March 2025

The Social Security Fairness Act is a bill signed into law that repeals several decades-old provisions that previously reduced your Social Security benefits if you or a spouse received a pension from a non-Social Security covered job, and now restores these benefits, allowing you to receive the full Social Security retirement benefits earned based on individual work histories. In this article, we will discuss Social Security and how the changes may impact you and your financial outlook and ensure your strategies align with your financial goals.

February 2025

The new month brings two major market-moving stories to digest. First is the advances in artificial intelligence (AI) by Chinese startup DeepSeek. It has caused some investors to question America’s lead in the AI race and American Exceptionalism more broadly. To answer that question, it’s important to look at this idea holistically.  U.S. advantages in research and development spending, capital markets depth, the dollar’s privilege as the global reserve currency, and more suggest U.S. exceptionalism will remain intact.

January 2025 – By Dan Zalipski CFA^®

They say the market climbs a wall of worry, and 2024 was quite the climb. The S&P 500 returned +20% for a second consecutive year, a feat last seen in the late 90’s.  As we entered 2024, the list of worries included high valuations, narrow leadership by the largest technology stocks, rising long-term interest rates, election/policy uncertainty, deficit spending, geopolitical unrest, and more.  Despite these worries, stocks rallied without so much as one garden variety, normal, 10% correction.

December 2024 – By Dan Zalipski CFA^®

As we close the book on 2024, we cannot help but to be thankful and marvel at the market results of the past two years in the face of tough conditions and dire predictions.  Absent a surprise in the last few weeks, the S&P 500 will have produced 20%+ returns in back-to-back years for just the fourth time in its history.  As we look forward to 2025 and calibrate our expectations, we have reasons to be optimistic, but we also find reasons to be cautious.  It is important to be informed and mindful of changing market trends; below are some observations and expectations for the year ahead: