For decades, investors have used growth and value allocations as a foundational block of equity portfolio construction. The distinction has been intuitive and practical. Investors expected growth to provide exposure to faster-growing companies, often with higher valuation multiples and greater sensitivity to earnings expectations.
Rising interest rates can affect more than investment portfolios. Explore how changing IRS interest rates may influence several estate, charitable and tax-planning strategies.
As globalization recedes, governments and businesses have stronger incentives to invest in building more resilient societies and supply chains. That imperative has coincided with the emergence of artificial intelligence, creating a powerful interaction between technological innovation and economic security.
There is a general belief that there are four big indicators that the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee weighs heavily in their cycle identification process. This commentary focuses on one of these indicators: nonfarm employment. In September, total nonfarm payrolls increased by 29,000 while the unemployment rate increased to 4.2%
Market participants have been conditioned to expect clear Forward Guidance from Fed Chairs and Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen, and Jay Powell provided it continuously, especially after the Financial Crisis. Chairman Warsh has made it clear that Forward Guidance will be less under his leadership, but he has offered a very important qualifier that many have yet to grasp.
Inflation progress remains uneven: The latest Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index showed some improvement after revisions, but several measures suggest price pressures remain sticky and above the Federal Reserve’s target
Seven months into the U.S.–Iran conflict, few historical analogues have held. The trajectory of oil prices has been consistent with previous geopolitical shocks, but the market response elsewhere has looked strikingly different. U.S. Treasury yields have moved notably higher, for example, while credit spreads have remained remarkably resilient.
Industrials are supported by increased capital spending in electricity capacity, construction around the artificial intelligence-related (AI) infrastructure buildout, defense, and energy, although higher costs and possible delays in data center construction could temper growth.
We understand that you can’t forecast the sequence of returns, but we CAN build a plan that survives a bad one. As Howard Marks puts it, you can’t predict, but you can prepare. These are the rules of engagement once you’ve crossed from saving into spending.
While the majority of advisors, 62%, still use an AUM-based fee model to charge clients, a growing number have said they now charge a retainer fee. In 2023, only 14% of advisors offering financial planning services said their compensation model was an annual retainer, while 38% said the same in the 2026 State of Financial Planning Fees study.
How’s the US economy doing in President Donald Trump’s second term? Going by the topline economic statistics, not too bad. Second-quarter gross domestic product was revised higher last week, to a 2.2% annualized rate from a previously reported 1.5%. At 4.2%, the jobless rate is consistent with an economy considered to be at full employment.
How much one needs for retirement is both a mathematical and emotional equation to solve. For both my clients and myself, enough is never enough because we fear a stock market plunge, inflation, or both (stagflation). But these four practical uses of TIPS provide near certainty of having enough to enjoy the rest of one’s life. Rarely do math and emotion each arrive at the same solution.
For a quarter of a century, the hyperscalers have been some of the most profitable and technologically innovative businesses ever created. The reason was clear: their marginal cost per additional customer was almost zero. Costs were fixed and scale was effectively unlimited, which meant margins widened as volume grew.
This week gave us another glimpse of our AI-powered future. AI personal agents are becoming a thing you need to understand, if not use.
The takeaway from Q3 isn't that the IPO recovery is dead, it's that it has entered a far more tactical phase. The appetite to register is undeniably present, but the window to price comfortably has narrowed. For big names like OpenAI and Oura, taking extra time to clear safety, governance, or market noise is a luxury of strength, not desperation.
You can’t spot it on the field or in the stadium. You can’t correct it in training. Or cure it with a dose from the team doctor. But it’s a malady an overwhelming number of professional athletes will face.
Munis can fund local power, grid, water and wastewater infrastructure; most AI campus capital will be financed in non-municipal markets.
Higher-for-longer interest rates are forcing buyout firms to face facts. Struggling since 2023 to sell companies purchased in the long decade of ultra-cheap debt before the Covid pandemic, they’ve tried to placate investors with clever financial engineering to help keep some money turning over.
The bond market has become the central story for investors. The remarkable development over the past several weeks is not rising inflation expectations but rising real interest rates. Real rates have increased roughly 40 basis points in just three weeks, one of the sharpest moves I can remember over such a short period. Meanwhile, longer-term inflation expectations have actually edged slightly lower.
Personal income (excluding transfer receipts) was up 0.23% in August and was up 4.25% year-over-year. However, when adjusted for inflation using the BEA's PCE Price Index, real personal income (excluding transfer receipts) was down 0.08% month-over-month and up 0.80% year-over-year.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index® fell significantly more than expected in September, falling 6.7 points to 81.9. The index was far below the forecast of 89.2.
Stock-market risks are everywhere. But you’d be hard pressed to tell anything was wrong by looking at the surface of major US equity gauges.
Banks in the US have plenty to celebrate these days, from record profits and higher stock prices to a strong economy and easier regulation. One thing they don’t need is an added discount on their deposit insurance — a crucial buffer that should be reinforced when times are good.
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan, has a simple pitch to voters. Imagine, he says, a health-insurance plan with “no premium, no copay, no deductible — just healthcare when you need it.” El-Sayed and other proponents call the idea Medicare for All.
