Posts in the wealth management category
Navigating the Tax Maze: A Comprehensive Guide to Documenting Your 2023 Tax Return
As we move through the year, tax season is getting closer, and it's time for individuals and businesses to dig into the details of their finances. To file your 2023 tax return properly, you need to carefully think about and collect the right documents. In this blog post, we'll help you by providing insights and guidance on the important documents you'll need to handle the complexities of tax preparation. Read More
Debt Deadlines, Defaults and Downgrades
How to Have “The Talk” With Your Aging Parents
Whether it builds gradually or happens overnight – there may come a moment when you realize that you need to care for the people that cared for you. Read More
The Overlooked Key to Estate Planning Success: The Psychology of Communication
Estate planning focuses on three goals: protecting yourself and your family, passing on assets, and keeping as much of an estate away from the taxman as possible. There are essential documents, such as a medical power of attorney and a will; there are structures, such as trusts, and procedures to go through. Read More
Markets Comfortably Numb, or Confused?
If you think the stock market was down 5% since November, then up 8%, then down 2%…and it’s been on a trade mill during which time the end result performance has been flat for the last 8 months – you’d be correct (you’d get a very similar result with Dow Jones). Read More
5 Tips for loving life in tough economic times
Many of us hold onto the belief that more money would make us happy. Research shows that there is a correlation between money and happiness. However this is only true up to a certain level of income. Poverty, with all of its profound stressors, is clearly a cause for unhappiness. However, when a household income rises above $75,000 per year, there is no real connection between money and happiness. Now $75,000 per year is nothing to sneeze at, especially in this economy. Still it’s hard for many of us to swallow that an extra million dollars wouldn't bring some happiness. But this just isn't the case. There have been significant economic gains experienced by Americans in the past few decades. These gains have NOT been accompanied by a rise in happiness. In fact, these economic gains have been associated with increases in depression. Read More
Nurturing a Child’s Relationship with Money
My six year old son asks me a lot of questions about money. How much do we have? How much does that cost? Why can’t we buy this? It would seem he is a little obsessed. Maybe some of that comes with being a son of a Financial Advisor, but I think it is just a part of growing up and inserting values on what we see around us. Like it or not, money is integrated into a lot of our day-to-day decisions and even our relationships. Read More
Are Investors Their Own Worst Enemy?
We like to think that we are logical, rational beings. We want to believe that we weigh the pros and cons of each decision and choose the most effective course of action before we act. However, when it comes to money, our brains haven't evolved much beyond those of our furry animal friends. Read More
Both Pedals to the Metal
I would like to start by apologizing for not writing my newsletters lately in their usual quarterly frequency. This has been an unusual year for many reasons, one of which is the time I have spent finishing my first book titled “Stop Overspending.” I am lucky enough to be asked the reason for my silence on the newsletter front, and this is one reason why. I will send a link to it once published, which is going to be in the next few months, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it. Read More
It’s Official: Correction is Here
The late September, early October market highs in stocks, may be this year’s all-time high in stock values. This is not due to the US economy doing poorly, or companies reporting dismal results. The stock market is forward looking, and so with rising input, financing and labor costs, along with a slowing down of global trade, European Union troubled with Brexit and Italy, China still on controlled slow down mode, equity investors are having a hard time finding bright spots. One thing is for sure, that the volatility is back and major indexes have touched the correction territory. Read More
…And Now, The End Is Near?
