The narrative that the U.S. economy is in trouble – some say teetering on the edge of recession - has become so powerful and persuasive that few investors give it a second thought. So of course, they believe, the Fed should cut interest rates. We haven't seen anything like it since the Fed was hiking [...]
A few key economic reports have taken a turn for the better, boosting expected real GDP growth in the second quarter and pointing to an upward revision to first quarter growth. Retail sales grew 0.5% in May, very close to consensus expectations, and were revised up substantially for prior months. Pairing this data with other [...]
Often, new clients come to us mired in the minutiae of one or two aspects of their financial life but without having a good grasp of the big picture. This is partially a result of the media, be it advertising, pundits or articles, focusing on minutiae and not necessarily accurately. So we labor to refocus [...]
Often, taking good advice is the most difficult at the time it’s most needed. This is certainly true of staying the course with your long-term investment strategy in the face of scary headlines. An additional challenge is that the opportunity to learn these lessons is spread out far enough that people tend to forget the [...]
We've written about it over and over, and while many advisors seem to understand, the media, politicians, and many analysts don't...or won't. So, we thought we'd try again to explain why so many people don't understand the nearly ten-year long bull market in U.S. equity values. Conventional Wisdom places the blame for the 2008 Financial [...]