2019 Q2: Keeping the Right Focus
We live in a world where we often have a skewed perspective about risk and don’t realize it. For example, do you know people who wouldn’t swim in the ocean after seeing the movie Jaws? You might even know people who wouldn’t evenswim in a lake. That’s because somehow that dramatic (and terrifying) movie raised the perceived risk of sharks to totally disproportionate levels. (In case you are wondering, the odds of a shark getting you are 1 in 3.7 million.) It’s very easy to have dramatic events take on a heightened sense of riskiness or likelihood. For example, in our times, there exist...
Read More2019 Q1: What a Difference a Quarter Makes
The first quarter of 2019 delivered exceptionally high investment returns. Global stocks saw double digit growth.
• US Stocks and Global Real Estate were both up over 14%
• Developed International Stocks were up 10.5%
• Emerging Markets Stocks were up 10%
• US and Global Bonds were up 3%
This did wonders for rebuilding portfolio values after the tough end to 2018.
March 2019: Charitable Contributions – Are They Still Tax Deductible?
The recent tax law has changed the nature of charitable giving a bit and we’re writing with a brief summary of how you can enjoy the greatest tax-deductibility of your charitable contributions.
Generally speaking, when you make a contribution to a qualified charity or non-profit, that amount is allowed to be potentially deducted on your income tax return (and thus lower your taxes). Whether you actually end up getting a deduction depends mainly on whether or not you do what is called itemizing your deductions.
For 2019, each individual is allowed to take $12,200 off of income while couples can take $24,400 off. This “Standard Deduction” is a flat deduction the IRS offers to everyone.
But, if you have actual deductible expenses which total more than that standard deduction, you can “itemize” your deductions and claim a greater reduction in income.
Read More2018 Q4: Are we in a recession or bear market?
There was no place to hide in 2018. Virtually every asset class around the globe had negative returns. In 2018, the U.S. total stock market was down -5.24% while both developed and emerging international markets were down a bit over -14%. Global real estate was down and -5.9% for the year. 1
Most of the pullback came during the last quarter of the year. From their 2018 peaks, and with much media fanfare, global markets approached or entered “bear market territory” (losses of 20% or more) during the worst December since the Great Depression.
Read More2018 Q3: Why invest in foreign equities?
With the US stock market up over 10% through the third quarter this year, you may have asked yourself why your portfolio wasn’t up more. The answer lies in global diversification. You hold many types of investments in your portfolio and most of the other asset classes in the portfolio are flat or down for the year. That’s a normal part of diversification. It’s rare to have all parts of the portfolio up or down at the same time. It’s normal to have some areas performing well while others aren’t. Let’s look at the performance of global stock markets year-to-date through 9/30/2018 as an...
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