For years now, market participants have been arguing on whether or not “the” market top has been seen. So far, those who had suggested “a” market top yes, but not “the” market top have won the argument and prevailed. That being said, “this time”, both economically and market wise, it appears likely that we are in the later stages of a growth and bull cycle. Read More
It May Get Worse Before It Gets Better
One piece of the profit/loss puzzle of investments that is so easy to see in hindsight, is that market pull backs, or corrections present investment opportunities. The bigger the drop, the better the opportunity. Therefore, in theory, a successful investor would be happy to see market lows, but that’s not how the story goes for a variety of reasons. The hard part is how to keep your cool and implement this wisdom in the midst of crisis, fear and while losing the market value of your invested funds. Read More
2018: A Challenging Year Might Be Ahead
First thing first: I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and loved ones, and wish you a great Holiday Season, Christmas, News Year….under whatever name, shape or form you enjoy celebrating. My usual attitude I have adopted from a longtime friend is: “Is there something to celebrate? What are we waiting for?” Read More
Yep, More of the Same, Which is Terrific
One key concept of Buddhism is “impermanence.” That which changes cannot be real, and so we shouldn’t concern ourselves with what is not real…right? Given the stock market’s impermanent nature, which is bound to cease at some point (as resilient as it has been), should we still concern ourselves with its potential next move? Read More
A Mixed Bag of More of the Same
Many observers are surprised with the current levels of US Stock Indices. There is so much talk about stretched valuations, Trump Trade being over, the potential damage of rising interest rates, trade/currency wars, political uncertainty, rising inflation and last but not the least, the aging economic growth cycle, that given all this, stock prices seem unjustified. Read More
End of an Era: A Big Change Underway
When the stock market goes down, we wonder much how lower it can go. When it goes up, we wonder if we’ve reached a market top. Wonder, is the name of our game. Even if the result of the US presidential election were different, the title of my last newsletter for 2016 would be same. Read More
Looking Ahead to 2016
On May 21st, the S&P 500 index hit an all-time high, 3.5% above December 31st close, only to drop 12.35% in the following three months. A similar and even deeper fall occurred during the summer of 2011, a loss of 17.6% in the same index. Read More
First Half Report, Brexit and More
At first glance, the US stock market performance in the first half of 2016 can be summarized as a “all hat no cattle” type of action. Put in other words, a sideway trend has been the name of the game, with a lot of volatility, only to end back to square one for large US stock indexes such as S&P 500 and Dow Jones. Read More
The Key Question Is…
Hello tax season survivors. In this commentary, I will do my best to explain the current state of capital markets as simply as it would please Einstein, and dive deeper as I move along. Read More
What is Wrong with the US Stock Market?
A client and friend asked why the current US stock market was having a hard time finding a path and if I saw this lack of a path as a threat to the global financial stability. Read More
Macro Factors In Play
My last market commentary’s title was “Dollar Is Up, Oil Is Down, Stocks Get Confused”. If you’re wondering why I haven’t written a newsletter for the last few months, that’s because this analysis has been as valid as it was a few months ago. Since November 2014, stocks have been in a sideway trend, dollar has been climbing up and oil looking for a bottom at around $40-$50 per barrel. Read More
Oil Falls, Dollar Rises, Stocks Get Confused
As we come close to the end of a volatile year in stocks, one sudden an unexpected development (for some surely it was expected) slowed down the pace of a typical Santa Claus rally, it caused a shallow pull back, and raised a lot of questions. Crude oil price’s sharp decline caught many investors off guard and the confusion increased volatility. Read More
Investment management
Investment management is the combination of science and intuition, anticipating what others anticipate, about a future set of events that are inherently unknowable. That’s what I will attempt to do in this market letter: Anticipate what others may anticipate about capital markets performance and behavior in 2014. Before I progress any further, I do need to disclose that I do not know. Having established some faith and confidence here, let’s pay a quick visit to 2013. Read More
Is Good News Actually The Bad News
As I was looking for a quote to start October’s market letter, I have stopped yawning when I saw this one liner from my favorite fictitious character, Sherlock Holmes. It captures the current market mood perfectly as I have never seen a market rally that is much hated, and much ignored. Read More
Surprise: Long Term Equity Trends Intact
While chatting with a friend, who works at a large wealth management firm in San Francisco, I wanted to hear his take on whether we have seen a market top in stocks. He answered “…how many times have we asked this question in the last five years?” Read More