Student Loan Forgiveness

by Joe Pitzl on
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You've probably heard by now that the government plans to forgive federal student loans for roughly 20 million Americans.

Dog Days of Summer

by Justin Gabriel on
This summer has undoubtedly been volatile, especially from an economic and market standpoint. If you’ve kept up with any of our previous postings, there hasn’t been a ton of positive news to share. Between stock prices falling, interest rates rising, and inflation being a front-page headline, it’s been hard to escape the negativity. During these periods, reflecting on past experiences can be helpful.

Scammers Want Your Money

by Joe Pitzl on
Scams got a big boost during the pandemic and we've been hearing about more folks (even very tech-savvy ones) getting caught up. You might think your friends, family, and elders would be too smart to get caught, but the wider we spread awareness of the latest info, the better.

Fourth of July Weekend Update

by Joe Pitzl on
Categories
As far as the markets are concerned, there is no question the first half of the year was rough. In fact, it was the worst first half of a calendar year in over 50 years. The S&P 500 closed yesterday at -20.58%. Even worse, the tech / growth heavy NASDAQ finished the day at -29.51% year-to-date.

Investing for Kids

by Justin Gabriel on
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Warren Buffett is one of the richest people in history. At age 91, he has amassed a fortune totaling well over $100 billion dollars, and donated tens of billions in additional dollars to charity. There is no doubt that he is among the greatest investors of all time. However, his best kept secret to becoming so wealthy is not in his ability to pick stocks.

Memorial Weekend Update

by Justin Gabriel on
Over the past few weeks we have seen a continuation in market volatility. What started in the tech space has now spread to other segments of the broad market, specifically the retail space. We’ve also seen a lot of speculative assets, such as large hedge funds, private equity, and crypto currency continue their declines.

Do Downturns Lead to Down Years?

by Joe Pitzl on
Categories

Stock market slides over a few days or months may lead investors to anticipate a down year. But a broad US market index had positive returns in 17 of the past 20 calendar years, despite some notable dips in many of those years. 

Volatility is a normal part of investing. Sharp downturns happen with...

I Bonds - A Guaranteed 8.5% Interest

by Justin Gabriel on
Categories

In the past 12 months, the financial world has been dominated by headlines of low interest rates and high inflation. Up until early March the 1-year treasury yield, which is the percent the U.S. government will pay you to hold your money for 1 year, sat at about 1%. Furthermore, the average U.S...

Spring 2021 Update

by Joe Pitzl on
It goes without saying that the past 12-14 months have been challenging. About a year ago, the word “unprecedented” became an everyday term. In addition to unprecedented, “pivot” became a daily phrase, as we were all required to pivot to working-from-home, pivot to remote learning for our children, pivot to not seeing our friends and family on a regular basis. We cancelled vacations, graduations, youth sports and camps. None of us had ever experienced anything like it.
As we inch our way toward Election Day 2020, we are receiving a natural increase in questions about the impact this will have on markets and portfolios. First and foremost, no matter what the polls and forecasts are saying in advance, we never know the outcome of an election until the votes are counted (as the last election clearly demonstrated).