Insights

The national debt is quickly approaching $36 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury, a fact that has fueled concerns among investors and economists. This means that the federal debt has nearly quadrupled since before the 2008 global financial crisis, and has grown every year since 2001.

While the political world will focus on the election for some time, financial markets have already shifted their attention to the next administration’s policies, Federal Reserve rate cuts, and the underlying economy.

An important yet counterintuitive issue for investors is that long-term interest rates have risen in recent weeks despite the Fed’s latest cuts. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, for instance, has jumped from a low of 3.62% to as high as 4.38%.

With just days to go until the presidential election on November 5, polls suggest it will be a close race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Both candidates are campaigning hard in swing states, and investors may be worried about how either outcome might affect their portfolios.

For those in or approaching retirement age, there is nothing more important than building a portfolio that can support a long, fulfilling retirement. Given the difficult inflationary conditions of the past few years, the risk that worries most retirees continues to be outliving their savings.

Oil prices play an important role in the global economy, directly influencing the cost of gasoline at the pump and indirectly impacting the prices of all goods and services. The price of oil has also been an important factor influencing global markets and inflation trends over the past few years.

Although markets have performed well this year, some investors may be nervous about upcoming events such as the presidential election, the Fed’s next rate decision, and the state of the economy.

As we begin the final quarter of the year, financial markets and the economy have defied the expectations of many investors. Rather than falling into recession, the economy has grown steadily, albeit at a slower pace, and inflation rates have fallen toward the Fed’s target.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated in recent days, raising the risk of a full-scale war and marking another chapter in Middle East instability.

The Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions remain a focal point for markets. While the timing and size of rate cuts are the subject of debate, why the central bank is cutting rates and how the full rate cut cycle might play out are far more important.

With less than two months until the presidential election, the policy platforms for President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are gradually forming. Through speeches and debates, each candidate is laying out what they stand for and how they would change existing policies.

As everyone settles into their post-Labor Day routines, it’s a good time for investors to reflect on markets and review their financial plans for the rest of the year.

Financial markets have been resilient in recent weeks, almost fully recovering from the swings experienced at the beginning of August. Major stock market indices are once again approaching all-time highs, with the S&P 500 gaining 19.2% year-to-date with dividends, less than half of one percent below its peak.

With the presidential election just two and a half months away, the candidates’ economic policy platforms are only now beginning to take shape. This late unveiling has some investors concerned about how each policy platform might impact the economy and financial markets.

Financial markets have felt more fragile recently with investors concerned about the economy, the possibility that the Fed may be behind on cutting rates, and some disappointing tech earnings. Ironically, despite the market volatility last week, major indices were mostly unchanged from Monday to Friday.

Stocks have experienced a sharp pullback due to concerns over the timing of Fed rate cuts, a weakening labor market, and disappointing tech earnings. It's important for investors to stay level-headed.

As the summer heats up, the stock market is experiencing its own heat wave in the form of rising volatility. Market uncertainty has climbed as investors rotate out of large cap technology stocks and into a broader array of sectors and styles, including small caps.

From President Biden’s announcement that he will not be seeking re-election, to a rotation out of tech stocks and into small caps, recent events have added to market uncertainty. The S&P 500 recently declined 2.9% from its all-time high, while the Nasdaq pulled back nearly 5%.

The stock market has continued its historic rally with the S&P 500 gaining 19% year-to-date with reinvested dividends, contributing to a total return of 61% since the market bottom in 2022.

As we enter the second half of the year, it’s important for long-term investors to maintain perspective on the major events that have driven markets.

As the presidential debate season kicks off, the current and former presidents’ divergent approaches to taxes will be on display. Naturally, this is a controversial topic fueled by strong political views on our nation’s priorities, government spending, entitlement programs, fairness around taxation, and much more.

The path of interest rates has been highly uncertain over the past few years due to inflation, economic growth, and the Fed. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, for instance, jumped from 3.8% at the end of last year to a high of 4.7% in April, before settling around 4.2% more recently.

As with many things in life, knowing what we’re supposed to do and actually doing it are two separate things. This is true for our health, relationships, careers, and of course, our finances.

Investors and the financial media tend to focus on macroeconomic concerns such as inflation, labor markets, and the Fed. While these topics are important, history shows that the economy and markets grow over long periods of time due to technological innovation and gains in productivity.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 40,000 for the first time recently as markets continue to rebound from a 5% decline earlier this year.

With markets nervous about stubborn inflation, a gradually slowing labor market, and the timing of the first Fed rate cut, investors are more focused on this corporate earnings season than usual. This is because while the economy has avoided a “hard landing” corporate earnings only began to rebound in the second half of 2023.

