by Kevin Kern Founding Partner When COVID forced the government shut down of the economy, established dividend paying companies curtailed distributions to husband cash and income focused investors moved to cash in panic. Other investors hopped on the momentum rockets of large cap technology. For those higher yielding dividend investors who stayed invested, they watched their...Read More

by Kevin Kelly Portfolio Manager Many investors do not realize they are playing with fire in the fixed income portion of their portfolios by choosing to own common, high quality investment grade bonds. The typical, easy to construct investment grade portfolio of brand name bonds will leave investors with low yielding assets that have significant...Read More

The word I hate most No matter what financial article or television show you watch, the word unbiased gets thrown around constantly. Now, I think we all know that media, in general, is biased, and as I have stated a number of times, their job is to sell advertising and get viewers, not to give...Read More

The Financial Impact of Gratitude   Just like I do for my clients, each year during the week of Thanksgiving, I pull out my own financial plan to go over and make any changes needed after another year of life’s curveballs. This year, I adjusted our child care costs up due to Covid-19 limiting the...Read More

Reasonable…..or Rational? First, let me start with a warm Happy Thanksgiving! This is one of my favorite holidays, and it has everything to do with pie! My wife and I took our kids, AJ and Priya, to a skate park this weekend as both have taken up skateboarding and wanted to try it. AJ was...Read More

Vaccine + Stimulus + Pent up demand = Demand exceeding Supply This morning we awoke to welcome news from Moderna that their Covid-19 vaccine is 94% effective which is great news for the entire world. Within a matter of weeks, we may have 2 viable vaccinations entering the market, ready for our frontline workers, and...Read More

by Jeff Deiss The Social Security Administration announced last week that benefits and the maximum amount of wages subject to payroll taxes will increase by 1.3% in 2021.  This reverses the trend of higher increases over the past two years and while it is more than a full percentage point less than the 2.8% increase...Read More

by David Ruff The Bob Dylan anti-establishment, frustrated-youth song that became the anthem for change during the U.S. civil rights movement could also apply to corporate Japan today.  Japanese equity investors, frustrated with decades of poor returns, are calling for significant change.  It’s beginning to happen. It may seem surprising for us to project better equity...Read More

by Dr. JoAnne Feeney The big news this morning is changing the investing landscape and adding to the positive market response to the election results. At 90% efficacy in the first release of a late-stage, large study trial, Pfizer’s vaccine candidate is giving investors renewed hope of controlling COVID and getting life back to normal. Not...Read More

by Jeff Deiss Social Security COLA for 2021 and Medicare Part B premiums The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced on Oct. 13 that its 2021 annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will be 1.3%, which represents an average increase in retirement benefits for active recipients of $20 per month starting in January. SSA’s 2021 COLA represents the...Read More