With a new year brings higher contribution limits and income adjustments across a number of advantaged investment accounts, including retirement plans (401ks, etc.), IRAs, HSAs and 529 plans. Make sure you check to see how you can take advantage of the new updates on these great saving and investing vehicles! Quick Links 401k and IRA
New Year = Higher Savings Contribution Limits Read More »
I’m part of a group that tries to make financial advisors better by sharing insights with each other. The topic came up in regards to how other advisors view international equity exposure. Some advisors had a heavier international allocation, others had very little, and one advisor claimed that international investing was a “scam”. PSA: Off
International Investment Exposure – Is It Worth It? Read More »
Private funds are generally a pooling of investors’ assets into a fund that an investment manager takes to invest in different asset classes. These private funds often invest in illiquid investments, including real estate, non-publicly traded companies or special debt/bond agreements. Historically, these private funds were only available for higher net worth individuals that met
The Illiquidity of Private Funds Read More »
Inflation is on the minds of everyone with headlines focused on the year-over-year number. CPI (Consumer Price Index) was 7.7% higher in October year-over-year, which sounds like a high number (it is), but investors may want to focus on the month-over-month number, which was 0.4%. If you annualize that number, you get 4.8%, a much
Pay Attention to Month-to-Month Inflation Read More »
I recently had a call with a representative from an investment strategy that focuses on investing in mining companies equities. This fund manages almost $2 billion in assets. I’ve covered precious metals and precious metals equity funds for a while. Investing in gold never made sense to me. Based on my experience, I’ve come to
Gold Prices – Reasons Change Read More »
Setting correct expectations is key when investing and when working with a financial advisor. In a business of helping clients achieve their financial goals, there can be decisions by clients whether to continue working with a financial advisor or to find a different financial advisor to work with. In this recent insight, I want to
Managing Expectations is Key: Financial Advisors Read More »
Just a quick part 2 to the previous post about how the market could rally, now significantly decline. Remember, markets don’t always move based on long-term fundamentals. Sometimes it’s just based on news events or market technicals. The 3% sell off in the U.S. equity markets may have been driven by both. The Federal Reserve
Huh? How Can the Equity Market Sell Off?!? Read More »
I recently met a new couple at a party this last weekend. In our group, the husband of the new couple asked what we all did for a living. When I stated that I was a investment portfolio manager at a wealth management firm, he came back to me in front of the group and
What’s Your Thought on an Allocation to Stocks and Bonds? Read More »
I recently had a deep conversation with an experienced financial advisor about the backtested performance of a couple of model portfolios that were presented. He mentioned to me that the performance looked really attractive, including one model that showed backtested performance of no negative annual returns for several years. He was really excited about this
That Backtested Performance Looks Awesome! Read More »
Shouldn’t the equity markets sell off because we just have to be in a recession? Earnings have been bad, shouldn’t the market crash? The Fed just raised the fed funds rate 75 basis points (0.75%), shouldn’t that be bad for the equity markets? Aren’t the media heads talking about how high inflation and a recession
Huh? How Can the Equity Market Rally?!? Read More »
I recently had a discussion with an experienced financial advisor about the bond markets. He believed that bonds would sell off when the U.S. Federal Reserve raised the fed funds rate at the next meeting, which was widely anticipated. He thought that when the Fed raised the fed funds rate, yields across the yield curve
Huh? How Can the Bond Market Rally?!? Read More »
As I speak with various financial advisors, investment professionals, friends, family, etc. about the markets, I continue to reiterate that everyone has an opinion. I’ve used the phrase “nobody knows shit” (sorry for the vulgarity) multiple times in the last couple of months, so I thought I’d share my thoughts here, particularly in an environment
Everyone Has an Opinion Read More »
Yesterday I had lunch with an experienced, successful financial advisor. We touched on a number of topics, but started to share our ideas about the markets. This discussion was a great example of different Investor Types, which you can learn more about in our Lessons. The advisor I was speaking with tends to be a
Short-Term Trader vs. Long-Term Investor Read More »
Treasury Series I (inflation) savings bonds have been all the rage with inflation hitting highs not seen in decades. I’m not going to go into detail about I Bonds as you can find a lot of great up to date information on the Treasury Direct website: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/i-bonds/ I Bonds Summary Is inflation high and thus
Treasury I (Inflation) Bonds vs. The Fed Read More »
What a perfect topic to start Kulwicki Insights! R-E-C-E-S-S-I-O-N A recession is a word used to indicate an economic slowdown. That’s it. A definition often used for a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative real GDP growth. This technical definition of a recession is a backward looking definition. It looks back the last two
