The Market’s Breadth Still Stinks but Could Relief Be on the Way?
By: Brian T. Burton, CFP®, CIMA® You’ve probably heard about stock market breadth at this point, it has become quite the talking point amongst financial pundits. But what exactly is it? The term, market breadth, can simply be defined as how many stocks are participating in an index’s rise or fall, helping to assess […]
US Markets and Elections – It may matter less than you think.
With the primary season among us, attention is being increasingly paid to the 2024 Presidential election. Like most historical Presidential elections, emotions and fears of potential political outcomes tend to run high and increase as we approach November. Political views aside, it is our job to understand the political environment, both historic and current, and […]
Artificial Intelligence Wrote this Commentary in 5 Minutes
By: Cameron Hamilton, CFP®, MBA Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will Improve Productivity Tools are Publicly Available for Laypeople without Coding Knowledge Workers and Companies Must Adapt to New Technology Artificial Intelligence wrote this commentary in five minutes. Not the one you’re reading, but rather the one available at the hyperlink. […]
Fed Rates, Inflation, Yields
What a difference a couple of years makes. Even the casual fan has likely heard the talk about interest rates and felt inflation during these past twenty-four months. Two years ago, in February 2021, the Federal Funds target rate was 0 – 0.25%. It remained there until just over a year ago in March 2022. […]
2022 Market Recap and 2023 Outlook
To kick off the new year, John Boardman (CEO, Founder) and Andy Reynolds (COO, Partner) sat down to recap the economic environment in 2022 and discuss the 2023 outlook. Click the play button below to watch. Topics include: Recent economic data and performance The 1% of market volatility on trading days Market fundaments […]
Corporate Strategy: Trick or Treat?
Corporate strategies can tell opposing stories about a firm’s future Key Takeaways: Earnings season has seen growth companies downgraded amid rate hikes CEO’s actions must be weighed by investors at a firm-specific level Layoffs, buybacks, CapEx, debt, & dividends each contribute to firm outcomes We are in the middle of third-quarter earnings […]
The Driving Forces Behind the Closely Watched Consumer Price Index (CPI)
By: Brian Burton, CFP® Key Takeaways: CPI is the average change in the prices paid by consumers for a basket of goods and services over time that demonstrates price trends within the economy The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports index weights for eight major categories and many more specific items resulting in the […]
October Market Update
This week, John Boardman (Founder and CEO) and Andy Reynolds (COO and Partner) sat down to discuss some of the factors at play in this market environment, how we address those as an advisory firm, and share some of the conversations they’ve been having with clients. Check out the video for the full discussion. If you have any questions, please reach […]
August 2022 Market Update
Listen as John Boardman (Founder and CEO) and Andy Reynolds (COO and Partner) and Cameron Hamilton (Director of Financial Planning and Partner) discuss the current economic environment and share the conversations they’ve been having with clients. Additionally, they consider a few common questions and share our thoughts on the market, inflation, consumer confidence, the word recession, and economic outlook. If you have […]
Takeaways From a Week at the Chicago Booth School of Business
As all the children in our community are getting ready to go back to school, I am reflecting on my week back in the classroom this summer. I was lucky enough to spend time at the Chicago Booth School of Business learning from the country’s leading practitioners in estate and tax planning. Earlier this year, I set […]
Diworsification – Can You Take Diversification Too Far?
Key Takeaways: Diversification can be overdone – there is a point where adding another investment to your portfolio can be harmful to the risk/return profile The goal of portfolio diversification is to reduce volatility – owning assets that don’t always move in sync with one another. Naively attempting to diversify your portfolio by investing in […]
Markets are Digesting a TON of Information
Over the last few months, market volatility has dramatically increased. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX, created by the Chicago Board Options Exchange, is a real-time market index representing the market’s expectations for volatility over the coming 30 days. The VIX started the year at just over 17 and has already reached over 28 during […]