In times of market uncertainty, investors often seek the safety of cash. This has been true over the past several years as markets have swung due to the pandemic, geopolitical events, Fed rate hikes, inflation, gridlock in Washington, technology trends, and more.

For many households, college decisions are a cause for celebration. However, college also represents one of the largest expenses and sources of financial stress in our lives, on par with retirement or buying a home.

The stock market has become increasingly jittery with the S&P 500 experiencing its first 5% pullback of the year. The possibility the Fed could delay its first rate cut, declines in technology and artificial intelligence stocks, and tensions in the Middle East have all contributed to the market swoon.

2024 began with debates over a “soft” versus “hard” landing as the Fed attempted to stabilize the economy as well as over the sustainability of last year’s market rally. Only three months later, those concerns have given way to a calmer environment centered around fading inflation and the Fed’s plans for reducing interest rates.

With major stock market indices hovering around all-time highs, some investors continue to worry about the state of the economy. While trends around inflation and jobs have been positive, putting the Fed in a position to cut rates later this year, there are still many concerns in areas such as real estate.

Markets continue to be driven by artificial intelligence stocks and the timing of the Fed's first rate cut. Beyond the day-to-day swings, these drivers reflect important trends in innovation, productivity, and the health of the economy.

With the presidential election season heating up, there will no doubt be a flurry of daily headlines between now and election day on November 5.

The stock market continues to reach new heights, driven by a stronger-than-expected economy and the largest technology stocks. In particular, Nvidia, a maker of graphics chips used in artificial intelligence applications, recently helped to push markets higher after it beat Wall Street earnings expectations.

Consumer spending is the backbone of the U.S. economy, constituting over two-thirds of our nearly $28 trillion GDP. When consumers spend money on everyday goods and services, and make large one-time purchases, it not only helps to spur economic growth but is also a reflection of economic trends.

The S&P 500 index recently closed above 5,000 and set a new all-time high, less than three years after it first crossed the 4,000 mark. While some are understandably nervous any time the market is near record levels, investors also tend to grow more bullish as the momentum continues.

When it comes to markets, day-to-day price swings are often more about what investors expect than the underlying facts. This is because markets are designed to anticipate future events and assign them a price today.

The author Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote that “man only likes to count his troubles; he doesn’t calculate his happiness.” The idea that the glass is always half empty perfectly captures how many investors feel about the economy and financial markets, especially over the past few years.

The S&P 500 has reached a new all-time high, coming full circle in just two years, despite growing uncertainty around the economy, the path of Fed rate cuts, and rising interest rates. Outside of traditional asset classes, Bitcoin also reached its highest level in two years recently following last year's run up.

The battle over the federal budget in Washington is adding to political uncertainty at a time when investors are already nervous about the economy and financial markets.

Stock and bond markets struggled during the first trading week of 2024 as investors questioned the probability of a "soft landing" and what it may mean for the timing and size of Fed rate cuts later this year.

2023 marked an inflection point for markets with strong gains across both stocks and bonds. The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq generated exceptional returns of 26.3%, 16.2%, and 44.7% with reinvested dividends last year, respectively.

The bond market has had a better year in 2023 despite ongoing swings in interest rates. The U.S. Aggregate bond index has rebounded 2.7% year-to-date after briefly hovering in the red a few months ago.

While investing often involves recognizing patterns in economic and market data, not all patterns are equally useful or valid. On the one hand, history shows that economic trends such as the business cycle and factors that drive corporate profitability, for instance, do impact markets.

The stock market has been supported by a healthier-than-expected economy this year, generating returns that have helped many portfolios to partially recover from last year's bear market.

While it may not feel like it, investors truly do have much to be thankful for this holiday season.

While the holiday season is ideally a time for family and friends, it is also the best time to review tax strategies for the coming year. Tax planning includes topics such as tax-loss harvesting, choices of investment vehicles, optimizing the order of withdrawals, and many others.

There's a common saying among investors that markets take the stairs up and the elevator down. This is because the long-term trends that drive markets higher tend to be slow moving and compound over time, whereas the events that create short-term panic tend to be sudden and unexpected.

The author F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that "the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." This concept, often referred to as "cognitive dissonance," is something all investors must grapple with on a regular basis.

While war escalates in the Middle East, a political battle is also heating up in Washington. As of this writing, there is still no House speaker in Congress after Kevin McCarthy's exit and Steve Scalise's withdrawal over the past two weeks.

At its September meeting, the Federal Open Markets Committee kept rates unchanged with a target range of 5.25% to 5.50%, in a decision that was widely anticipated by investors. Still, markets responded negatively with bond yields jumping to levels not seen since 2007...