When during the calendar year should retirees take their required minimum distributions (RMDs)? Take the RMDs early and eliminate the chore? Wait until December to maximize tax-deferred compounding? Or spread the distributions throughout the year? Advisors often start with too narrow a view of what clients are trying to optimize.
Only 30% of Americans believe they’ll be able to retire comfortably — an amount retirement plan participants now estimate is $1.2 million, a recent survey by Schroders found. 33% of plan participants said that their credit card debt was higher than their retirement savings.
As bond yields have risen, mortgage rates are again facing upward pressure, extending the U.S. housing market's post-pandemic affordability challenges. Beyond mortgage rates, trends in wage growth, taxes, and insurance costs also continue to shape the affordability outlook.
Decided to go independent? Here's how to design your RIA's client model, exit plan, technology, and compliance foundation before you file paperwork or sign a custodian agreement.
I propose that the question of whether now is an especially auspicious time to buy in general — or more incisively, whether properly allocated investors should have more, less, or the same TIPS exposure when rates are relatively high — is more nuanced.
Second-quarter earnings were strong, particularly in technology, but crowded ownership often determined whether good news was rewarded. The selloff in semiconductors arguably reflected crowded positioning and concerns surrounding the sustainability of the earnings boom. The net result: multiples compressed while earnings revisions held up.
This week, there are a few things that we need to pay attention to: the large move in interest rates and what it means (and more importantly, what it doesn’t mean!); and the constant barrage of doom and gloom on energy and AI. Let’s jump in.
Creating significant wealth requires concentration of capital, attention, risk, and decision-making.
Now the US is in a higher-interest-rate environment, and once again there is a lot of redefining going on. One change is that it’s finally good to be a saver again. The catch is that saving isn’t quite as safe as it used to be.
The Federal Reserve hiked rates, and we expect there are more to come. With a hawkish Fed and a resilient economy, long-term yields may stay elevated.
It’s really starting to feel like autumn now. August PPI, CPI, and Retail Sales are in the books, the September FOMC meeting is out of the way, and we can now look forward to Jobs Week on Wall Street. Football is in full swing, and earnings season begins before you know it, with Pepsi (PEP) posting results on Thursday, October 8, followed the next morning by Delta (DAL).
The Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) is more than a regional milestone — it is a shift in competition among U.S. capital markets. After months of anticipation, the TXSE reached a major landmark last week as Texas Capital’s TXS and OILT ETFs became its first primary listings, followed a day later by PWRX as the first new ETF to launch on the exchange.
AI can do the prep. It writes the file notes, assembles the meeting brief, and produces a credible first version of the plan. The time saved is real, and no one should hand it back. The bill arrives later. A skill you stop practicing gets weaker, and professional judgment is a skill.
The US deficit has reached $1.97 trillion and is on track to pass 6% of gross domestic product this fiscal year, the latest milestone in a remarkable deterioration of the federal budget.
Creating an estate plan is an important step, but it is only one piece of your financial life. If your estate documents, investment strategy, retirement plan, tax strategy, and beneficiary designations are not working together, even a well-crafted estate plan may not achieve the outcome you intended. Coordinating these elements may help support your wealth is transferred efficiently, your wishes are honored, and unnecessary complications are reduced.
The week began with calls for a potential slowdown in AI spending amid growing safety concerns and included a midweek Fed rate hike for the first time since 2023. The S&P 500 finished slightly lower for the second week in a row despite continuing signs that economic growth is strong. Shorter-term bond yields pushed higher as investors priced in the potential for additional rate hikes, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Longevity optimists believe advances in geroscience, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and other fields could significantly extend both health span and lifespan. Living healthy into our late 90s, and perhaps beyond 100 for many, should be taken seriously when thinking about our personal and financial futures.
I typically avoid business books when I am on vacation. But I made an exception during our sojourn last month for Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 1929. Nearly a century after the Great Crash, that era is still being studied for lessons that might be relevant in the current day. The potential for financial instability is ever-present.
The Federal Reserve increased rates by 25 basis points this week, a remarkable turnaround with major implications for portfolios of all kinds; one underexamined impacted area may be annuities.
The K-shaped economy is real, and it is old. What changed isn’t the shape of the economy; it’s just that the media found a narrative that gets lots of clicks and views, and we let headlines do our thinking for us.
After years of trying to convince developers and investors that it’s a viable alternative to Miami and Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale’s pitch is starting to resonate.
The U.S. Federal Reserve delivered on consensus expectations by raising its policy rate by 25 basis points (bps) at its September meeting.
When it comes to personal finance, conventional wisdom says the best way to live is debt-free. There are many important reasons why this is tried and true, but for high-net-worth individuals, lending can be an optimal way to access cash in the near term without sacrificing long-term gains on your assets.
Every single sector in the S&P 500 is expected to deliver earnings growth for the third quarter, the first time since 2021, when corporate America emerged from the pandemic slump, Bloomberg Intelligence data shows.
According to new data from J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s 2026 Defined Contribution Plan Participant Survey, 73% of savers said they wish they could hit an “easy button” and fully delegate their wealth management.
Heading into the September 16 FOMC meeting, the debate over whether the Fed should raise rates or hold is heated. To help you appreciate the range of views, I present this article as a courtroom exercise. I will let the prosecution make its case for a rate hike, and the defense for a hold.
