Did they mean “Transit”-ory ?

Market Memo

March 2023 – By Kyle Rohrwasser

An eternity ago in 2021, the Federal Reserve kept reiterating that inflation was “transitory”. We, like many others, were skeptical because of the amount of money printed and moved into the financial system. This collided with a wildly efficient shipping industry that had stopped dead in its tracks (pun unintended) while demand for products continued to grow. But how do we get those products at such low and reasonable prices? Well, many of you may be familiar with China and US trading but you don’t understand how truly efficient the ships and logistics have gotten in the past 30 years.

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What is a Last Will and Testament and What Does it Do?

Market Memo – Planning Article

March 2023 – By Tom Rueger, J.D., CFP®

What is a Will and what does it do? A Will is a legally binding written document that sets out specific desires regarding the distribution of property and the care of minor children. It allows a person to be very specific about who gets (or doesn’t get) which asset(s) and how much of it they get. Assets or minor children can be kept out of the hands of people that you do not want to have them. You can also appoint someone you trust to oversee the process of distributing your assets.

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SVB on the Run

Market Minute

March 2023 – By Bob Veres

One might be forgiven for thinking that runs on a bank, and banking failures, are a thing of the Great Depression, not something you encounter in modern times.  One would be wrong, thanks to the highly-publicized failure of a once-obscure institution called Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed on Friday and was taken over by federal regulators in order to protect the assets of its depositors.  It was the largest failure of a U.S. bank since the 2008 economic crisis.

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The Roof Might Be Leaking

Market Memo

February 2023 – By Kyle Rohrwasser

According to the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, American home values fell roughly 25% from the beginning of 2006 to their bottom in early 2012. Since that low point, average home prices in America have skyrocketed, largely due to low-interest rates, government quantitative easing, and the involvement of large real estate companies purchasing single-family homes as investments. These three major factors created a market where debt was cheap, excess dollars were present in the system, and homes were scarce – a trifecta for increasing real estate values.

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