When financial planning pioneer Sidney Kess passed away last September at the age of 97, he was long-established as an active thought leader, contributing to the field for over 70 years.
As we near the end of 2023, Head of Franklin Institute Stephen Dover reviews how his forecasts for the year panned out and shares the themes his team is watching out for in 2024.
After a year marred by the biggest US bank failures since the 2008 financial crisis, the nation’s largest lender is on familiar footing — scooping up a weakened rival, reeling in its clients and minting record profits along the way.
Whatever you’ve been told about your retirement, odds are that it’s wrong. Saving enough for your retirement, and investing the right way, are truly among the hardest of all financial problems. In many ways, it’s more difficult than running a large endowment or hedge fund — and yet we all must do it.
Very early this year our economics team got a pleasant surprise: Consensus Economics, which collects forecasts from roughly 200 economists around the world, rated us the most accurate forecasters of the United States for 2022, based on our forecasts for GDP and CPI. Unfortunately, we don’t expect a repeat award for 2023.
“I believe the overall market will be up 10% to 15% from today's level by the end of 2024,” said Jeremy Siegel in our annual interview.
2023 was a year of surprises. These are five key sector themes illustrated in charts that dominated the ETF world this past year.
On the surface, it was your run-of-the-mill private credit deal. A bunch of heavy hitters in the industry — Oak Hill Advisors, Antares Capital and Golub Capital — were providing half-a-billion dollars to fund the buyout of an engineering firm.
As European inflation rates converge with targets, markets expect rate cuts. But central banks are set on a decisive victory over inflation.
The holiday season is often the busiest time of year for any profession, and for advisors it is no different. Business demands, family obligations, and heavy social calendars can make for an overwhelming time.
Investors are warming to opportunities stemming from climate change, and other takeaways from COP28.
Kathlyn Collins, Head of Responsible Investment and Stewardship, says a renewed purpose among regulators and pressure from investors is yielding breakthroughs in the governance and the capital efficiency of Japan’s-listed companies.
The Federal Reserve was supposed to leave center stage by the end of the year and let other factors play the leading role in determining asset prices in the advanced world and beyond. Instead, it has written itself an encore act that’s full of confusion.
Municipal bonds posted their best performance of the year, and we believe municipal credit conditions remain strong.
The economics teams looks back at the most significant stories we covered during 2023.
If the prices of the magnificent seven outperformed their fundamentals, it will be much harder for a repeat performance in 2024.
Our support team – assistants, ops and general relationship-management support – does not share in the overall comp of the firm.
Private assets and alternative investments are usually illiquid in nature but can help an investor meet their long-term objectives in a more efficient manner.
If a retirement income plan is entirely reliant on the accuracy of its CMAs, then success is more a matter of faith than any statistically verifiable fact.
Starting portfolio yields may be a better guide to optimal spending than knowledge of future market returns.
There's more to an overlay program than just cash equitization and systematic rebalancing. The flexibility of the program allows for several other exposure management strategies.
If you really want to reduce the federal debt, you don’t have to convince Congress of anything. You can just write a check. The Treasury Department gladly accepts gifts from anyone so inclined.
If today were the last day of 2023, Bitcoin would have returned almost 155%, marking the best year since 2020, when it rose a phenomenal 305%.
John Baldi, Portfolio Manager at ClearBridge Investments, examines the evolving US equity income landscape and shares his strategies for generating income and growth, while also aiming to manage risk in uncertain economic and market conditions.
While the ECB is unlikely to raise rates further, we remain skeptical that it will deliver rate cuts as early as the market expects.
The dollar will surprise by getting stronger next year as the US economy outperforms, according to some of the world’s biggest money managers.
The broader industrial economy is set to enter 2024 on shaky footing as an inventory hangover from the supply-chain crisis starts to look more and more like a prelude to underlying demand weakness and the reality of the reshoring boom proves much more nebulous and in flux than the prevailing narrative.
