If you slipped into a coma on August 1st and just regained consciousness on August 31st, you might have looked around and thought that you really didn’t miss much while you were out cold. The world’s capital markets were sitting right about where they started. The S&P 500 traded in a very narrow range with […]
“Things done well and with a care, exempt themselves from fear.” Henry VIII, Act 1, Scene 2. There are a lot of things to fear in the world today. The news headlines alone can churn your stomach: terrorist attacks by groups like ISIS can occur anywhere, provocative missile testings by aggressive nations like Iran […]
Soothsayer: “Beware the ides of March.” Caesar: “What man is that?” Brutus: “A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.” Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2 March is usually a month of change. Winter’s cold gives way to the first hints of spring, and we make the rounds in our homes changing the time […]
This month I’d like to hit on a topic that most of us avoid because it can be hard to talk about. That topic is planning for death, and more specifically, preparation for our own funeral, memorial service, and burial or cremation. On a personal note, I’ve been through this process in just the last […]
January has to be the odds-on favorite for the longest month of the year. It’s the coldest month of the year. It inevitably starts off with a “let down” for most of us as it comes right on the heels of the bustling holiday season. And as one of seven months on our calendars with […]
Greece dominates the global headlines right now, and for good reason with its debt crisis. While Greece is a small country, its huge debt balances have forced the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission, and the European Central Bank (ECB) — the three collectively known as “the troika” — to repeatedly save it from […]
This article is the final installment in a three-part series on estate financial planning. In part one, we touched on the basics of estate planning – why we all need to put an estate plan in place. We also discussed the attributes of the will and the trust, the two most foundational documents in an […]
Last month’s blog piece, was the first installment in a three-part series on trust and estate management. Trust and estate tax planning is the “most overlooked, misunderstood and procrastinated piece” of the financial plan for most families, when it really shouldn’t be. Putting together a good estate plan is relatively straight-forward, especially with the help […]
After almost twenty years in the financial services industry, I can tell you firsthand as an attorney that trust and estate planning is the most overlooked, misunderstood and procrastinated piece of the financial plan for most families. I can also tell you from experience why that’s usually the case: most people think putting together an […]
Should You “Sell in May and Go Away”?
There’s an old stock market adage to “sell in May and go away”. The advice is really the back-end of an old two-step trading idea sometimes dubbed the “Halloween Indicator”. The idea is that the market performs best from November through April (inclusively), and that it’s a good idea to get out of stocks in […]