Portfolio Issues - Risk We talk often about the expected return from US stocks, which most people would say is about 10%. That's held true whether you look back over 100 years, or 30. But here's an interesting question: Over the last 25 years, how many times has the S&P 500 ended up with an annual return between 9% and 11%. Answer: Once, in 2004. So averages can be deceptive. This is where standard deviation comes in, to help us understand the range of outcomes. For US stocks

Portfolio Issues - Gambling vs Investing A number of long-time investors have noted that the stock market feels a bit more like a casino...

Portfolio Issues - Diversification We all have a common sense view of what diversification is: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. But...

Portfolio Issues - Timing A phrase we hear a lot is, “I know you can’t time the market, but…” And the implied question is, “Don’t you...

Portfolio Issues - Budgeting The new year is a time when people set goals and reflect on the past twelve months. With that in mind, we...

Portfolio Issues - Scams Recently, a friend was nearly the victim of a scam. We want to share the details, not so you can look out for...

Portfolio Issues - Cash Fever We have had several conversations recently about money market funds and whether moving money into them is a...

Portfolio Issues - Dividends For those of you who listen to us as we drone on, you know that we often mention dividends. We tend to like...

Portfolio Issues - Predictions 2023 was a decent year for the US economy by most accounts, but that was not the prediction last year...

Portfolio Issues - Safety and Security Schwab runs a series of webinars for advisors about hackers and scams and generally keeping bad...

Portfolio Issues - Revolution? Artificial Intelligence is the latest “revolutionary” technology that investors cannot miss out on. That...

Portfolio Issues - Banks and Bumps Two large US banks were taken over by the FDIC, and one large Swiss bank was forced to merge with a...

Portfolio Issues - Timing 2022 was a year most investors want to forget. After a year like this, some variation of, “I know you can’t...

Portfolio Issues - Optimistic The negative stories about the economy and about the world continue under a steady drumbeat. The Federal...

Portfolio Issues - The Long Term Negative stories surrounding the market seem to be everywhere you look. Inflation, the Russian invasion...

Portfolio Issues - Russian Reminder Sometimes an event comes along that reminds us of what we already know. At the end of February Russia...

Portfolio Issues - Expectations If we told you to expect a 5% return on stocks next year, and the return was in fact 5%, you’d probably...

Portfolio Issues - Cash Cash is a wonderful thing. Like a good pillow, it’s nice to have when you need it. But also like a good pillow,...

Portfolio Issues - Bitcoin We’ve alluded to the silliness of Bitcoin. We thought it time to add some more thoughtful words. In short, our...

Portfolio Issues - Taxes Around this time of year, taxes demand our attention, so they are perhaps worth a word or two. We don’t...