generally widely followed by investors.…
Read MoreHedging Inflation Long-Term: Gold vs. Stocks
There’s no lack of financial press reporting on the effect of inflation on our day to day lives. We don’t need to read about it in popular media to feel inflation’s effect each time we fuel up our vehicles, buy groceries for our families, or pay for the variety of goods and services we consume…
Read MoreMarket Commentary: Fourth Quarter
Every year on New Year’s Day, I look at Google Trends and reflect on what people searched for during the year. For me, it gives me time to reflect on just how many things happened during the year, how fast topics of interest changed, and what kind of information people looked for. It certainly does not come…
Read MoreWhat Does it Mean for an Investment Advisory Firm to be CEFEX Certified?
You may wonder what goes into becoming “CEFEX-certified”? It’s more of a rigorous process than you might think. CEFEX-certified firms adhere to a standard representing the best fiduciary practices in their industry. The standards include specific criteria which have been substantiated by regulation or written in consultation with leading firms. A successfully completed standards-based assessment…
Read MoreVideo: Estate Planning 101: 5 Important Documents You Need & Why
Most individuals have the vague idea that estate planning is about passing on one’s assets to loved ones when we die. This is true, but it is quite a bit more involved than that. Estate planning is a series of legal documents that clearly spell out your wishes when you pass away or cannot make…
Read MoreMarket Commentary: Third Quarter
For the first time in over a year, the stock market seemed to pause from negative pressure. Inflation and interest rates are rising, there are continuous supply chain issues, the Federal Reserve has indicated it will taper their asset purchasing program, the nation is reaching the debt ceiling (imagine that), there are debates about how…
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