All geopolitical crises, including the current one, present three timeless lessons investors would be wise to heed.
Section 1202 of the Internal Revenue Code provides for an exclusion of up to $10,000,000 of capital gains (or, if greater, an exclusion of up to 10 times one’s basis) in connection with the sale of qualified small business stock (QSBS).
Have you experienced sticker shock at the pump recently?
Hiking rates into a wildly overvalued market is potentially a mistake. So says Bank of America in a recent article.
Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses the latest market data.
PIMCO’s glide path for target date funds expresses the firm’s collective view on age-appropriate asset allocation that can help prepare defined contribution (DC) plan participants for successful retirements.
We're changing all our sector calls to "neutral" until there's more clarity on how the Russia-Ukraine war will affect the global economy.
Most investors experience stress during a bear market. In contrast, value investors like yours truly become excited almost to the point of being giddy. We see bear markets as the gift that keeps on giving. This is especially true after a long-running bull market like we have experienced for the last several years.
What happens when you combine the tipping point of two deflationary forces—globalization and demographics—with a pandemic, epic supply-chain disruptions and an invasion in Europe? Inflation of a magnitude not seen since the 1970s. Some of the contributing factors may be transitory, but not all, and lingering inflation is likely to be higher than before. How should bond investors adapt?
Consumers were feeling the pinch of higher energy prices even before Russia invaded Ukraine. Energy prices have surged to multi-year or record highs amid the war, and many are wondering if they still have further to go. Here, Franklin Equity Group’s Frederick Fromm shares his latest views on investing in the sector.
In his monetary policy testimony to Congress, Fed Chair Pro Tempore Powell solidified market expectations that the Federal Open Market Committee will raise short-term interest rates by 25 basis points on March 16 (and not by 50).
Restructured debt has often outperformed the broader municipal bond market as issuers emerge from bankruptcy with higher debt-servicing capacity.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shocked the global economy, in particular by fueling further spikes in energy and commodity prices. The new inflationary catalysts will have differing effects on monetary policy moves because regional economies are starting from different places, which will determine their ability to withstand higher commodity prices.
The consumer price index, due Thursday, is forecast to accelerate to a 7.8% increase in February from a year ago, which would be the most since 1982. But economists are now saying it could peak somewhere in the 8%-9% range this month or next, as the invasion of Ukraine and severe restrictions on the Russian economy send the prices of staples like oil and food soaring.
Two prominent U.S. economists from opposite ends of the political spectrum say the federal government should provide cash to consumers squeezed by soaring inflation and surging energy costs.
The Ukraine conflict has escalated rapidly, creating a massive humanitarian crisis and increasing volatility across financial markets. In this piece we review the major economic implications of the war and discuss the steps we are taking to manage the impact on portfolios.
Many people experience setbacks or life circumstances that result in temporarily relying on others for financial help. Being financially dependent in the longer term, however, is a financial disorder.
Over the last 10+ years, U.S. equity outperformance has been caused by increased profit margins, the accretive impact of share buybacks, dollar weakness, and most significantly, an outsized expansion in equity multiples. There are risks to all of these sources of outperformance, suggesting that a neutral long-term strategic allocation to U.S. equities is now likely warranted.
ICYMI: In this roundup, we’re highlighting the five most popular pieces of content from the previous week.
When an iceberg comes into view, investors must be wary of the danger, but Rick Rieder and team argue that it's also important to recall that calmer seas may lie beyond.
Warren Buffett released his 2021 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Letter on Saturday, February 26, 2022. He seemed to want to talk about almost anything besides the stock market.
One of the ways the Fed may tighten financial conditions is by reducing its balance sheet. Here’s what investors should know about it.
If you want to know what stagflation looks like, check out the housing market. The conditions that existed during the 1970's — high inflation and stagnant output — are happening already in this segment of the U.S. economy, illustrating the challenges ahead for consumers, industry players and the Federal Reserve.
