“The S&P 500 rose 27% in 2021, capping a third consecutive year of double-digit gains. Yet stocks are cheaper than they were a year ago: The S&P is trading at 21 times analysts’ projected earnings over the next 12 months, down from 22.8 times at the end of 2020. Lower valuations, together with an expanding […]
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Quote Of The Week: Keep The Sound Turned Off
“If you must watch CNBC or other financial television, watch it with the sound turned off.” Jason Zweig, “The Best Investment for This Coming Crazy Year,” The Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2022 What’s the secret to successful investing? Financial columnist Jason Zweig says what’s needed to invest successfully in 2022 is the discipline to stay […]
Gold Fails The Inflation Test In 2021
Were you one of those people wondering whether you should invest in gold in 2021 to hedge your portfolio against rising prices? If so, be glad you didn’t. Has gold lost its luster as an inflation hedge? We’ve been asked about buying gold so many times by clients that we posted a blog article on the topic last summer. […]
Got Crypto? Now You Can Use It To Help Your Favorite Charity
I was having lunch last month with one of my favorite non-profit groups when the CEO pulled me aside to show me a novel email solicitation on his phone. The sender of the email promised to share cutting-edge expertise on how non-profits like his could boost their fund-raising efforts by taking donations in cryptocurrency. What? […]
White House Tax And Spending Bill Takes Final Shape
via GIPHY Big sigh of relief! The White House has just released the $1.75 trillion framework for its social and climate-related Build Back Better plan and clients will be relieved to hear that, as of now, it does not contain the disruptive tax, retirement or estate tax measures that they may have been fearing. […]
Women Edge Out Men When It Comes To Investment Returns
Fidelity’s 2021 Women and Investing Study shows that women edged out men when it comes to investment returns over the last decade. After analyzing over 5 million customer accounts from 2011 to 2020, Fidelity calculated that women achieved slightly better results than men (0.4% higher returns per year) due to their disciplined and consistent investment approach. That’s […]
Quote Of The Week: Is The S&P 500 Index Giving You The Diversification You Need?
“Like most indexes, the S&P 500 is weighted by capitalization: The bigger the market cap a company has, the more its influence on the performance of the index. Any cap-weighted index fund is a heavy bet on larger companies. Lately, that bet has become extremely heavy because a few stocks have become gigantic. All by themselves, Alphabet (GOOGL), […]
3 Reasons To Give International Equities Another Look
Most investors have a serious case of home country bias. That means that, all things being equal, they prefer to invest in companies based in their own backyard and tend to underweight companies based overseas. That’s true of America investors as well as those in other countries. Everyone likes rooting for the home team. If […]
3rd Quarter Market Commentary
By Donald Calcagni, CFP®, MST, Chief Investment Officer, Mercer Advisors Despite posting strong returns over the summer, global equity markets began to lose steam by the latter half of September. Persistent inflation, debt-riddled Chinese real estate companies, rising interest rates, prospective tax increases, and the startling prospect of a first-ever U.S. debt default all weighed heavily […]
Worries Abound, But Stocks Notch Sixth Straight Quarter Of Gains In 3rd Quarter
Stocks were weighed down in September by uncertainties over COVID, the debt ceiling, future tax policy, inflation and interest rates, causing them to pull back from early September highs. The large-cap S&P 500 stock index ended down for the month of September, marking the benchmark’s most challenging month since March 2020. The S&P 500 index […]
About Mari Adam, CFP®
Mari Adam, Certified Financial Planner™ has helped hundreds of individuals and families build wealth and plan for a more secure financial future for over 30 years. Her advice has appeared in publications such as Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger’s, Money Magazine, Business Week, and CBS MarketWatch.
