2022 Review and Outlook – The Federal Reserve vs. Inflation Portfolio performance in 2021 ended on a solid note with a strong December after a weak November. Most portfolios were up double digits for the year. This performance extended a winning streak that... READ MOREJanuary 19, 2022 What Higher Inflation Means For Your Portfolio Recently we wrote a blog covering the signs of inflation we are currently experiencing and defining the type of inflation this could ultimately lead to. All of that is summed up here. This WJ Notes... READ MOREAugust 9, 2021 New Funds in the Portfolio We recently made a few changes to portfolios and wanted to describe conceptually what these new funds are doing. We purchased three ETFs (exchange traded funds): Simplify Volatility Premium ETF... READ MOREJuly 28, 2021 Questions About Rising Interest Rates Although most of the focus has been on stocks lately, it is bonds that have arguably had the more interesting year. Interest rates (which we will use the 10-year treasury yield to represent) have... READ MOREMarch 16, 2021 It’s Over! What Next? Wow! What a year. A global pandemic, global recession, stock market crash, and V-shaped stock market rebound among many other things made the year unique. Coronavirus has and will dramatically change... READ MOREJanuary 14, 2021 Upstart Goes Public We have recently received an update from one of our core bond funds, the Stone Ridge Alternative Lending fund, or LENDX. As you may recall, this fund primarily buys thousands of small consumer loans,... READ MOREDecember 23, 2020 WJ Virtual Luncheon Replay & Recent Trades We recently held our WJ Investor Luncheon, virtually of course. We discussed election results, recent investment performance, our expectations for future returns including the dismal forecast for... READ MORENovember 17, 2020 What the Election Means for Your Portfolio In case you have not heard, we have an important election coming up. According to politicians it is the most consequential election in American history. That is a pretty bold claim when considering... READ MOREOctober 7, 2020 New Municipal Bond Fund added to Portfolios When we take a position in a fund, in most cases we intend to hold the fund indefinitely. However, sometimes there are reasons why we replace managers. As described in your Investment Policy... READ MORESeptember 1, 2020 Trading at WJ On a recent conference call, we discussed the general reasons we trade portfolios, trades we have placed during the COVID crisis, and some recent/upcoming trades. In case you missed the call, we... READ MOREAugust 14, 2020 How Does a Stock Market Crash Impact Your Financial Plan? The recent market decline brought to light a major concern shared by many of our clients. Will my financial plan still work after a stock market decline? During our most recent conference call, we... READ MOREJune 17, 2020 ROMO: A New Fund in Portfolios We recently placed several trades in portfolios. This WJNotes discusses one of the new funds we purchased: Strategy Shares Newfound/ReSolve Robust Momentum ETF (Ticker: ROMO). All our portfolios have... READ MOREMay 6, 2020 Is It Over? The decline in stock and bond markets related to Coronavirus began about two months ago. After a modest selloff in late February and early March, the decline accelerated and transformed into panic... READ MOREApril 22, 2020 CARES Act: What Retirees, Employees and Business Owners Should Know On March 27th, the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act,” also known as the “CARES Act,” was signed into law. This is a $2 trillion emergency fiscal stimulus package intended... READ MOREApril 6, 2020 WJ Conference Call Recap Last week, we hosted a conference call with our clients to discuss the recent market environment, how we have been positioned, and opportunities we see going forward. In addition, we received... READ MOREMarch 30, 2020 Finding Opportunities and Dealing with Extreme Uncertainty “ There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy. ” - Alfred Henry Lewis 1906 This quotation seems to perfectly capture the fear generated by the Coronavirus. Obviously, there is also fear... READ MOREMarch 23, 2020 Coronavirus Update As we are all now painfully aware, Coronavirus is here and making a huge impact on our everyday lives. School districts are closing, universities are finishing their semesters online, large events... READ MOREMarch 16, 2020 Portfolio Positioning in Light of COVID-19 Volatility in financial markets continues as the economic impact of Coronavirus is assessed. Markets are forward looking, meaning they attempt, through the action of millions of participants, to... READ MOREMarch 9, 2020 How Does the SECURE Act Impact You? Back on December 20th, President Trump signed the “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act” into law, which was part of a larger spending bill to continue funding the... READ MOREFebruary 12, 2020 Market Update & More! As the 4th quarter of 2019 begins, we make a few comments about recent market performance and portfolio positioning. We also discuss two recent announcements from providers we use. Where Are We?... READ MOREOctober 16, 2019 Dividend Delusions This article is inspired by a client who recently asked what our thoughts were about an article titled, “3 Safe Dividend Funds Averaging 8% to Buy Today and Hold Forever.” This is a pretty fair... READ MOREJuly 29, 2019 Climate Change And How It Impacts Reinsurance At WJ, we are committed to educating our clients about the strategies that make up their portfolio. One of the lesser understood strategies that we invest in is reinsurance, and as a result, we... READ MOREJuly 24, 2019 Did you know WJ Interests has a blog? We invite you to subscribe to our new WJ Interests blog. By subscribing to the blog, you will receive financial insights from our advisors. The blog will be posted on a weekly basis and will include... READ MOREJune 20, 2019 And the Winner Is…Bonds Surprisingly, bonds beat all stock and most alternative asset classes over the past year as the following table shows: Markets results in 2018 were similar with cash beating bonds and stocks. In... READ MOREMay 30, 2019 Protect Your Cybersecurity Cybercrimes, fraud and identity theft are serious threats and are among the fastest growing crimes in America. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report in January 2019, over 26 million... READ MOREMay 2, 2019 How Much Does Trump Weigh? “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine” - Benjamin Graham (taught Warren Buffett how to invest) Voting is based on emotion, is subjective... READ MOREMarch 8, 2019 Introducing Flourish Cash In a recent WJ Notes, we discussed the very low interest rates paid by most banks on checking and savings accounts. To recap, the average checking/savings account is paying 0.09% interest even though... READ MOREFebruary 5, 2019 Recent Trades and Defensive Positioning In this WJ Notes, we discuss recent trades and current portfolio positioning. As we have discussed many times in the past, we are in a low return environment. Over the past five years, of the... READ MOREJanuary 23, 2019 Emerging Markets Dilemma Why do I own International emerging markets stocks in in my portfolio? They are down 15% this year while the US market is up? Why don’t we just sell them? We have received these types of questions... READ MOREOctober 22, 2018 Performance Reviews & Updates In this WJ Notes we address three timely topics including: recent portfolio performance, a review of recent trading activity, and performance of the Stone Ridge Reinsurance Fund. Recent Portfolio... READ MOREOctober 3, 2018 Cash Management in a Revived Interest Rate Environment Your WJ Portfolio Cash yields have finally moved from nothing to something, making management of cash balances worthwhile. For your managed investments at WJ Interests, when money sits in your... READ MORESeptember 20, 2018 SEC’s Custody Rule and Impact on Money Transfers In a continued effort to protect clients, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) modified its Custody Rule requirement for Investment Advisors as it relates to transfers from one account to... READ MOREAugust 24, 2018 Looking Back, Looking Forward In a sharp reversal from 2017’s unending gains, volatility has returned to the markets in 2018. Asset class leadership has also dramatically reversed with the former leader, International emerging... READ MOREJuly 12, 2018 Property & Casualty Insurance Review If your home and automobile insurance policies have been renewed since Hurricane Harvey, you may have noticed a greater than usual increase in your premiums. According to the last update from the... READ MOREJune 8, 2018 The Track Record of Market Pundits If you have spent any time watching the market pundits on CNBC, you likely came away from it either very excited, or very worried. Often these shows or publications will feature very intelligent... READ MOREApril 25, 2018 An Easier Way to View All Your Financial Accounts Last week we announced the release of our new WJ Client Investment Portal App (“WJ App”) for Apple and Google devices. This is a major update and we hope it will make accessing important... READ MOREMarch 28, 2018 The New WJ App We are pleased to announce a significant update to the WJ Client Investment Portal App (“WJ App”) for Apple and Google devices. The WJ App has been redesigned and is now available for both your... READ MOREMarch 22, 2018 The Cost of Superior Returns We decided to write this WJNotes, not because the declines we've seen recently are that unusual considering market history, but because they were quite rapid and seemingly came out of nowhere.... READ MOREFebruary 9, 2018 The New Tax Law As many of you are aware, the new tax law, dubbed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA), was passed at the end of last year. In this WJ Notes, we will summarize many of the tax changes that have taken... READ MOREJanuary 31, 2018 What in the world is a Bitcoin? The bitcoin mania is upon us. At the beginning of 2017, a single bitcoin cost $998.33. On December 31, 2017 that same bitcoin was worth $14,156.40, a more than 1,318% return (the price actually... READ MOREJanuary 22, 2018 Year-End Tax Tips & Strategies As we approach the end of 2017, it's important to be aware of some tax strategies that can be implemented. There are some strategies that can wait until your tax filing deadline, however, the... READ MOREDecember 20, 2017 Upcoming Trades: New Reinsurance Mutual Fund Next week we are buying a fund called Stone Ridge Reinsurance Risk Premium Interval Fund (SRRIX) in most client portfolios. This fund invests in what are called Insurance Linked Securities (ILS). In... READ MOREDecember 8, 2017 The 19 Questions to Ask Your Financial Adviser An article was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal by renowned author Jason Zweig titled, "The 19 Questions to Ask Your Financial Adviser". Zweig is the personal finance columnist for the... READ MORENovember 17, 2017 Fear and Greed “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful” - Warren Buffett You may be familiar with this Buffett quotation, but have you thought about what it really means? At WJ... READ MOREOctober 12, 2017 Tax Relief After Hurricane Harvey We hope you and your family are safe. As most of us who call the Houston area home were impacted by Hurricane Harvey, please note that you may qualify for tax relief from the IRS due to the disaster... READ MORESeptember 13, 2017 The Calm Before the Storm In light of a much-anticipated active hurricane season, we're reminded that now is the time to prepare for the proverbial storm. There are many key facets to being financially prepared including... READ MOREAugust 14, 2017 We Keep Dancing – Part II As a follow up to our WJNotes last week . "Our responsibility now is to keep dancing, but closer to the exit and with a sharp eye on the tea leaves." - Ray Dalio, Head of the largest hedge fund in... READ MOREJuly 20, 2017 We Keep Dancing When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing. - Chuck Prince The intent of... READ MOREJuly 13, 2017 WJ Client Portal vs Schwab Statements Just over a year ago, we released our new WJ Client Investment Portal to replace our printed quarterly statement. Since that time, over 75% of our clients have logged into their portal. The feedback... READ MOREJune 26, 2017 Sorting Through Retirement Plans: A Guide for Small Businesses Retirement plans offer significant tax benefits to owners, increase employee retention and make companies more attractive to employees in a competitive work environment. Unfortunately, selecting a... READ MOREFebruary 16, 2016
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