VettaFi’s financial futurist, Dave Nadig, and VettaFi’s Head of Research Todd Rosenbluth sat down with one another to discuss some of the highlights from the year.
Even a slight pushback from the Federal Reserve on interest-rate cuts could unravel the relentless stock rally since late October.
How do we best go about a celebration and do planning so our team doesn’t think we are all about what’s next?
The secular forces that held down rates for forty years have not entirely changed.
Most of your websites are horrendous. If you are making any of these six mistakes, fix them right now.
It’s the time of year when you look back at all that’s been accomplished. VettaFi’s covered strong net inflows into fixed income ETFs, covered call funds, and many, many, many new product launches. But VettaFi also accomplished a lot as a firm.
The change in tone from the Fed Chairman regarding inflation suggests that rates may have peaked. This month, we're highlighting the positive performance of the markets, with the S&P 500 approaching levels last seen in July. We're also experiencing an improvement in consumer confidence as things remain relatively healthy despite housing costs.
Airline consolidation is not only relatively common but necessary for growth and competitiveness, and the recent announcement of Alaska Airlines’ planned acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines is a prime example of this trend.
It’s possible that a 2024 recession could be avoided, but we see recessions risks as remaining elevated in most developed markets. We believe there is limited upside for equities amid expensive valuations and recession concerns. Government bond valuations, however, look attractive in the U.S., UK, Canada, Germany and Australia.
When it comes to commercial real estate, a lot of attention is obviously paid to offices. But it's not the only sector facing strains.
Jeremy Grantham is a famous bubble hunter, quick to point out speculative excess on Wall Street and beyond.
The winter holiday season is here, and I wanted to join in the festivities. Recently, advisors have become more comfortable turning to active ETFs to help them and their clients navigate the uncertain market environment. Actively managed ETFs have gained traction in 2023.
Our portfolio managers field some tough questions on Matthews Asia Dividend’s performance, its positioning and what they believe are its unique strengths for investors.
A year ago, I’m pretty sure I had little idea what artificial intelligence (AI) was and what it could become. While there were a few related ETFs, AI was just another one of the long-term investment themes.
Insurance is making national headlines in 2023 as major providers retreat from writing new policies in large parts of the country and renewal premium prices skyrocket.
The real world and the digital world are converging every day and becoming increasingly interconnected, and where the two intersect is described by some as “phygital.”
How do you get financial information to make sense to people who aren’t numbers-minded? How do you become the advisor who helps complicated things make sense without making people feel stupid or overwhelmed?
Our forecast for the federal funds rate has the Federal Reserve (Fed) starting to cut rates in July 2024, with a second rate cut before the end of 2024.
If you don’t have all your expenses covered through scholarships and grants, consider student loans to fill in the gaps. If you’re exploring federal aid, Stafford loans are an option.
“I kind of think we got back to what we do best, and that's to be in front of our clients, talk to them directly, sit at their kitchen tables, and we felt the best way to continue to grow is really with the two of us doing what we do best.” – Walter Scott
For more than 20 years, Walter Scott and his business partner Thomas Whelan have been helping businesses and families work towards their financial goals, while continuing to help their firm, Whelan Scott Asset Management, evolve. Don’t miss this episode of Cambridge Stronger as Walter shares why his family was a driving force behind his decision to join our industry and how flexibility plays a role in his decision-making. Walter also explains why he chose SEI, a company that partners with Cambridge to provide up-to-date research and anticipate changing investor needs, and how he’s using technology offerings to grow his business and open up more time to spend with his family.
Our outlook for 2024 is for a gradual U-shaped recovery composed of seemingly chaotic movements in economic data with turning points in policy rates and earnings growth.
India is once again leading flows into US exchange-traded funds tracking emerging markets, boosting one of the most popular trades in 2023 as declining US yields and a weakening dollar turn investors toward assets in the developing world.
Including one or more charitable trusts as part of a testamentary estate plan is a creative and powerful way for clients to achieve multiple goals in one estate planning vehicle.
