Market Summary – Q1 2015
Global currency is not something we normally spend a lot of time talking about. As a general rule, our international bond fund managers hedge their holdings against the changes in the value of their home currencies and the dollar. The stock funds that we use, on the other hand, are generally not hedged. Global currency trading, measured by daily dollar volume, far exceeds stock and bond trading combined. Price swings can be sudden, relatively large and quite unpredictable. As seen in the chart to the right, over time changes in currency pales in comparison to stock prices. For this reason...
Read MoreMarch 2015: Advisor or Salesperson?
Advisor or salesperson? Clients may not know if their financial representative is subject to a weaker “suitability requirement” of the salesman or the stronger “fiduciary standard” of a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). Marin Financial Advisors is a RIA firm, regulated by the SEC and therefore subject to more transparency and laws that require us to put our clients’ interests ahead of our own. Brokerage firms and banks including such well known firms such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo Advisors and UBS do not act as advisory firms. Instead they are subject to the rules...
Read MoreMarket Summary – Q4 2014
October: This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.” – Mark Twain 2014 will not stand out as the poster child for global diversification. As interest rates stayed low, longer term bonds continued to perform well, Real Estate benefitted enormously (more in the US than outside of it) and the returns for US Stocks surpassed the non US market averages of the developed and developing world. The charts following help to walk you through the recent leaders...
Read MoreDecember 2014: Is Diversification a Drag?
Recent performance across asset classes has led some clients to wonder out loud if we should have less money allocated to bond and emerging market stock funds. This is an understandable reaction to a 5 year period when pegging all of your investment dollars to the US stock market has provided the best return.
Read MoreMarket Summary – Q3 2014
The quarter ending September 30th saw investment losses across a variety of asset classes, knocking recent winners off their perches and reducing one year gains down to a more modest range. The overall US Stock Market as measured by the broad Russell 3000 index managed a slim gain of 0.01% over the most recent quarter, while smaller US company stocks, international stocks and real estate investment trusts fell sharply. In his 1949 book, the Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham coined the term Mr. Market, a fictional character meant to represent the emotional nature of the Stock Market. The...
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