For many investors, a 401(k) is simply a retirement savings account. For high-net-worth families, however, it can become a sophisticated planning tool that supports tax efficiency, wealth accumulation, and long-term legacy objectives.
One or a few high-performing stocks can provide a big boost to portfolio values. But they’re hard to come by and often struggle to maintain their momentum over time. Because these stocks increase portfolio concentration, investors must balance the risk of overexposure against the tax cost of diversifying. A thoughtful, tax-aware plan may help bring portfolios back in line.
Inflation rose 3.4% year-over-year in August, as it did for the 12 months ending July. The headline figure for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was in line with economist estimates.
Inflation affects everything from grocery bills to rent, making the Consumer Price Index (CPI) one of the most closely watched economic indicators. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks this by categorizing spending into eight categories, each weighted by its relative importance.
In this article, Russ Koesterich argues that momentum remains supported by strong earnings growth, making the factor attractive despite market risks.
LPL Research analyzes rising U.S. debt, Treasury yields, and fiscal trends, highlighting implications for markets and investors.
Target-date funds have become a staple qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) because they help participants invest appropriately without requiring them to act. But as retirement nears, income needs become more pressing and financial situations diverge—a situation dynamic defaults seek to address.
The alternative is to be proactive by helping a grieving client name and address the financial concerns that loss creates, without ever rushing them. Doing that well takes two things: an understanding of how grief actually unfolds and a deliberate process for the conversation itself.
As clients come to advisory shops more informed, due to the plethora of financial advice available online, firms will need to be able to “stress test the information or bias” they arrive with. A comprehensive team, with training across advisory areas, can offer clients more depth of service.
Every year, Americans send hundreds of billions of dollars of retirement savings to life insurers in return for annuities that promise a future income. It’s an industry built on trust and prudence.
Chapter 3 of this series ended with a simple question. If the math so plainly says avoid big losses, respect valuations, and mind your timing, why does so much of the industry preach the opposite?
Healthcare automation startup Forus has raised $150 million at a $3 billion valuation just months after completing a previous funding round.
If you look deeply into a speculative bubble, you can already see the collapse. If you look deeply into a market collapse, you can already see the bull market. The road up and the road down are the very same road. Even so, aside from knowing that our investment position presently requires a safety net regardless of shorter-term conditions – we have utterly no opinions, preferences, or scenarios about the market outlook even a month or a quarter from now.
What if you could capture the potential gains of the S&P 500, but limit your losses if the market goes down? Or earn above-market income given the right stock market conditions? How about gaining some market exposure while protecting principal with FDIC insurance, up to applicable limits?
More than a year after wildfires devastated Pacific Palisades, a nonprofit is advancing a plan to tap the public debt market to create housing in the slow-to-recover Los Angeles wealthy enclave.
In this article, Russ Koesterich explains how strong fundamentals have supported stocks, but rising bond yields may soon begin to challenge market valuations.
The firms I see succeeding with AI right now aren't the ones with the flashiest assistants. They're the ones whose compliance officers helped design the architecture instead of it being handed over after the fact. That single change — inviting compliance into the build, not just the review — is the difference between an AI program you can defend and one you're hoping no one ever questions.
Most people experience transportation through roads and airports. Traffic jams on highways and delays at major hubs are familiar frustrations. But the world's most important transportation network lies largely out of sight.
Advisors who build a third-quarter planning call into their process tend to see fewer IRS notices land on their clients' desks. Tax season teaches clients to think about taxes once a year. The advisors who win their trust are the ones who think about taxes all year round.
Regional lenders Truist Financial Corp. and Fifth Third Bancorp. have paused distribution of products tied to billionaire financier Mark Walter’s biggest insurance firm, according to people with knowledge of the decisions.
In a week that saw NVIDIA, the largest company in the world, report strong earnings that sent its stock sharply higher and reinvigorated optimism in the artificial intelligence (AI) trade, fiscal and monetary policymakers continued to provide the biggest headlines.
Most of us keep a chunk of cash on hand — for rent, groceries, the occasional emergency, or simply because we haven’t gotten around to investing it yet. In the finance industry, this is called your “float.” We think the single best thing most people can do with it is own a Treasury Bill ETF — and yet almost nobody does.
Copper is having a moment. It may be a long one. The metal has hit record highs in 2026 and is currently up 15% since the start of the year, trading above $14,300 a ton on the London Metal Exchange.
Equity markets stumbled this week despite an economic backdrop that continues to show signs of broadening. While concerns about consumer strain are mounting, those worries have so far been offset by ongoing strength in business investment, particularly spending tied to artificial intelligence (AI).
It’s been a busy year in the game of ETF landgrab. And a colorful one, too. From exciting M&A deals to some splashy building-from-scratch newcomers, we are seeing a little bit of everything as asset managers look to build scale and capture the impressive growth momentum of the ETF market.
Yields on 30-year US bonds broke 5% last week, a level not seen since before the Great Financial Crisis. The Treasury Department bought bonds in an attempt to lower yields. It worked — for a day, then bond yields went back up. Meanwhile, in a not-exactly-unrelated development, the US national debt just passed $40 trillion.
In the first part of this series, I promised that the next enemy we would face is the one you cannot fire, mute, or unfollow, because it is “You.” You can learn every valuation metric ever invented, memorize the two questions that decide everything, and still hand most of your returns back to the market for one simple reason.
