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All locations will be closed Thursday, November 28, for Thanksgiving. We will be open regular hours on Friday, November 29.

Registration for free estate planning seminars is now open.

Chart shows the money flows into ESG = Environmental, Social, and Governance ETFs since they appeared in 2015.

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

The Shying Away from ESG

Today's chart is from Bloomberg Intelligence, which shows the money flows into ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ETFs since they appeared..

Chart shows the performance between hedge funds and the S&P 500 from 2014 - 2021.

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

No More Heydays for Hedge Funds

People may ask, “Why not use hedge funds?” Today's chart comes from Bloomberg and shows us the reason why. In addition to their typical expense ratio..

chart shows the average return for 20-years ending in 2015

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

S&P 500 vs. Average Investor

Today's chart comes from OneDigital and shows that the average return for 20-years ending in 2015 was 8.2% for the S&P 500, while the average..

Chart shows the real returns of stocks, bonds, bills, gold, and cash from 1802 - 2013

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

Total Return Since 1802

The following chart from Brian Ferdoldi shows the ultra long-term history of real returns from various asset classes dating back to 1802. Real..

Chart shows the consistent upward growth of the S&P 500 since 1950.

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

Hard to Hurt Earnings

Today's chart comes from LPL Research and shows the growth of company earnings since 1950. When you buy a stock fund you are purchasing the steam of..

Chart shows rolling returns of S & P 500 from 1926 to 2021. Each period of time is represented by a different color. 3 = blue, 10 = pink, 20 = red, 30 = green.

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Today's chart is from Ben Carlson’s “A Wealth of Common Sense” which shows the S&P 500’s rolling returns for 3, 10, 20, and 30 year periods going all..

the chart shows that the best and worst trading days are often very close

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

Best and Worst Days are Close

Today’s Chart of the Day comes again from Vanguard. The best and worst trading days are often very close. Usually, when there is a large swing one..

from 1928 through 2021, there were more than 23,300 trading days in the U.S. stock market. Out of those, the 30 best trading days accounted for almost half of the market’s return.

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

30 Days Equal Half The Return

Today’s chart comes from Vanguard. They wrote a great short article on the difficulties of market timing. In a nutshell, "from 1928 through 2021,..

No faces, but two people in collared button downs looking at paperwork

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

Prediction for Year End

When asked to predict where the market will be at year end, here are my thoughts:

In the first bar chart, the data covers the impact of a 4% withdrawal rate. There is an emphasis put between the years 1963 - 1967 where the value dips. This emphasizes the point that there is just barely enough remaining to cover spending through 30 years. The second bar chart presents the 5% withdrawal rate. It shows both years with remaining wealth (green) and years of portfolio depletion (red). As mentioned in the article, there are 28 times that the value ended below zero.

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

1% Makes a Difference

The two Charts of the Day are from Michael Kitces and show the value of a $100,000 portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds after 30 years with a 4% and..

chart shows that Fixed income exchange traded funds (aka ETFs) have taken in over $1 trillion in assets over the last seven years, and only had three months of outflows.

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

Fixed Income ETFs for the Win

Today’s chart comes from VettaFi. Fixed income exchange traded funds (aka ETFs) have taken in over $1 trillion in assets over the last seven years,..

Chart shows the weekly return for the S&P 500 so far in 2022. The weeks of March 18, May 27, and June 24 had 6%+ gains.

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

Hold On To Catch the Upside

Today's Chart of the Day is from S&P Global, and it shows the weekly returns of the S&P 500 year to date. Yes, cumulatively the market is down, but..

Since 1950, the average economic expansion lasts 67 months. The average recession, though painful, only lasts 11 months.

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

Recessions are Painful; Expansions are Powerful

This chart comes from the Visual Capitalist. Since 1950, the average economic expansion lasts 67 months. The average recession, though painful, only..

Chart illustrates the monthly total returns of mid-cap, small-cap, S&P composite 1500, and S&P 500 stocks spanning from December 1994 – December 2020.

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

Small- and Mid- vs. Large-Cap Stocks

As of today, small- and mid-cap stocks on a year-to-date basis are performing better than their large-cap counterparts by 3% and 2%, respectively...

Chart of the Day Managing your Wealth

The "Chiclets Chart"

One of our clients calls this the “Chiclets Chart” because of its resemblance to that classic brand of candy-coated chewing gum.

