Planning Article

February 2024 – By Bob Veres

The annual ritual of Groundhog Day is behind us, but we all still wonder when the weather will turn warm again.  It happens at different times in different parts of the country, of course, but there is evidence that, in the Northern Hemisphere, the warming trend is coming as much as a week earlier, on average, than it did thirty years ago.

Market Memo

January 2024 – By Kyle Rohrwasser

Between 2009 and 2022 the average Federal Funds rate for a given year was never over 2.2%, with many of those years averaging well under 1% at essentially zero. That created a situation that we like to call TINA (there is no alternative) which moved most investments into equities. When cash or short-term fixed-income instruments pay very little, one of the only ways to get “real growth” is through the equity markets.

Market Minute

January 2024 – By Scott Rosenquist, CFA®

A record amount of cash is now sitting in money market funds as higher yields continue to attract investor attention. This is great news for savers and investors who no longer need to reach for yield by taking additional risk. The question everyone is asking is, how long will it last?

Market Memo

December 2023 – By Bob Veres

Most of the investing world is a bit weird about the Federal Open Market Committee meetings, which is where the nation’s central bank announces its latest interest rate policy.  The announcement concerns the overnight borrowing rate for banks that need short-term financing if they run (temporarily) short on liquidity.  The idea is that if the Fed raises or lowers this rate, then interest rates throughout the economy will bounce up or down accordingly, raising or lowering the cost of financing for America’s corporations and potentially leading to recession (and lower stock prices) or economic prosperity (and higher stock prices).