If you got a mortgage or had the chance to refinance in the last 10 years, congratulations! You were able to lock-in historically low rates for your house payment. A question we often get is if someone should pay off their mortgage and what other options they could explore. Jonathan recently spoke on this topic in March addressing what factors homeowners should consider emotionally and... READ MORE

Brandon wrote a great blog post last week regarding when someone should invest. Click Here for his post. As a follow-up to that post, Visual Capitalist recently published an article that continues with that theme. It discusses buying the dip, the rise or following a plan. I’ll cut to the chase, follow a plan. Here’s the Visual Capitalist article:... READ MORE

The market (S&P 500) is again reaching all-time highs. Many wonder if now is a good time to invest. As the saying goes, "There's no time like the present." Ben Carlson's video illustrates this point with a story about Bob, the World's Worst Market Timer. https://youtu.be/pFgPNVytlwA... READ MORE

As a fan and student of the game, I'm excited that baseball season is upon us. Bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, full count, bases loaded, down by 3. As a kid, we constantly played out this scenario in the yard, pretending we were one of the MLB greats at bat hitting the game winning grand slam. These are the moments we love to see as fans and players dream to be a part of. In reality, those great... READ MORE

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 been climbing rapidly, starting the year from about 0.9% to 1.52% today. This often neglected number is extremely important. It represents the cost of money. Where the 10-year rate sits influences the... READ MORE

Clients often tell us the stock market makes no sense to them. How can the value of a company fluctuate 10% in a day? How can an entire stock market index, representing hundreds of stocks, move on average 1% per day? Clients view this type of volatility as something more akin to a huge casino rather than a rational, efficient capital allocation mechanism. You know what? They are partially right.... READ MORE

One of my favorite events each year is the “CFA Annual Forecast Dinner” that takes place every January. At this dinner, there is an array of professionals in the money management business who get the chance to “talk shop” and reflect on what happened in the previous year and how they navigated that environment. In addition, they usually have a few high-profile guests that are invited to... READ MORE

As 2020 winds to a close, you will notice the typical barrage of articles being sent out explaining what happened this year and predicting what’s going to happen next year. Typically, it’s best to ignore these as just noise (Spoiler alert: none of the end of year 2019 articles had pandemic on the prediction list). However, the end of the year does provide a good opportunity to reflect on what... READ MORE

I ran across an interesting article last week written by Larry Swedroe. Mr. Swedroe is a prolific writer having written eight books and numerous articles explaining, in layman's terms, how to be a successful investor. The article is titled, "The Importance of Diversification in Achieving Long-Term Goals." The beginning of the article describes a hypothetical investor who inherited $1 million in... READ MORE

This year the 5 largest stocks in the S&P 500 have added $1.66 trillion in market capitalization while the remaining 495 have lost $1.61 trillion according to the BeSpoke Investment Group. Basically, only five stocks are supporting a stock market struggling because of Coronavirus and the economic shutdown. The top five (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon) are great companies but... READ MORE