Financial planning is the process that can help you pursue your goals by evaluating your whole financial picture, then outlining strategies that are tailored to your individual needs and available resources. Just as the success of a military mission is dependent upon proper planning, your financial success may be dependent upon creating a sound financial […]
For nearly a year, investors have had the late spring/early summer months circled on their calendars for a potential jump in inflation. Base effects from rolling off weak data a year ago held the promise of eye-popping year-over-year numbers, and an economy that would be increasingly reopening meant inflation could start to run hotter month […]
If you’re a small business owner, many of the best practices employed by individual investors are also available to you (of course!), but you also have some additional options and factors to weigh while creating your investment plans. We’ve outlined five key differences for your consideration: 1. Diversifying outside your own industry Small business owners […]
“Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes,” Benjamin Franklin First off, we hope everyone has a happy and safe Cinco de Mayo! One of the big discussions lately has been about how will higher taxes potentially impact […]
Incredibly, the COVID recession may have ended a year ago, but we still don’t have call from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). That may when the first estimate of Q1 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) growth is released tomorrow. The Q1 numbers are likely to show nearly a full year of strong growth […]
“Don’t fight the Fed.” Old investment saying One of the popular questions we’ve received lately is what do stocks do after the first rate hike? Let’s be clear, we think the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) will leave rates low until at least 2023, but what if we get a sudden dose of inflation? This isn’t […]
“I look to the future because that’s where I’m going to spend the rest of my life.” George Burns The bull market continues, with the S&P 500 Index now up more than 10% in 2021. With stocks up more than 80% from the March 2020 lows, the reality is a well-deserved break or consolidation could […]
When saving for retirement, it often makes sense to contribute to employer-sponsored retirement plans to take advantage of any available employer match opportunities. However, not everyone has access to an employer-sponsored plan. Even if you do, there are reasons you may want to consider using Traditional and/or Roth IRAs to supplement your retirement savings. There […]
As we continue LPL Research’s Inflation Week, today we will examine how stocks have historically done at different inflation levels. For more color on our views on inflation, please read here and here, and look out for tomorrow’s blog, where we’ll examine some of the factors that have kept inflation low and that will likely continue to put […]
The economic recovery is gaining steam. In fact, so much so that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) had to raise their U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2021 by more than 3 percentage points this week (from 3.2% to 6.5%). That’s a big change from December 2020, even if it does […]