As a financial planner, it’s your job to help the client understand why certain investment steps are in their best interest when their intuition may be telling them otherwise.
My wife and I have downsized. We sold a large condo in a high-rise building and are moving to a much smaller house in a nearby community. The process taught me a lot about financial planning.
This article outlines the necessary requirements to establish a Nevada family trust company and examines the core features and benefits it offers clients.
This year, the theme for International Women's Day is #BreakTheBias. This theme celebrates the achievements that women have made, takes action for equality, and raises awareness against bias. What better way to honor the holiday than to examine how women are breaking down barriers in the financial services industry?
The rapid rise in housing prices since the pandemic has fueled fear among Americans already faced with the worst inflation in the last 40 years. The fear of inflation is genuine, but housing prices have nothing to do with it. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) incorrectly calculates housing as a component of inflation.
Even before Russia invaded Ukraine the economy felt pretty dicey. There was inflation, a weird post-pandemic job market, and the prospect of a more hawkish Fed. Now markets are even more volatile as sanctions roil the global outlook. For anyone counting the days until retirement, it's been a harrowing ride.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has ramifications for global inflation and growth, according to Franklin Templeton Fixed Income.
For some months now I have been banging the drum on how economic growth has been slowing and is set to meaningfully deteriorate come the middle of 2022.
New data on consumer preferences and behaviors during COVID shows that the advisory firms face daunting challenges with respect to staffing, differentiation and – if they are private-equity backed – financing and maintaining profitability.
In this interview, Peter Essele, vice president, investment management and research, at Commonwealth Financial Network, explains why investors should view the volatility created by the pandemic and geopolitical events as an opportunity to add risk to their portfolios.
Given the war in the Ukraine, I thought it would be helpful to provide insights for advisors and investors to think about risk and what if any actions should be considered.
After living through more than two years of COVID-19, its variants, and the attendant supply-chain disruptions and inflation concerns, one thing is clear: Uncertainty is the only certainty.
We recently hosted a special edition of our “What Our Managers Think” panel discussion to address the current situation in Ukraine.
Understanding how reverse mortgages can add value in retirement planning requires an understanding about the peculiarities of sequence-of-return risk that the reverse mortgage can help to manage.
Commodities appear attractive amid elevated inflation, lingering supply-demand imbalances and high roll yields.
2022 has been a tough year so far for risk management.
Kim Catechis, Investment Strategist for the Franklin Templeton Investment Institute, recently shared his thoughts around the situation in Ukraine and the implications for the global economy and capital markets.
Finding attractively valued and high-yielding investments is difficult in the current market and economic environment.
The fixed income markets have changed dramatically since the global financial crisis, providing the opportunity for disciplined investment managers to add alpha. My guest will discuss ways to navigate the changing fixed income markets, including the difficulty in consistently calling interest rate moves, how conditions in the credit markets have dramatically changed, and how his firm manages fixed income.
American households took on over $1 trillion in new debt in 2021 for only the second time in history, pushing consumer debt above $15 trillion for the first time ever.
The story of the Banque Royale and the Mississippi Bubble in the first issue of the Macro Value Monitor may sound like a tall tale of financial fiction, but those events did in fact occur three centuries ago in France.
Those intending to shame or attack "the rich" commonly make an absurd comparison when they lump together "millionaires and billionaires."
Since 2011, we have issued annual reports on the largest listed corporate defined benefit (DB) sponsors in the U.S., codenamed the $20 billion club.
A couple of weeks ago, we gave a presentation at the first annual Smead Investor Conference near our headquarters in Phoenix.
This paper tracks the evolution of the emerging markets asset class and describes some of the resulting unique characteristics that make a value investing discipline attractive in these markets today.
Canada is registering more and more ETFs each month, rapidly expanding offerings in a market where the average fund is roughly a 10th the size of its U.S. counterpart. Newfangled funds -- not least those pegged to Bitcoin -- are responsible for some of the glut as Toronto upholds its mantle as an industry laboratory.
