03 Feb 2017

Posted at 12:31h in The Friday Brief by
Today Mr. Trump signed an order that will dismantle or reduce a Labor Department rule introduced a year ago that holds brokers and insurance agents who work with retirement savings to a higher standard, known as the fiduciary standard. It requires financial professionals to work in the best interests of their clients, avoiding as many conflicts as possible and to clearly disclose any conflicts that do exist.

27 Jan 2017

Posted at 13:21h in The Friday Brief by
Following the financial crisis of 2007-2008, in 2010, PIMCO CEO Mohamed A. El-Erian delivered a lecture entitled "Navigating the New Normal in Industrial Countries." The thrust of his talk was to warn investors, economists, and policy makers not to expect, as many did, economic growth to return to pre-crisis levels. The extent of damage done to the economy through an increasing drag of reactionary regulations and skyrocketing government debt, not to mention distrust of the system would take years, or decades to reverse.

20 Jan 2017

Posted at 11:52h in The Friday Brief by
With today's presidential inauguration, we embark on a social, political, market, and economic journey arguably unlike any we've ever seen in our lifetimes or in the history of this country. The degree of disappointment and hurt on one side is balanced by joy and hope on the other. We will likely see and hear equal amounts of both for weeks and months time to come.

13 Jan 2017

Posted at 14:17h in The Friday Brief by
The price of a postage stamp just went up again. While a one cent increase in a postage stamp probably isn't going to hurt anyone other than mass mailers, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, the ever-increasing cost of stamps serves as a good reminder of the ever-increasing cost of everything else.