In the early weeks of Kevin Warsh’s start as chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, there has been renewed focus on how “underlying” inflation should be measured to guide decisions on interest rates.
The truth about the runaway costs of healthcare turns out to be a little more complex than any single source we've named. Hospitals, insurers, private equity, administrators, pharmaceutical companies… pull the thread on any one and we land in the same overextended, bloated, extractive system.
With a slew of unexpected maneuvers this year, Scott Bessent has emerged as the most interventionist Treasury secretary in financial markets in decades — putting his credibility on the line in an effort to quell a potentially damaging rise in US borrowing costs.
I’m always asked for scripts. You don’t want a script. You want to be natural and approach clients in a manner that fits you. Practice, practice, practice until it seems natural and comfortable. Authentic is always best.
Treat launch costs as initial investments, not expenses to minimize. Strategic firms often discover that the most valuable investments are the ones that protect their clients, preserve flexibility, and create enduring enterprise value.
The deal follows similar moves elsewhere in the Gulf, including oil and gas pipeline transactions by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Saudi Aramco, as governments seek to bring in external capital without losing control of key assets. In these cases, investors obtained bridge financing from banks that were later refinanced by bonds.
Equity markets continued to push higher this week, with nearly all major indices in the U.S. and abroad closing near or at record highs. While longer-term interest rates continued to drift higher, shorter-term interest rates moved lower as investors pushed out both the timing and magnitude of potential Federal Reserve rate hikes.
As private credit further cements its role as a primary source of corporate financing, it will be essential to balance opportunity with prudent risk management for long-term stability and sustainability.
A divorce. A house fire. A serious accident or illness. The death of a family member. Caring for elderly parents. Life events like these are hard and emotionally draining. To make things worse, they also require us to deal with finances and make significant, complex money decisions.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Blackstone Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. had been working tirelessly for months to draw up debt deals that would help developers of artificial intelligence systems pay for chips from Nvidia Corp.
Today’s market does not represent today’s economy. The ratio of market value dependent on future economic activity versus present activity has never been higher. These companies have earnings now, but those earnings stem from investments in the future, not present consumption.
Patients need financing that is approved on the spot and fits the cost and timing of their specific procedure. This is the gap that a newer class of lenders — including CareCredit, Affirm, Sunbit, and Cherry — has been built to fill. The growth of buy now, pay later healthcare financing over the past two years reflects how quickly demand has caught up with supply.
So let’s do the work the timeline skips, starting with separating what actually happened from what the narrative needs you to believe. Then we’ll ask the only question that pays: should any of it change how you’re positioned this morning?
Insurance & Annuities
AI is Taking Over the Value Style Too
For decades, investors have used growth and value allocations as a foundational block of equity portfolio construction. The distinction has been intuitive and practical. Investors expected growth to provide exposure to faster-growing companies, often with higher valuation multiples and greater sensitivity to earnings expectations.
Rising Interest Rates: What They Mean for Wealth Planning
Rising interest rates can affect more than investment portfolios. Explore how changing IRS interest rates may influence several estate, charitable and tax-planning strategies.
Growth Holds, Risks Widen
As globalization recedes, governments and businesses have stronger incentives to invest in building more resilient societies and supply chains. That imperative has coincided with the emergence of artificial intelligence, creating a powerful interaction between technological innovation and economic security.
The Big Four Recession Indicators: Employment
There is a general belief that there are four big indicators that the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee weighs heavily in their cycle identification process. This commentary focuses on one of these indicators: nonfarm employment. In September, total nonfarm payrolls increased by 29,000 while the unemployment rate increased to 4.2%
Behind the Shift Within the FOMC
Market participants have been conditioned to expect clear Forward Guidance from Fed Chairs and Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen, and Jay Powell provided it continuously, especially after the Financial Crisis. Chairman Warsh has made it clear that Forward Guidance will be less under his leadership, but he has offered a very important qualifier that many have yet to grasp.
Markets Navigate Uncertainty as Inflation and Rates Remain in Focus
Inflation progress remains uneven: The latest Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index showed some improvement after revisions, but several measures suggest price pressures remain sticky and above the Federal Reserve’s target
An Oil Shock (Mostly) Like No Other
Seven months into the U.S.–Iran conflict, few historical analogues have held. The trajectory of oil prices has been consistent with previous geopolitical shocks, but the market response elsewhere has looked strikingly different. U.S. Treasury yields have moved notably higher, for example, while credit spreads have remained remarkably resilient.
Monthly Stock Sector Outlook
Industrials are supported by increased capital spending in electricity capacity, construction around the artificial intelligence-related (AI) infrastructure buildout, defense, and energy, although higher costs and possible delays in data center construction could temper growth.
Sequence Of Return Risk: The Math That Breaks Retirements
We understand that you can’t forecast the sequence of returns, but we CAN build a plan that survives a bad one. As Howard Marks puts it, you can’t predict, but you can prepare. These are the rules of engagement once you’ve crossed from saving into spending.
More Advisors Choosing Annual Retainers as Industry Focuses on Planning
While the majority of advisors, 62%, still use an AUM-based fee model to charge clients, a growing number have said they now charge a retainer fee. In 2023, only 14% of advisors offering financial planning services said their compensation model was an annual retainer, while 38% said the same in the 2026 State of Financial Planning Fees study.
