Blog

18 Jan 2019 The Success Mechanism Within You

Posted at 11:41h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

"It may seem strange, but it is nevertheless true, that up until [1950], scientists had no idea of just how the human brain and nervous system worked 'purposely' to achieve a goal" Dr. Maxwell Maltz Through his phenomenally successful 1960 book Psycho Cybernetics, Dr. Maxwell Maltz changed the...

11 Jan 2019 Who Can Sell Stocks Better Than a Monkey?

Posted at 13:23h in The Friday Brief by Jared Korver, CPA, CFP®

We have talked a lot--generally, and in the specific context of the last few months of market volatility--about the importance of an investment process that isn't based on words like "hope" or "proprietary model" or even "I just have a good feeling about this." This...

04 Jan 2019 How to Navigate Volatile Markets

Posted at 13:16h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

Since October, large swings in the stock market have become commonplace, driven by a ceaseless stream of extraordinary economic and political news events. Apple hardly ever downgrades their earnings guidance. The Chinese economy hardly ever declines. Britain may be forced to leave the European Union...

21 Dec 2018 Too Much Bah Humbug

Posted at 13:25h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

During the past few weeks, markets have been batted around like a pinball, flipped by the Federal Reserve on the one side and government shut-down on the other. The active bumpers of China, BREXIT, oil prices, regulating big tech, global economic slowing, TWEETS, and a...

14 Dec 2018 How to Time the Market

Posted at 12:36h in The Friday Brief by Jared Korver, CPA, CFP®

Jesse Livermore was a stock trader who made his fortune during the 1929 stock market crash, in which he heavily shorted U.S. stocks and then began to buy them up near market lows. On the worst day of the crash, October 29, 1929, Livermore is...

07 Dec 2018 What Are the Markets Telling Us?

Posted at 14:25h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

Markets are in a tizzy (a state of nervous excitement or agitation). Investors are asking, is the party over, is the bull market ending or are we just taking a pause? The latest volatility has been set off by 'tariff-tweets,' Fed talk, economic data, and...

30 Nov 2018 Bond Portfolios Have Been Corrupted

Posted at 09:50h in The Friday Brief by Ryan Smith, CFP®, RICP®, CTS™, MSFP

I happened across this tweet last night: https://twitter.com/syouth1/status/1068262877411401729 If you are unfamiliar with Bill Gross, he founded the mutual fund powerhouse PIMCO and for a long time ran the largest bond fund in the world, PIMCO Total Return. He’s something of a legend in the bond world....

16 Nov 2018 Thanks for Nothing, Headlines

Posted at 13:34h in The Friday Brief by Jared Korver, CPA, CFP®

We will celebrate Thanksgiving in less than a week, on the 22nd of November (which is, incidentally, the earliest possible date we could celebrate Thanksgiving). You know how it goes when these early ones come around--we are all getting "snuck up on" and "caught off...

09 Nov 2018 2018 Year End Money Moves

Posted at 10:04h in The Friday Brief by Geoff Hall, CFP®, RICP®

As the holidays and new year approach with alarming rapidity--but before you get swept up in parties and family gatherings completely--it's a great time to take a look at your finances. 2018 still has some important planning opportunities, and getting ahead of 2019 could pay...

02 Nov 2018 Investment Efficiency

Posted at 13:44h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

Efficiency measures what is produced against the inputs required to produce it. Efficiency is generally reduced by some form of drag, such as friction, cost, energy, or time, but there can be great reward in improving efficiency. An investment portfolio produces greater wealth as the friction...