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11 Oct 2013 The Weekend Reader

Posted at 17:02h in Blogs by Geoff Hall, CFP®, RICP®

Welcome to the Beacon Weekend Reader: Our weekly compilation of interesting articles and videos designed to keep you informed and engaged in the areas of economics, personal finance and life. We hope you enjoy this week's edition. Please send us your thoughts on this week's articles and suggestions for future posts. Have a great weekend.

11 Oct 2013 The People’s House – The House of Representatives

Posted at 11:01h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

The real tragedy facing America is not the latest debt ceiling debate, or government shutdown, or for that matter, whether the Fed decides to 'taper' or not. Rather, it is the lack of engagement by far too many Americans to understand things as basic as how our government works, how ill-suited our welfare system is for lifting people from poverty, and how unchecked growth in government entitlements will eventually swamp our economy. Given today's headlines, let's focus on the first one.

04 Oct 2013 The Weekend Reader

Posted at 16:02h in Blogs by Geoff Hall, CFP®, RICP®

04 Oct 2013 Watching and Hoping

Posted at 11:06h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

Here we sit, once again in fiscal crisis as our leaders fail to lead by compromise. Both Democrats and Republicans risk potential political backlash if they fail to find a way forward before the government runs out of money and technically defaults on its debts.

27 Sep 2013 The Weekend Reader

Posted at 16:06h in Blogs by Geoff Hall, CFP®, RICP®

27 Sep 2013 Where are you going?

Posted at 12:40h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

It's Friday, and another week is ending; the 39th week of the 13th year of the new millennium to be precise. As we enter the fourth quarter of the year we might ask; are we 39 weeks closer to our goals, or have we simply repeated a weekly cycle 39 times only to find we are still in the same place?

20 Sep 2013 The Weekend Reader

Posted at 15:23h in Blogs by Geoff Hall, CFP®, RICP®

20 Sep 2013 The Fed Blinks

Posted at 14:37h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

Mr. Bernanke and his Federal Open Market Committee surprised markets this week by declining to begin tapering their monthly purchases of $45 billion in US Treasuries and $40 billion in mortgage bonds. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said markets shouldn’t have been surprised by the decision because the FOMC members have repeatedly said the decision to slow, or taper, would be “data dependent.” A nearly 1.5% jump in stocks on top of the no-go Syria rally of nearly 5% definitely implies surprise.

13 Sep 2013 The Fear of Missing Out

Posted at 14:42h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

Rapidly rising stock markets are the most challenging times for financial advisors who truly care about their client's long-term well being. This latest market rally is no different as it has prompted a number of calls from clients asking if they should be more aggressively invested to avoid missing out on the rally. Frankly, I’ve always suspected that my answer fell short of satisfying them. Now I know why.

30 Aug 2013 The Rattling of Tapers and Sabers

Posted at 14:20h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

Talk of tapering the Fed's $85 billion monthly purchase of bonds and saber rattling over the claimed use of chemical weapons on civilians by Syria's government put a damper on stocks in August and risks worsening our struggling economy.