On Our Minds

List Grid

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

08/17/22

The Shying Away from ESG

Today's chart is from Bloomberg Intelligence, which shows the money flows into ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ETFs since they appeared in 2015.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

08/16/22

No More Heydays for Hedge Funds

People may ask, “Why not use hedge funds?” Today's chart comes from Bloomberg and shows us the reason why. In addition to their typical expense ratio of 2% and 20% of gains above a benchmark, hedge funds have consistently underperformed the stock market, denoted by the S&P 500 index, every year since 2014. In fact, they haven’t performed well since their heydays in the 1980s, and even less so since 2007.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

08/15/22

S&P 500 vs. Average Investor

Today's chart comes from OneDigital and shows that the average return for 20-years ending in 2015 was 8.2% for the S&P 500, while the average investor only earned 2.1%. The hypothesis is: Too many investors stop investing when the market is down and/or try to time the market.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

08/4/22

Total Return Since 1802

The following chart from Brian Ferdoldi shows the ultra long-term history of real returns from various asset classes dating back to 1802. Real returns, the returns after inflation, are important to know due to inflation’s elevated levels.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

07/25/22

Hard to Hurt Earnings

Today's chart comes from LPL Research and shows the growth of company earnings since 1950. When you buy a stock fund you are purchasing the steam of their combined future earnings. Yes, that stream can temporarily decline during recessions, but over time the economy and that stream of earnings returns and continues to grow.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

07/21/22

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Today's chart is from Ben Carlson’s “A Wealth of Common Sense” which shows the S&P 500’s rolling returns for 3, 10, 20, and 30 year periods going all the way back to 1926.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

07/19/22

Best and Worst Days are Close

Today’s Chart of the Day comes again from Vanguard. The best and worst trading days are often very close. Usually, when there is a large swing one way, more often than not, the next day swings in the opposite direction. This is why we often do not get too excited when it happens. In fact, when cash needs to be invested or raised for spending, these are usually great days to do so.

Vanguard proved this with today's chart.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

07/18/22

30 Days Equal Half The Return

Today’s chart comes from Vanguard. They wrote a great short article on the difficulties of market timing. In a nutshell, "from 1928 through 2021, there were more than 23,300 trading days in the U.S. stock market. Out of those, the 30 best trading days accounted for almost half of the market’s return."

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

07/15/22

Prediction for Year End

When asked to predict where the market will be at year end, here are my thoughts:

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

07/1/22

1% Makes a Difference

The two Charts of the Day are from Michael Kitces and show the value of a $100,000 portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds after 30 years with a 4% and 5% initial withdrawal rate. These comments come from Rich Emch, CFP^®, Senior Trust Officer.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

06/28/22

Fixed Income ETFs for the Win

Today’s chart comes from VettaFi. Fixed income exchange traded funds (aka ETFs) have taken in over $1 trillion in assets over the last seven years, and only had three months of outflows.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

06/27/22

Hold On To Catch the Upside

Today's Chart of the Day is from S&P Global, and it shows the weekly returns of the S&P 500 year to date. Yes, cumulatively the market is down, but if you happen to miss the three 6%+ weekly gains out of the last 26 weeks, your total return for the year could look a whole lot different.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

06/23/22

Recessions are Painful; Expansions are Powerful

This chart comes from the Visual Capitalist. Since 1950, the average economic expansion lasts 67 months. The average recession, though painful, only lasts 11 months.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

06/14/22

Small- and Mid- vs. Large-Cap Stocks

As of today, small- and mid-cap stocks on a year-to-date basis are performing better than their large-cap counterparts by 3% and 2%, respectively.

There is an ebb and flow but going all the way back to 1994 small- and mid-cap stocks have outperformed large-cap stocks by an annual 0.66% and 1.49%, respectively. Financial theory supports, and so far this year it is also true, that when you add them to your portfolio they lower your risk due to the additional diversification.

Since this follows our motto of obtaining the “highest returns, for the least amount of risk,” we include small- and mid-cap stocks in all our portfolios.

Chart of the Day, Managing your Wealth

06/13/22

The "Chiclets Chart"

One of our clients calls this the “Chiclets Chart” because of its resemblance to that classic brand of candy-coated chewing gum.