This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It begins with a global overview, then features the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. The report also illustrates the impact of globally diversified portfolios and features a quarterly topic.
Living In The Fear Of A Market Downturn
It’s easy to feel anxious about investing these days. Those who claim they can foresee market moves are out in force, on screen after screen, citing factors such as trade wars or the inverted yield curve as signals that stocks will soon go down.
Time Flies
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is your’re the pilot.” Michael Althsuler
New tax rules in 2020
As we noted in our June newsletter, there was a possibility of potential law changes in 2019.
Two Questions To Ask Before You Purchase Life Insurance
Life insurance can be an extremely important, even essential, part of your financial plan. One of its most attractive aspects for many individuals and families is the death benefit of the policy—the money that the insurance company pays out in the event of the insured’s death.
Big Data
IBM did research a few years ago proclaiming that 90% of the world’s data is being created every two years. That is an amazing statistic. More data has been created since October 2017 than all the prior years combined? More data will be created in the next two years than all prior years?
2019 Mutual Fund Landscape
Each year, Dimensional analyzes returns from a large sample of US-based mutual funds. Our objective is to assess the performance of mutual fund managers relative to benchmarks. This year’s study updates results through 2018. The evidence shows that a majority of fund managers in the sample failed to deliver benchmark-beating returns after costs. We believe that the results of this research provide a strong case for relying on market prices when making investment decisions.
Appreciate The Trade-Off Between Risk And Return
The theory is simple enough: The more risk you are willing to assume, the higher the expected potential return. The challenges, though, are selecting an asset allocation that will provide the returns you require to meet your long-term financial goals and sticking to the allocation through up and down markets.
A Tale of Two Decades: Lessons for Long-Term Investors
The first decade of the 21st century, and the second one that’s drawing to a close, have reinforced for investors some timeless market lessons: Returns can vary sharply from one period to another. Holding a broadly diversified portfolio can help smooth out the swings.
Elevator Button Controls
How many of us have pushed the “Door Close” button on the elevator thinking it closed the door faster? Interestingly that button on most elevators is a placebo. It does not actually close the door faster. The sole purpose is to help impatient people have a better experience by giving them the illusion of control. Riders get to hit something to reduce stress without harming late arrivers. In addition, the doors will eventually close, so they get a feeling of accomplishment as well. Thus, our mental health is preserved without us knowing it was even influenced.