For patient investors with time horizons of years and decades, the primary drivers of portfolio returns are not day-to-day market fluctuations but the business cycle and other longer-term trends...

For long-term investors, knowing the difference between what can and cannot be controlled is the key to both financial success and peace of mind. While all investors would like to believe they can predict or even control the direction of the market, experience teaches us that this is difficult to do.

Financial markets have pulled back in recent weeks due to factors such as rising interest rates and uncertainty in China. So far in August, the S&P 500 has declined 4.8% while the Nasdaq, which consists primarily of technology stocks, has fallen 7.4%.

We are delighted to share some exciting news today - we would like to introduce the newest member of our team, Kendall Seifert!

While 2023 has been a better year for bonds after last year's bear market, rising interest rates over the past three months have acted as a headwind. The U.S. Aggregate bond index has gained 0.6% this year, down from a peak return of 4.2% in April.

Despite the economic uncertainty of the past year, everyday individuals and households have been resilient. Consumer spending has remained steady in the face of high inflation, rising interest rates, housing market challenges, and layoffs in sectors such as tech.

At its June meeting, the Fed decided to hit pause on rate hikes after more than a year of rapid monetary policy tightening. Since last March, the Fed has raised rates 10 times from zero to 5%, making this the second-fastest rate hike cycle in history.

Market and economic expectations have shifted 180 degrees since the start of the year when many investors expected a recession and prolonged bear market.

Investors have grappled with market and economic challenges this year ranging from Fed uncertainty, stubbornly high inflation, the possibility of a recession, a banking crisis, the debt ceiling, ongoing geopolitical tensions, and more.

As the debt ceiling drama in Washington unfolds, uncertainty around the Fed grows, and inflation remains stubbornly high, the price of gold has experienced a surge over the past six months. How is gold affected by recent events and what role can it play in a well-diversified portfolio?

Managing and wrapping your head around health care costs and health insurance may seem like a daunting task. A financial wellness study by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that over one-third of baby boomers-38% to be exact-said that the cost of health care is their top fear.

The right estate strategy gives your loved ones a meticulously detailed picture of your intentions. All the while, paying Uncle Sam as little as possible. We realize it’s easy to put this off. It doesn’t feel urgent.

Planning for retirement has never been more important and yet so challenging. Given the difficult inflationary conditions of the past two years, the risk that worries most retirees continues to be outliving their savings.

Imagine there are 100 miles between you and a goal. A place you want to get to. But the land in between is chock full of canyons, crevasses, and crumbling cliffs. You have two choices of how you could get there.

What’s more important: What you do or what you don’t do? It’s a philosophical question, isn’t it? Let’s think about it in terms of your retirement — especially right now.

If you’ve watched the independence of your aging parents slowly slip away, you’ve probably thought to yourself:

The repercussions of inflation, Fed rate hikes, the ongoing banking crisis, and the approaching debt ceiling deadline are being felt throughout the financial system. One area directly impacted by these shocks is real estate, across both the residential and commercial sectors.

Managing your social security benefits is important to ensure financial stability in retirement. However, Social Security benefits may not be enough to cover all expenses, so it's crucial to plan and budget accordingly.

On the morning of May 1, it was announced that First Republic Bank had been taken over by the FDIC and sold to JPMorgan Chase. With ongoing banking turmoil creating market and economic uncertainty, how can long-term investors navigate the months ahead?

The corporate earnings season for the first quarter is underway and about one-fifth of S&P 500 companies have reported results.

The U.S. dollar has been in the headlines due to an anticipated pause in Fed policy and concerns over the currency's place in the global financial system.

The markets are starting to feel like Groundhog Day. Almost every month, it’s a cadence of employment numbers, CPI, Fed — market reacts.

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 makes it easier to accumulate retirement savings at every stage of the financial journey. But the Act also took steps to potentially enhance retirement savings for those close to or in retirement.

Planning for retirement is something you’ve probably been doing for a good part of your working life. You’ve saved, invested, and mapped out your post-retirement life and goals.

The combination of high inflation, the Federal Reserve’s aggressive program of rate increases, and economic and geopolitical uncertainty has meant volatile markets and the vanishing of traditional sources of portfolio diversification.

Employee stock options have increasingly become a piece of total compensation over the last few years, particularly for people employed in high-growth industries such as technology-related sectors. But what happens if a slowing growth picture results in your firm downsizing?

Millennial and Gen Z employees know the value of an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

Getting laid off from a job upends almost every aspect of your world.

Inflation has been making every area of our lives more expensive as the costs of the goods and services we use every day have skyrocketed. The Federal Reserve is attempting to lower inflation by using the bluntest tool in its arsenal – raising the key short-term interest rate.

