The last few years have been full of surprises in the investment markets. In 2020, we had a global pandemic that shut down the entire world and sent markets into a massive drawdown for about a month. We then saw markets skyrocket back to new highs despite the ongoing pandemic. In 2021, speculative investments like cryptocurrencies, meme stocks, and SPACs all shot through the roof, and the overall market posted exceptional returns with very little volatility. Then 2022 came around, and the market euphoria since April 2020 came to a grinding halt.

Webster's dictionary defines retirement as “a withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or from active working life.” For generations past, that was probably a pretty accurate description of retirement. You worked hard, often for one company, got your gold watch, retirement dinner, and your pension, and then lived a life of leisure (typically not for too many years after retirement). But today, our perspective on retirement has changed dramatically...

Just when it looked like stocks might be bouncing back from a dismal first half of the year, everything turned negative again. As this chart from Morningstar shows, stocks were up almost 15% at one point in the third quarter, only to finish September back in the red. Almost every category of stocks fell in the quarter, with large-cap US stocks down 5%, small-cap US stocks down 2%, international developed market stocks down 9%, and international emerging markets stocks down 10%.

Summer is generally a slow time for tax news as Congress goes on recess and accountants take a break between the major spring and fall tax deadlines. However, some important news items came out over the past few months and we wanted to provide a quick summary of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Student Loan Forgiveness Plan and more...

After two years of strong returns in the markets, the poor results of 2022 should not come as a complete surprise. We know markets cannot go up forever and bear markets are unavoidable that occur on average about every four years. Unfortunately, no matter how normal they might be, bear markets are still painful to live through. Nobody enjoys seeing their hard-earned dollars decline in value and this year almost everyone has seen their portfolio value decline. Things have been bleak in the investment world this year, but it always helps to look for the silver lining. Let’s look at this year’s good, bad and ugly, but we’ll start with the ugly!

This year is the first time since the early 80’s that we have seen a surge in inflation and we can see it everywhere. The first place most people notice it is at the gas pump, where the national average price of a gallon of gas recently hit $5 for the first time ever. Let’s look at how we got here, where we might go next, and any actions you should take.