There's Good News About Incomes. No One Seems to Believe It
How’s the US economy doing in President Donald Trump’s second term? Going by the topline economic statistics, not too bad. Second-quarter gross domestic product was revised higher last week, to a 2.2% annualized rate from a previously reported 1.5%. At 4.2%, the jobless rate is consistent with an economy considered to be at full employment.
4 Practical Uses of TIPS in the Portfolio
How much one needs for retirement is both a mathematical and emotional equation to solve. For both my clients and myself, enough is never enough because we fear a stock market plunge, inflation, or both (stagflation). But these four practical uses of TIPS provide near certainty of having enough to enjoy the rest of one’s life. Rarely do math and emotion each arrive at the same solution.
Paying Software Prices for Refinery Economics
For a quarter of a century, the hyperscalers have been some of the most profitable and technologically innovative businesses ever created. The reason was clear: their marginal cost per additional customer was almost zero. Costs were fixed and scale was effectively unlimited, which meant margins widened as volume grew.
A Different Kind of Bank Run?
This week gave us another glimpse of our AI-powered future. AI personal agents are becoming a thing you need to understand, if not use.
Do Oura and OpenAI IPO Delays Foreshadow a Slowdown in Dealmaking for Q4?
The takeaway from Q3 isn't that the IPO recovery is dead, it's that it has entered a far more tactical phase. The appetite to register is undeniably present, but the window to price comfortably has narrowed. For big names like OpenAI and Oura, taking extra time to clear safety, governance, or market noise is a luxury of strength, not desperation.
New Money, New problems: Athletes and Sudden Wealth
You can’t spot it on the field or in the stadium. You can’t correct it in training. Or cure it with a dose from the team doctor. But it’s a malady an overwhelming number of professional athletes will face.
Municipal Bonds and AI Data Center Financing
Munis can fund local power, grid, water and wastewater infrastructure; most AI campus capital will be financed in non-municipal markets.
The End of Private Equity’s Leveraged Buyout Era Is Nigh
Higher-for-longer interest rates are forcing buyout firms to face facts. Struggling since 2023 to sell companies purchased in the long decade of ultra-cheap debt before the Covid pandemic, they’ve tried to placate investors with clever financial engineering to help keep some money turning over.
Surging Real Yields Test a Resilient Market
The bond market has become the central story for investors. The remarkable development over the past several weeks is not rising inflation expectations but rising real interest rates. Real rates have increased roughly 40 basis points in just three weeks, one of the sharpest moves I can remember over such a short period. Meanwhile, longer-term inflation expectations have actually edged slightly lower.
The Big Four Recession Indicators: Real Personal Income
Personal income (excluding transfer receipts) was up 0.23% in August and was up 4.25% year-over-year. However, when adjusted for inflation using the BEA's PCE Price Index, real personal income (excluding transfer receipts) was down 0.08% month-over-month and up 0.80% year-over-year.
Consumer Confidence Falls Significantly in September
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index® fell significantly more than expected in September, falling 6.7 points to 81.9. The index was far below the forecast of 89.2.
Extreme Volatility Divergence Exposes ‘Fragile Footing’ for S&P
Stock-market risks are everywhere. But you’d be hard pressed to tell anything was wrong by looking at the surface of major US equity gauges.
Americans Rely on Deposit Insurance. Now Is the Time to Fortify It
Banks in the US have plenty to celebrate these days, from record profits and higher stock prices to a strong economy and easier regulation. One thing they don’t need is an added discount on their deposit insurance — a crucial buffer that should be reinforced when times are good.
The Flawed Logic of Medicare for All
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan, has a simple pitch to voters. Imagine, he says, a health-insurance plan with “no premium, no copay, no deductible — just healthcare when you need it.” El-Sayed and other proponents call the idea Medicare for All.
When Should Clients Take Their RMDs? We May Be Optimizing the Wrong Thing
When during the calendar year should retirees take their required minimum distributions (RMDs)? Take the RMDs early and eliminate the chore? Wait until December to maximize tax-deferred compounding? Or spread the distributions throughout the year? Advisors often start with too narrow a view of what clients are trying to optimize.
Retirees Need $1.2M, but Carry More Debt Than Savings
Only 30% of Americans believe they’ll be able to retire comfortably — an amount retirement plan participants now estimate is $1.2 million, a recent survey by Schroders found. 33% of plan participants said that their credit card debt was higher than their retirement savings.
The U.S. Housing Market Becomes a More Local Story
As bond yields have risen, mortgage rates are again facing upward pressure, extending the U.S. housing market's post-pandemic affordability challenges. Beyond mortgage rates, trends in wage growth, taxes, and insurance costs also continue to shape the affordability outlook.
How to Start an RIA Firm: A Pre-Launch Checklist for Advisors
Decided to go independent? Here's how to design your RIA's client model, exit plan, technology, and compliance foundation before you file paperwork or sign a custodian agreement.
TIPS Yields at 3% Are Awesome! But Fundamental Principles Don’t Change
I propose that the question of whether now is an especially auspicious time to buy in general — or more incisively, whether properly allocated investors should have more, less, or the same TIPS exposure when rates are relatively high — is more nuanced.
