Sept 2015: What can past market declines teach us?
Living with a market decline isn’t easy and are the last thing most investors want to experience, but they are an inevitable
part of investing. Perhaps a little historical background can help you put stock market declines in perspective.
Usually we write our own newsletters but we received the following well written article from American Funds about market volatility
and wanted to share it with you.
Aug 2015 : 5 Things Investors Shouldn’t Do Now
This very short article by Jason Zweig at the Wall Street Journal captures the essence of the advice we have been sharing with clients about market downturns….
Stocks slumped world-wide this week, with U.S. and European markets off more than 5% and the Shanghai Composite Index losing more than 11%. Oil prices also skidded, dropping more than 6%. Traders feared that slowing growth in China, the devaluation of the Chinese currency and the overhang of too much debt could stifle global economic recovery.
Here are five things you should know about how not to react…
Market Summary – Q2 2015
The persistence of Greece’s financial woes and speculation about the potential exit of Greece (aka Grexit) from the European common market feels a bit like Ground Hog Day, in which Bill Murray lives the same day over and over throughout the movie until he executes that one day perfectly, start to finish. There is no assurance of such a perfect ending for Greece – the opposite seems more likely – but the news stories concerning Hellenic finances in 2015 are remarkably similar to those of 2012. Greece’s economy is roughly the same size as Oregon’s. This is no slight to California’s neighbor...
Read MoreMay 2015: Beneficiary Designations: Out of Sight Out of Mind?
Estate planning must rank right up there with gum surgery as the type of chore in life that we are most likely to want to put off. We have trouble even saying the word “death”, as inevitable as it is for us all. So regardless of when we “check out” or “kick the bucket”, we are likely to leave a mess if proper planning isn’t in place.
Estate Plans (wills and trusts) are an important part of the process, as are having life insurance in place. Yet a topic that often gets less attention that it deserves is beneficiary designations…
Read MoreMarket 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 More