After nine months of sprinting, the equity markets took a break to catch their breath in the third quarter. The S&P 500 posted a loss of about 3% after three straight quarters of positive returns over 7%. US Small Cap stocks were down about 5% in the quarter, while international developed market stocks were down 4%. Despite the negative returns this quarter, the 12-month return numbers still look great, with the S&P 500 up 21%, US small caps up 9% and international developed market stocks leading the way with a 26% return.

Memento Mori is a reminder that none of us wants, but one that we all need. It’s a Latin phrase meaning “remember - you will die.” None of us are immortal, yet we often live trying to ignore our mortality. Then something happens - a serious medical diagnosis or the death of a close friend or relative - and we are forced to face reality.

Our family was deeply saddened by the news of Jimmy Buffett’s passing on September 1st. For over 40 years, all of us have been serious “Parrotheads.” I don’t usually get hit that hard when celebrities or other people I don’t know die, but something about the way Jimmy touched our lives was very different. His music provided a soundtrack for us through the decades.

The Washington NFL Franchise recently sold for a record $6 billion. While it's hard for most people to comprehend such a large amount of money, based on the initial purchase price, the investment didn't return much more than a simple index fund.

If you were focused on these scary headlines this year, you might be surprised by how well the markets have performed. We’ve previously discussed why you shouldn’t be surprised by anything in the markets, but have you ever wondered why it always feels like things are worse now than they’ve ever been? A new study by Adam Mastroianni and Daniel Gilbert might help us understand this better. As the title of their NYT opinion piece says, “Your brain has tricked you into thinking everything is worse," and they identified two reasons why this happens...

A general rule of thumb in retirement planning says you can spend 4% of your starting portfolio value when you retire, then adjust that amount for inflation each year, and your money will last for at least 30 years. This rule is based on safe withdrawal rate research by Bill Bengen that was published in 1994. His research looked at historical market behaviors and determined that in every 30-year time period through history, this starting withdrawal rate would have made it through the 30 years without running out of money.