Capital Ideas
First Quarter 2022 Letter To Client
In times of unimaginable suffering such as the Ukrainian people are experiencing at the hands of their Russian invaders, it can feel callous to consider such crises from a financial perspective. But there’s no avoiding the reality that the war, and the sanctions...
Fourth Quarter 2021 Client Letter
Fourth Quarter 2021 Client Letter Stocks surged in 2021, continuing their torrid recovery from the pandemic-fueled sell-off in February and March 2020. Since bottoming out at 18,591 on March 23rd, 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained a whopping 97%. And...
Third Quarter 2021 Client Letter
3Q21 Client Letter Technology giants have been the darlings of Wall Street and individual investors for well over a decade now. These companies – especially the “FAANG” stocks of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google – are the proverbial cool kids at the party....
Second Quarter 2021 Client Letter
Second Quarter 2021 Client Letter Inflation fears are dominating the financial news headlines these days, and it’s not hard to understand why. The Covid-19 global shutdown in 2020 was an unprecedented economic event, resulting in disruptions to manufacturing and...
First Quarter 2021 Letter to Clients
First Quarter 2021 Client Letter The past year has been a vivid reminder that the stock market often moves swiftly and dramatically in response to unexpected events. This is true both in both downturns and upturns, and it’s more true now than ever. The emergence of...
Fourth Quarter 2020 Letter to Clients
Our client letter this past April was published just as the world was coming to grips with the stark realities of the Covid-19 pandemic. Shelter-in-place orders had just been issued for all of the world’s major population centers. Sports leagues suddenly cancelled...
Social Security Considerations
One of the many decisions you will be faced with as you approach retirement age is when is the right time to claim Social Security benefits. There are many factors to sort through to make the right decision for you. Will it still be there when I’m ready to claim...
Third Quarter 2020 Letter to Clients
If you want to see (perhaps even enjoy) an exercise in futility, run a search in Google on this phrase: 2019 predictions about the stock market in 2020 As you’ll find, the search returns dozens of articles containing hundreds of predictions from market pundits about...
Using Flowcharts to Understand Your Current Estate Plan
Estate planning can be complicated and morbid to talk about. As a result, it’s often one of those items that gets put off. But the pandemic has caused many of our clients to ask about their estate plan. An estate plan is a set of legal documents that lay out how to...
Confused about Medicare? Let’s Break it Down.
As you near retirement age, you’ll likely start to notice all of the advertisements, articles and discussions about Medicare that are out there. It can sound a lot like alphabet soup – Parts A, B, C, D, supplement, etc. And you’re probably asking: Which parts do I...
Apocalypse or a Hedge: Thoughts on Investing in Gold
Why is it that every time the markets get rocky, people want to buy gold? I dug into this question recently, and here is what I have found. At the end of the day, people’s money worries are usually not just about the money. Money can stand in for protection and...
Another year of increasing Long-Term Care (LTC) Premiums?
Several of our clients purchased long-term care (LTC) policies many years ago. For the clients who needed LTC policies, they’ve been a blessing. Our clients who need LTC get better care sooner if they have these policies in place. It makes sense—the policy is there...