The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as created a media frenzy and widespread confusion. With that in mind, I will provide a brief overview of the new provisions, followed by some practical ideas on how clients can reduce taxes.

Mid-sized advisor firms, upon graduating from being a one- or two-person operation, find themselves contending with all sorts of growing pains. All of a sudden they have the marketing issues of a larger firm – with an infrastructure that hasn’t caught up. Here’s my best advice to escape the trap of the mid-sized advisor firm.

The economic calendar is normal, with an emphasis on housing. Earnings season begins in earnest, with widespread, high expectations.

Note: With the release of March Retail Sales and Consumer Price Index, we've updated this commentary to include the latest Real Retail Sales. Month-over-month nominal sales in March increased by 0.6% (0.62% to two decimals). Real Retail Sales, calculated with the seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index, increased by 0.54%.

Today we’re going to look at who wins and who loses under the new tax law. I think many of you will be surprised.

How much debt is too much? [Carl/The Northern Trust Economics team] digests the outlook for debt across countries and levels of government, recaps the most recent outlook for the U.S. fiscal situation, and contrasts China’s current ascendance with the historical example of Japan.

We've updated this series to include this week's release of the Consumer Price Index as the deflator and the March monthly update. The latest hypothetical real (inflation-adjusted) annual earnings are at $37,778, down 13.0% from 45 years ago.

A review of last month’s market-moving events across countries and asset classes.

Let's do some analysis of the Consumer Price Index, the best known measure of inflation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) divides all expenditures into eight categories and assigns a relative size to each. The pie chart illustrates the components of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers, the CPI-U.

As a broker, once you have made a final decision to either change firms or go independent, you need to carefully review the impact your move will have on your current practice and on your book of business.

We've updated our monthly workforce analysis to include last week's Employment Report for February. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1%, and the number of new nonfarm jobs (a relatively volatile number subject to extensive revisions) came in at 103K.

Note: This commentary has been updated with the latest numbers from last week's Employment Report.

This is not the scenario that would have been envisioned a generation ago for the "Golden Years" of retirement. Consider: Today nearly one in three of the 65-69 cohort and about one in five of the 70-74 cohort are in the labor force.

So-called “smart-beta” strategies hasn’t been all that smart lately – at least not for the last five years. This article will examine why, whether it was predictable and the likelihood it will work better going forward.

The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is a simple computation: You take the Civilian Labor Force (people age 16 and over employed or seeking employment) and divide it by the Civilian Noninstitutional Population (those 16 and over not in the military and or committed to an institution). The result is the participation rate expressed as a percent.

Let's take a close look at Friday's employment report numbers on Full and Part-Time Employment. Buried near the bottom of Table A-9 of the government's Employment Situation Summary are the numbers for Full- and Part-Time Workers, with 35-or-more hours as the arbitrary divide between the two categories. The source is the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) of households. The focus is on total hours worked regardless of whether the hours are from a single or multiple jobs.

The evaluation of alternatives introduces an extra dimension into the equation that investors don’t need to think about with traditional equity funds. It’s the concept of capital efficiency.

Today we will look back at what economists thought the federal budget and tax policy would be in 2001 and thereafter. Let’s just say the government projections were a tad optimistic.

This commentary has been updated to include this morning's release of Nonfarm Employment. March's 193K increase in total nonfarm payrolls was accompanied by downward revisions of 50K. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1%. The Investing.com consensus was for 193K new jobs and the unemployment rate to tick down to 4.0%.

What does the ratio of unemployment claims tell us about where we are in the business cycle and our current recession risk? At present, the ratio for Continued Claims has been trending down. Excluding the 1981 recession, the Initial Claims trough lead time for a recession has ranged from 7 to 22 months with an average of 12 months if we include the 1981 recession and 14 months if we exclude it. Admittedly, the last recession is an extreme example, but the Initial Claims trough preceded its December 2007 onset by a whopping 22 months.

This morning's employment report for March showed a 103K increase in total nonfarm payrolls, which was worse than forecasts. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1%. The Investing.com consensus was for 193K new jobs and the unemployment rate to drop to 4.0%.

Here's an interesting set of charts that will especially resonate with those of us who follow economic and market cycles. Imagine that five years ago you invested $10,000 in the S&P 500. How much would it be worth today, with dividends reinvested but adjusted for inflation? The purchasing power of your investment has increased to $18,495 for an annualized real return of 12.36%.

Some new developments in Washington and recent court rulings have implications for those saving and investing for retirement. Drew Carrington, head of Institutional Defined Contribution at Franklin Templeton Investments, along with Michael Doshier, head of retirement marketing, examine the status of the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act (RESA) and what it might mean for both plan sponsors and participants.

Implementing the use of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into the investment process presents different challenges for fixed income and equity investors.

My advisors need to do a better job of presenting their ideas to clients.

BIS surprised many, when they back in 2015 concluded that ageing is actually inflationary. New research from Oxford Economics have come to precisely the opposite conclusion, which is why I have decided to do a deeper dive on the topic this month. Conclusion? BIS may have been correct in the past but, more recently, my vote would definitely go to the dis-inflationary camp.

There are four major mistakes that you don’t want to make when you file for Social Security. The good news is that they are all easy to avoid with a little preplanning.

Why do experts, CEOs, politicians, and other apparently highly capable people make such terrible decisions so often? Is because they’re ill-intentioned? Or because, despite appearances, they’re actually stupid? Nassim Nicholas Taleb, philosopher, businessman, perpetual troublemaker, and author of, among other works, the groundbreaking Fooled by Randomness, says it’s neither.

The stock market environment has changed since January, making it more challenging but also creating potential opportunities.

The economic calendar has several of the most important reports. The managerial rosters will be back at full strength, perhaps after an extra day or two off. Investment committees will consider implications from Q1 results. Pundits will try to explain what it all means.

Terri Spath is chief investment officer at Sierra Investment Management. She is responsible for market and economic analysis, portfolio allocation, investment strategy and building client solutions. In this interview, she explains how tactical management differs from market timing, and why it will excel in the current environment.