What the heck is Flexible 2% Average Inflation Targeting (FAIT)? Last week Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced a change to the structural framework that guides the direction of monetary policy. I took that right from Forbes and even I am not sure what that means. Let’s break it down. The Fed Mandate Keep employment...Read More

by Kevin Kern When I first met our senior economic advisor Alan Greenspan, I asked the former Federal Reserve Chairman three questions. Of the five presidents you worked under, who was the smartest? Which president was the most likable? And can a president change the path of the economy? The latter question has been coming up...Read More

by Paul Broughton This past week the S&P 500 made a new all-time high and Apple reached $2 trillion in valuation. It would seem that the pandemic is already in the rearview mirror. After the shortest bear market in U.S. history, a brief 33 days compared to the median of 302 days for the prior twenty...Read More

ALL-TIME HIGH FOR S&P500 – A MISLEADING HEADLINE Its true, last week the S&P500 hit an all time high, surpassing the level we hit in February, before the Covid crash. However, of the 500 constituents that make up the index, only 6% of those companies are also hitting new 52-week highs.   So, what about...Read More

Kamala Harris is the VP pick, is the market going to crash now? I have spoken to many of you over the past few weeks about your fear of a market correction based on the outcome of the presidential election. When I am looking at my own accounts and portfolio, I think about the same...Read More

“There’s no dollar sign on a peace of mind, this I’ve come to know…” Zac Brown Band There are many factors that go in to managing a portfolio. While quantitative factors lead the charge and are obviously important, there are a number of cognitive aspects. The ability to read and fully understand the whole picture...Read More

Fixed Income yields have declined rapidly in 2020 and many investors are not fully aware how little their ‘traditional’ Fixed Income portfolio likely yields. Two main forces account for this common misunderstanding. First, fixed income yields have moved dramatically and quickly in 2020 because of record low Treasury interest rates and relatively tight credit spreads....Read More

Like Sumo Wrestling, The Bigger You Are the More You Move the Needle I write these Monday Market Updates to provide real news, without the noise, and more importantly, to educate. Each week we will look at different jargon or alphabet soup acronyms, and other subjects in finance that are confusing and overwhelming. Last week...Read More

Do Fundamentals Even Matter? Last week the Q2 GDP reading was released and showed a contraction of 32.9% in US GDP. The headline continues, but most people stop right there, and fail to see the words on an annualized basis at the end of the headline. Saying GDP contracted in Q2 by 9.5% just doesn’t sound as...Read More

by Jeff Deiss CFP, AEP, Wealth Advisor The benefit of playing games like Concentration is to learn problem-solving, strategy, trust, calculated risk-taking, and how to adapt to unforeseen issues. From an investment perspective, concentration in a single stock is associated with the potential for massive gains. A large stock position acquired through years of executive compensation,...Read More