When Strong Earnings Meet Crowded Markets
Second-quarter earnings were strong, particularly in technology, but crowded ownership often determined whether good news was rewarded. The selloff in semiconductors arguably reflected crowded positioning and concerns surrounding the sustainability of the earnings boom. The net result: multiples compressed while earnings revisions held up.
Reversing Financial Repression
This week, there are a few things that we need to pay attention to: the large move in interest rates and what it means (and more importantly, what it doesn’t mean!); and the constant barrage of doom and gloom on energy and AI. Let’s jump in.
What Happens After the Wealth-Creation Phase?
Creating significant wealth requires concentration of capital, attention, risk, and decision-making.
Are Bonds Safe? That Depends on What ‘Safe’ Means
Now the US is in a higher-interest-rate environment, and once again there is a lot of redefining going on. One change is that it’s finally good to be a saver again. The catch is that saving isn’t quite as safe as it used to be.
Fed Hikes: What's Next for Treasury Yields?
The Federal Reserve hiked rates, and we expect there are more to come. With a hawkish Fed and a resilient economy, long-term yields may stay elevated.
October Could Bring New Market Surprises as Earnings Season Nears: Here’s What to Watch
It’s really starting to feel like autumn now. August PPI, CPI, and Retail Sales are in the books, the September FOMC meeting is out of the way, and we can now look forward to Jobs Week on Wall Street. Football is in full swing, and earnings season begins before you know it, with Pepsi (PEP) posting results on Thursday, October 8, followed the next morning by Delta (DAL).
ETFs on TXSE: A Big Milestone for Y’all Street
The Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) is more than a regional milestone — it is a shift in competition among U.S. capital markets. After months of anticipation, the TXSE reached a major landmark last week as Texas Capital’s TXS and OILT ETFs became its first primary listings, followed a day later by PWRX as the first new ETF to launch on the exchange.
The Skill That Fades When AI Does the Prep
AI can do the prep. It writes the file notes, assembles the meeting brief, and produces a credible first version of the plan. The time saved is real, and no one should hand it back. The bill arrives later. A skill you stop practicing gets weaker, and professional judgment is a skill.
There’s a Secret Third Path to Escaping America’s Debt Trap
The US deficit has reached $1.97 trillion and is on track to pass 6% of gross domestic product this fiscal year, the latest milestone in a remarkable deterioration of the federal budget.
A Guide to Coordinating Your Estate Plan With Your Financial Plan
Creating an estate plan is an important step, but it is only one piece of your financial life. If your estate documents, investment strategy, retirement plan, tax strategy, and beneficiary designations are not working together, even a well-crafted estate plan may not achieve the outcome you intended. Coordinating these elements may help support your wealth is transferred efficiently, your wishes are honored, and unnecessary complications are reduced.
The Fed Hikes Rates Amid Sticky Inflation and Strong Economic Data
The week began with calls for a potential slowdown in AI spending amid growing safety concerns and included a midweek Fed rate hike for the first time since 2023. The S&P 500 finished slightly lower for the second week in a row despite continuing signs that economic growth is strong. Shorter-term bond yields pushed higher as investors priced in the potential for additional rate hikes, both in the U.S. and abroad.
A Practical Take on Longevity for Advisors & Clients
Longevity optimists believe advances in geroscience, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and other fields could significantly extend both health span and lifespan. Living healthy into our late 90s, and perhaps beyond 100 for many, should be taken seriously when thinking about our personal and financial futures.
A Review of 1929
I typically avoid business books when I am on vacation. But I made an exception during our sojourn last month for Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 1929. Nearly a century after the Great Crash, that era is still being studied for lessons that might be relevant in the current day. The potential for financial instability is ever-present.
How Rising Rates Impact Your Annuities Portfolio
The Federal Reserve increased rates by 25 basis points this week, a remarkable turnaround with major implications for portfolios of all kinds; one underexamined impacted area may be annuities.
K-Shaped Economy: Reality or Media-Driven Perception
The K-shaped economy is real, and it is old. What changed isn’t the shape of the economy; it’s just that the media found a narrative that gets lots of clicks and views, and we let headlines do our thinking for us.
New York Developers Look North of Miami for Florida’s Next Boom
After years of trying to convince developers and investors that it’s a viable alternative to Miami and Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale’s pitch is starting to resonate.
September Fed Hike May Be More Than a Risk Management Exercise
The U.S. Federal Reserve delivered on consensus expectations by raising its policy rate by 25 basis points (bps) at its September meeting.
When Borrowing Can Be a Smart Strategy
When it comes to personal finance, conventional wisdom says the best way to live is debt-free. There are many important reasons why this is tried and true, but for high-net-worth individuals, lending can be an optimal way to access cash in the near term without sacrificing long-term gains on your assets.
AI-Fueled Profit Growth Set to Flow Through Every S&P 500 Sector
Every single sector in the S&P 500 is expected to deliver earnings growth for the third quarter, the first time since 2021, when corporate America emerged from the pandemic slump, Bloomberg Intelligence data shows.
Why 73% of Savers Want an "Easy Button": Inside J.P. Morgan’s Latest DC Plan Survey
According to new data from J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s 2026 Defined Contribution Plan Participant Survey, 73% of savers said they wish they could hit an “easy button” and fully delegate their wealth management.
