“The four most dangerous words in investing are: this time it’s different.”– Sir John Templeton Speculation about a potential recession has been prominent in recent financial reporting. The goodnews is that multiple elements of the U.S. economy are healthy and provide an economic tailwind forthe future. The bad news is that actions by the Federal...

Will the Economic War with Russia Cause a U.S. Recession? “In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts, the Depression, a dozen or so recessions and financial panics, oil shocks, a flu epidemic, and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from...

“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” ~Milton Friedman Inflation is at 7%, its highest level since 1982. The ability of Congress or the Biden Administration to curb inflation is limited, at best. Responsibility for addressing inflation will fall to the arm of the federal government primarily responsible for monetary policy, the Federal Reserve...

Sector investments perform differently during the various phases of the economic cycle. Successfully rotating – or re-allocating – investments from one economic sector depends on a timely read of future macroeconomic conditions. “Buy cheap and sell dear.” Benjamin Graham You may have heard of the “reopening” or “recovery” play in the stock market earlier this...

Money flowed into growth-oriented technology investments in 2020. 2021 investing has a different look. Here’s a way to think about a rotation from growth to value investing when inflation heats up. In our last two articles, we described the recent worries about higher inflation, and the effects an increase in inflation has on stock and...

“The arithmetic makes it plain that inflation is a far more devastating tax than anything that has been enacted by our legislatures. The inflation tax has a fantastic ability to simply consume capital.” ~Warren Buffet How does inflation “consume” an investor’s capital and act as a type of “tax”? As inflation increases, the actual value...

By Cindy Alvarez – Senior Wealth Management Advisor It is usually the fall season when we begin to think about the year coming to an end, and what we might do during this final quarter to improve our tax picture. Simply put, we begin to think about tax deductions. What can we do to decrease...

By Cindy Alvarez, Senior Wealth Management Advisor Not all financial professionals are alike when it comes to working with their clients.  There are many different regulatory classifications of financial advisors, but the two most common are the (1) Broker-Dealer and the (2) Registered Investment Advisor, or RIA. One of the most significant differences is their...

Saving for retirement can be likened to going on a diet. What you need to succeed in both cases is a long-term mindset and the discipline to stay the course along the way. Let’s face it, we live in a fast-food culture where we want everything now and we lack the patience to wait more...

As wealth managers, we talk a lot about proactive tax planning and the importance of taking the time to create more favorable tax outcomes. With that said, why aren’t more individuals getting involved in the process? The primary reason for the lack of tax planning can be attributed to the constant change in tax laws...