We often say that owning a diversified portfolio means always owning something you aren’t happy with. So far in 2024, you’d be hard pressed to find anything in your portfolio like that. Every major asset class has posted positive returns this year, with many in double digits.

According to a report from Charles Schwab, scammers are increasingly using sophisticated "spoofed" websites to convince users they are visiting legitimate sites. In their recent report, they say their "fraud investigators have seen that these attacks are not only increasing in frequency and severity, but in complexity as well. As they recently noted, The bad actors are getting better at the social engineering aspect—they're more convincing, so potential victims stay on the phone longer and increase their chances of being successfully scammed."

"May you live in interesting times," often referred to as the Chinese curse, is reputed to be the English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb and curse. As you navigate your personal finances in 2024 and beyond, you may feel like you're living in those "interesting times."

If you aren’t a baseball fan, you might not know what the trade deadline is. However, die-hard baseball fans agonize over this day at the end of July every year. It’s the last day of the baseball season when teams can trade players without first passing them through waivers. After this date, if you want to make a trade, you first have to put the player on waivers so any team in the league can claim them. The fan reactions to the deadline are an interesting case study in human behavior, and I can’t help but think about the parallels to the world of personal finance. We often see many of the same emotional reactions to what’s going on in the markets. Here are some of the reactions I see most in both worlds.

Following a strong first quarter, the second quarter of 2024 was more of a mixed bag in the investment markets. The S&P 500 continued to lead the way with a 4% return, leaving it up over 15% for the year. However, US Small-Cap stocks dropped 3%, and REITs fell by about 1%. Outside of the US, developed market stocks were down less than 1%, while emerging market stocks were up almost 5%.

Sometimes, the best decisions are made at the last minute. I am a planner by nature, so it's not often I do something completely spontaneous like this. However, sometimes the best experiences in life are those you haven't planned for, so you have to be willing to trust your gut sometimes. A recent trip to Brooklyn for an Ed Sheeran concert reminded me of this, among other things