Hike or Hold? Debating the Coming Fed Decision
Heading into the September 16 FOMC meeting, the debate over whether the Fed should raise rates or hold is heated. To help you appreciate the range of views, I present this article as a courtroom exercise. I will let the prosecution make its case for a rate hike, and the defense for a hold.
Advanced 401(k) Optimization Strategies for High-Net-Worth Families
For many investors, a 401(k) is simply a retirement savings account. For high-net-worth families, however, it can become a sophisticated planning tool that supports tax efficiency, wealth accumulation, and long-term legacy objectives.
Does Your Financial Plan Depend Too Much on One Stock?
One or a few high-performing stocks can provide a big boost to portfolio values. But they’re hard to come by and often struggle to maintain their momentum over time. Because these stocks increase portfolio concentration, investors must balance the risk of overexposure against the tax cost of diversifying. A thoughtful, tax-aware plan may help bring portfolios back in line.
Consumer Price Index: Inflation at 3.4% in August
Inflation rose 3.4% year-over-year in August, as it did for the 12 months ending July. The headline figure for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was in line with economist estimates.
Inside the Consumer Price Index: August 2026
Inflation affects everything from grocery bills to rent, making the Consumer Price Index (CPI) one of the most closely watched economic indicators. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks this by categorizing spending into eight categories, each weighted by its relative importance.
Why Momentum Can Still Work
In this article, Russ Koesterich argues that momentum remains supported by strong earnings growth, making the factor attractive despite market risks.
Signs Point to a Normalization, Not a Crisis
LPL Research analyzes rising U.S. debt, Treasury yields, and fiscal trends, highlighting implications for markets and investors.
Rethinking Dynamic Defaults to Tackle Retirement Income Security
Target-date funds have become a staple qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) because they help participants invest appropriately without requiring them to act. But as retirement nears, income needs become more pressing and financial situations diverge—a situation dynamic defaults seek to address.
What To Say When a Client Loses a Spouse
The alternative is to be proactive by helping a grieving client name and address the financial concerns that loss creates, without ever rushing them. Doing that well takes two things: an understanding of how grief actually unfolds and a deliberate process for the conversation itself.
How Firms Can Get Ahead of the Industry’s Talent Shortage Dilemma
As clients come to advisory shops more informed, due to the plethora of financial advice available online, firms will need to be able to “stress test the information or bias” they arrive with. A comprehensive team, with training across advisory areas, can offer clients more depth of service.
Americans Deserve Better Oversight of Their Annuities
Every year, Americans send hundreds of billions of dollars of retirement savings to life insurers in return for annuities that promise a future income. It’s an industry built on trust and prudence.
Investing Myths Dismantled (Chapter 4 of 5)
Chapter 3 of this series ended with a simple question. If the math so plainly says avoid big losses, respect valuations, and mind your timing, why does so much of the industry preach the opposite?
AI Health Company Forus Raises $150 Million at a $3 Billion Value
Healthcare automation startup Forus has raised $150 million at a $3 billion valuation just months after completing a previous funding round.
The Road Up and the Road Down are the Very Same Road
If you look deeply into a speculative bubble, you can already see the collapse. If you look deeply into a market collapse, you can already see the bull market. The road up and the road down are the very same road. Even so, aside from knowing that our investment position presently requires a safety net regardless of shorter-term conditions – we have utterly no opinions, preferences, or scenarios about the market outlook even a month or a quarter from now.
Structured Investments for Times of Volatility
What if you could capture the potential gains of the S&P 500, but limit your losses if the market goes down? Or earn above-market income given the right stock market conditions? How about gaining some market exposure while protecting principal with FDIC insurance, up to applicable limits?
LA Fire Zone Set to Get $3 Million Homes Funded by Muni Bonds
More than a year after wildfires devastated Pacific Palisades, a nonprofit is advancing a plan to tap the public debt market to create housing in the slow-to-recover Los Angeles wealthy enclave.
When Rates Begin to Bite
In this article, Russ Koesterich explains how strong fundamentals have supported stocks, but rising bond yields may soon begin to challenge market valuations.
What Compliance Officers Need to Know Before Their Firm Deploys AI Agents
The firms I see succeeding with AI right now aren't the ones with the flashiest assistants. They're the ones whose compliance officers helped design the architecture instead of it being handed over after the fact. That single change — inviting compliance into the build, not just the review — is the difference between an AI program you can defend and one you're hoping no one ever questions.
Maritime Pressure Points
Most people experience transportation through roads and airports. Traffic jams on highways and delays at major hubs are familiar frustrations. But the world's most important transportation network lies largely out of sight.
The Post-Tax Season Window: 5 Ways RIAs Can Help Clients Pay Less Before Year-End
Advisors who build a third-quarter planning call into their process tend to see fewer IRS notices land on their clients' desks. Tax season teaches clients to think about taxes once a year. The advisors who win their trust are the ones who think about taxes all year round.
Truist, Fifth Third Pause Sales Tied to Walter’s Biggest Insurer
Regional lenders Truist Financial Corp. and Fifth Third Bancorp. have paused distribution of products tied to billionaire financier Mark Walter’s biggest insurance firm, according to people with knowledge of the decisions.
A Changing Policy Backdrop Could Test Market Optimism
In a week that saw NVIDIA, the largest company in the world, report strong earnings that sent its stock sharply higher and reinvigorated optimism in the artificial intelligence (AI) trade, fiscal and monetary policymakers continued to provide the biggest headlines.
