February Recap and March Outlook Depending on your focus, the story the recent economic data is telling may be different. But one point of view has been remarkably consistent this year: the market does not seem to care about any of it. February saw the S&P 500’s first break through the 5,000 ceiling, and there [...]
The monthly Fed/CPI/Employment headline-market movement industrial complex was rudely shouldered aside in the last week by a much bigger and faster-moving story. While the fallout from bank failures will take a while to unravel, and the impact on markets will likely be ongoing, the bigger picture wraps right back to the Federal Reserve. But first, [...]
November Recap and December Outlook We’re on the home stretch of a year in which “unprecedented” doesn’t even begin to capture it. Nothing went according to plan, for anyone, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the Fed’s domestic attempts to combat inflation. Along the way, we saw spiking gas prices, tanking equity and bond markets, [...]
There's one question we hear most often from those nearing retirement, is some variation on this: “How do I get my money out of my retirement plan and into my checking account?” The question is not as simple as it appears – that's why people ask it. They’re not asking about the mechanics of a [...]
Inflation has been hitting everyone’s wallets all year long. With the cost of everything from fuel to pasta going up, a 40-year high in the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for social security sounds like a good thing. But is that all there is to it? The answer is complicated. For those already retired or considering retiring in [...]
September Recap and October Outlook The Fed raised the key short-term interest rate by another 75 basis points at the September FOMC meeting, but the big news wasn’t the well-anticipated rate increase. It was Chairman Powell’s remarks at the press conference. He went well beyond any previous statements about the central bank’s level of commitment [...]
The S&P 500 recently breached bear territory, which is largely agreed to be a market that has dropped 20% from a recent peak. It’s common to see some retracing. The “bear-market bounce” is real. However, even if the market recovers a bit, it will take some time, good sentiment, and real economic progress for performance [...]
The Federal Reserve has been very clear about its intentions to move more aggressively in fighting inflation. It currently defines "more aggressively" as a likely series of 50 basis point rate hikes, beginning with the May Federal Open Market Committee meeting. This will mark the first time in 22 years that the Fed has doubled [...]
Investing is a long-term game. That’s boring—and that’s why no one’s talking much about it. Scary headlines sell. And many of us probably do have a bit of proverbial whiplash from March 2020. But patience is the key here, because if history has taught us anything, it’s that the markets do recover—and many times come [...]
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