Economic data showed some movements in the right directions, both up and down. The Federal Reserve responded by talking about letting the economy catch up to the rate increases already enacted. Does that mean that the path forward will be smoother and potentially skirt a recession?

Inflation has been hitting everyone’s wallets all year long. With the cost of everything from fuel to pasta going up, a 40-year high in the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for social security sounds like a good thing. But is that all there is to it?

Determining the right investment plan for you usually comes at the end of your financial planning process. After an extensive review of your current situation, assets, debt, income, and future goals, the final step is to select the correct mix of investments. This is your asset allocation...

Waiting until 65 to retire isn’t as easy as it used to be – especially since, for many people, their retirement age is now closer to 67. But retiring early and successfully requires planning to ensure you can have the life you envision.

The Fed raised the key short-term interest rate by another 75 basis points at the September FOMC meeting, but the big news wasn’t the well-anticipated rate increase. It was Chairman Powell’s remarks at the press conference.

There's one question we hear most often from those nearing retirement, is some variation on this: “How do I get my money out of my retirement plan and into my checking account?”

Is it time to hire a financial advisor? How do you even do that? For most people, there's usually a point where their financial life becomes complicated enough that they realize it's time to hire a professional. This could be at any stage of life; it’s more about the individual situation and how an advisor can help.

After the bear market rally in July was extended for the first few weeks of August, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell used the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium to clarify the Fed’s position on future rate increases. Powell was clear that there would be no “Fed Pivot” until improvements in the inflation rate are sustained.

You’ve worked hard, built a career, bought your dream home, and started a family. Your income covers your expenses (with some left), you’re maxing out your 401(k) contributions, saving for college, and even putting something aside in an investment portfolio. What’s missing from this picture? A comprehensive risk management plan.

Owning your own home isn’t just about creating your dream of personal space – it’s one of your largest investments and can be the foundation of your financial security. But the process is complex, from saving for a down payment to getting a mortgage, is complex. We break down some of the ways you can get there more quickly, and help the purchase go more smoothly.

Trusts used to be seen as an estate planning tool for only the very wealthy, who have complicated family situations to sort out, and high-value assets to protect. Times have changed. Modern lives are complicated, asset values are high, and good estate planning is for everyone.

Those four years when your child is in college can be a rollercoaster ride, but the scariest part for high-earning parents can be figuring out how to pay for it. It can be tempting to put your own goals on hold while you shoulder the big-but-temporary new burden. A better strategy for paying for college while keeping your goals on track is to build the right short-list of colleges together with your child and maximize financial strategies. For families that make too much to qualify for financial aid, college funding likely won't come from just one source. It’s about putting together a plan that draws from several buckets.

You saved diligently, invested carefully, and now you have a sizeable nest egg that can most likely replace 80% of your pre-retirement income. Why should you go through the tiresome process of creating a budget? No matter how carefully you plan, many things are out of your control that can impact the income your plan can provide.

The market crashed over 10% in a single day in March 2020. While many investors sold out of their positions, those who held on and continued investing were rewarded, heavily. In just 354 days following the crash, the stock market as represented by the S&P 500 surged back into a bull market and doubled in value. Those who sold at the bottom missed a rare opportunity, which demonstrates the importance of managing emotions in uncertain times. Some believe that you can remove emotion from decision-making, but we’re human. Everyone has emotions. The important part is learning how to manage them while managing your money.

When to claim social security benefits is one of the biggest questions when thinking about retiring. Your retirement income will likely come from various sources, and each will fit into your financial plan in different ways.

Creating a retirement paycheck that generates the income you need while keeping you in the lowest possible tax bracket isn't as easy as it seems. All the planning you did while working – like saving retirement funds in tax-deferred accounts and diversifying by purchasing a second home, can turn into tax bombs as you move through retirement.

July marked the best month for the markets since November 2020.What happened, after the rout of the first half?

There's a lot involved in moving to a new company, and normal for some to put some of the more tedious housekeeping items on the back burner. Besides all the job-related changes, you need to understand your new health insurance and set up your new 401(k) to continue your annual contribution.

Summer will officially be here soon, but before kids get out of school and all the vacation planning you did begins to come to fruition, it can be a good idea to take stock of your financial picture and make updates where necessary. Below are a few things you should consider to keep your plan in shape. We've organized them by life stage, from having small kids to being closer to retirement. We've also included charitable giving, as that happens at every stage.

After a barely positive May, June saw the bear market return across indices. We ended up with the worst first half performance since 1970. A mid-month surprise 75 basis point rate hike at the June FOMC meeting, followed by Fed Chairman Powell’s testimony to Congress in which he indicated aggressive rate increases at the July and September meetings, convinced markets that inflation is the priority for the Fed.