Keeping Your Float Afloat: A Guide to Earning What You Deserve on Your Cash
Most of us keep a chunk of cash on hand — for rent, groceries, the occasional emergency, or simply because we haven’t gotten around to investing it yet. In the finance industry, this is called your “float.” We think the single best thing most people can do with it is own a Treasury Bill ETF — and yet almost nobody does.
Where to Invest Now as Data Centers Turn Copper Into a Hot Commodity
Copper is having a moment. It may be a long one. The metal has hit record highs in 2026 and is currently up 15% since the start of the year, trading above $14,300 a ton on the London Metal Exchange.
Markets Weigh Business Strength Against Consumer Weakness
Equity markets stumbled this week despite an economic backdrop that continues to show signs of broadening. While concerns about consumer strain are mounting, those worries have so far been offset by ongoing strength in business investment, particularly spending tied to artificial intelligence (AI).
The ETF Landgrab Is On: Buy or Build?
It’s been a busy year in the game of ETF landgrab. And a colorful one, too. From exciting M&A deals to some splashy building-from-scratch newcomers, we are seeing a little bit of everything as asset managers look to build scale and capture the impressive growth momentum of the ETF market.
The Bond Market Is Returning to the Old Normal
Yields on 30-year US bonds broke 5% last week, a level not seen since before the Great Financial Crisis. The Treasury Department bought bonds in an attempt to lower yields. It worked — for a day, then bond yields went back up. Meanwhile, in a not-exactly-unrelated development, the US national debt just passed $40 trillion.
Investor Psychology Is Sabotaging Your Returns (Chapter 2 of 5)
In the first part of this series, I promised that the next enemy we would face is the one you cannot fire, mute, or unfollow, because it is “You.” You can learn every valuation metric ever invented, memorize the two questions that decide everything, and still hand most of your returns back to the market for one simple reason.
The Key Inflation Signal for Investors
In the early weeks of Kevin Warsh’s start as chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, there has been renewed focus on how “underlying” inflation should be measured to guide decisions on interest rates.
Healthcare Pt. 2: Show Me The Incentive
The truth about the runaway costs of healthcare turns out to be a little more complex than any single source we've named. Hospitals, insurers, private equity, administrators, pharmaceutical companies… pull the thread on any one and we land in the same overextended, bloated, extractive system.
Bessent Becomes Most Interventionist Treasury Chief in Decades
With a slew of unexpected maneuvers this year, Scott Bessent has emerged as the most interventionist Treasury secretary in financial markets in decades — putting his credibility on the line in an effort to quell a potentially damaging rise in US borrowing costs.
Let Your True Self Shine Through When Speaking With Clients
I’m always asked for scripts. You don’t want a script. You want to be natural and approach clients in a manner that fits you. Practice, practice, practice until it seems natural and comfortable. Authentic is always best.
How Much Does It Really Cost to Launch an RIA?
Treat launch costs as initial investments, not expenses to minimize. Strategic firms often discover that the most valuable investments are the ones that protect their clients, preserve flexibility, and create enduring enterprise value.
Wall Street Leans on Insurance Pools for $16 Billion Kuwait Deal
The deal follows similar moves elsewhere in the Gulf, including oil and gas pipeline transactions by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Saudi Aramco, as governments seek to bring in external capital without losing control of key assets. In these cases, investors obtained bridge financing from banks that were later refinanced by bonds.
Markets Broaden as the Economy Remains Delicately Balanced
Equity markets continued to push higher this week, with nearly all major indices in the U.S. and abroad closing near or at record highs. While longer-term interest rates continued to drift higher, shorter-term interest rates moved lower as investors pushed out both the timing and magnitude of potential Federal Reserve rate hikes.
Anatomy of the Private Credit Market
As private credit further cements its role as a primary source of corporate financing, it will be essential to balance opportunity with prudent risk management for long-term stability and sustainability.
Managing Money Responsibilities During Emotional Hard Times
A divorce. A house fire. A serious accident or illness. The death of a family member. Caring for elderly parents. Life events like these are hard and emotionally draining. To make things worse, they also require us to deal with finances and make significant, complex money decisions.
Nvidia’s $500 Billion Plan Envelops Wall Street in Its AI Frenzy
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Blackstone Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. had been working tirelessly for months to draw up debt deals that would help developers of artificial intelligence systems pay for chips from Nvidia Corp.
A Market Ahead of Its Economy
Today’s market does not represent today’s economy. The ratio of market value dependent on future economic activity versus present activity has never been higher. These companies have earnings now, but those earnings stem from investments in the future, not present consumption.
The $300 Billion Blind Spot: Consumer Healthcare Financing Is the Next Credit Story
Patients need financing that is approved on the spot and fits the cost and timing of their specific procedure. This is the gap that a newer class of lenders — including CareCredit, Affirm, Sunbit, and Cherry — has been built to fill. The growth of buy now, pay later healthcare financing over the past two years reflects how quickly demand has caught up with supply.
Yen Intervention Narrative: What’s True And Not
So let’s do the work the timeline skips, starting with separating what actually happened from what the narrative needs you to believe. Then we’ll ask the only question that pays: should any of it change how you’re positioned this morning?