Last year (2013), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.4%. Sounds like a phenomenal increase, doesn’t it. A plus 32% increase is, indeed, an impressive increase. However, in this case, a little more analysis is warranted. Why did the market increase so much? The following data are from Standard & Poor’s and J.P. Morgan Asset […]

One of the basic axioms of investing is portfolio diversification. Simply put, an investor should not “put all eggs in one basket.” Prudent investing includes allocating your investment dollars among asset classes (stocks, bonds, cash, etc.) and different investment styles (large cap value, small cap growth, international, etc.). That allocation should be done in accordance […]

Welcome to the spring installment of our quarterly newsletter.  For us, spring is a time for new growth as we emerge from the winter, spring cleaning, and TAXES…  We hope that you can use our newsletter to “spring clean” some of your financial planning topics with the included articles. Each year around tax filing time […]

There is considerable talk these days about “alternative investments.” The portfolios of large universities and pension plans frequently contain a significant percentage of their assets in such investments. What are alternative investments? Are they truly different investments from the traditional stocks, bonds, and cash; or, or they different tactical methods of managing those traditional asset […]

Declining ability to take care of one’s self is a rising concern, especially as life expectancy increases. The prospect of spending time in a care facility is not something anyone desires; however, it will be a fact of life for some. As such, prudence demands that long term care provisions be addressed in any financial […]

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) became popular with the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. Some basic premises drove IRAs creation. (Other rules may apply): Some individuals could contribute money into an IRA account on a pre-tax basis, i.e. the money contributed into the IRA would not be taxable income at the time earned. Money in […]

We have discussed retirement planning in previous a pervious blog that may be seen here.  The primary question usually associated with retirement is “Do we have enough money to retire?” Asset levels, income, and anticipated expenses are, of course, prime components to the answer of that question. However, there are other factors to consider; we […]

A major benefit of trust planning in the past was the ability to shelter assets from estate taxes. There have been changes in the estate tax law (with the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012) that has eased the estate tax burden significantly. First, the amount exempted from estate tax was raised (currently $5.25 million […]

Last year (2013) was a time of significant corporate stock buy-backs. Corporate management used about $750 billion (some of which was borrowed at historically low interest rates) to repurchase shares of their company stock. The last time such levels of buy-backs were done was in 2007—remember what happened in 2008? Buy-backs reduce the number of […]

There is considerable discussion in the investment profession concerning the compensation of advisors for investment advice. What is the difference and does it matter? That’s the subject of this discussion. Fee Only Fee only compensation means the advisor is compensated by a flat fee or percentage of assets under management (annually); compensation may also be […]