Taking Stock of Market Returns
Taking Stock of Market Returns What do annual returns normally look like in the stock market? If the S&P 500 were to hold its current levels through year-end, we’ll have just experienced two back-to-back years of greater than 25% gains in the stock market. Calendar year returns like this must be exceedingly rare, right? Going…
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Asset Location: The Missing Piece in Your Investment Puzzle?
Asset Location: The Missing Piece in Your Investment Puzzle? When it comes to managing your investments, the term “diversification” probably rings a bell. It’s one of those golden rules of personal finance: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Most of us understand that spreading your investments across different asset classes—stocks, bonds, real estate,…
Keys to the Future: Assisting Your Child in Buying Their First Home
Strategies and Considerations When Assisting an Adult Child Purchase or Acquire a Home We are pleased to announce that Peak Asset Management will be hosting the following event on Wednesday, November 13th at 4:30 PM at the Hotel Boulderado. Jason Foster, our Director of Wealth Strategies and Legacy Planning, will be presenting with Matthew Hardy,…
Quarterly Client Letter: Q3 2024
Today, the Federal Open Market Committee decided to reduce the degree of policy restraint by lowering our policy interest rate by ½ percentage point. This decision reflects our growing confidence that with an appropriate recalibration of our policy stance, strength in the labor market can be maintained in a context of moderate growth and inflation…
COBRA and Short-term Health Insurance Plans
COBRA and Short-term Health Insurance Plans Health insurance is one of the largest costs we face on an annual basis. It often becomes a deciding factor when evaluating job changes and retirement options. With the rising cost of health insurance plans available for the consumer in the marketplace, individuals are sometimes conflicted with the dilemma…
The Housing Market and Rate Sensitivity: What Happens Next?
The Housing Market and Rate Sensitivity: What Happens Next? On Wednesday, September 18th, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by 25 to 50 basis points (bps). In anticipation of rate cuts and a shift in Fed policy, longer-term Treasury Yields and mortgage rates have already moved lower in the bond market. On…
Directed Trust Arrangements
Directed Trust Arrangements When clients are considering trusts as part of a plan to manage assets, one issue that can emerge is a client’s prior negative experience with trust companies. Some clients, whether by way of being the beneficiary of a trust, or when they worked with a trust company on behalf of a minor…
The Earnings Bar is High for Corporate America
The Earnings Bar is High for Corporate America Stocks entered a cyclical bear market in 2022, and perhaps for good reason. Yes, interest rates were on the rise. Yes, valuations in 2021 were extended and needed to cool off. Yes, geopolitical turmoil and inflation weighed on the market’s collective mind. Yes, economists were practically unanimous…
Quarterly Client Letter: Q2 2024
Quarterly Client Letter: Q2 2024 When you find a truly wonderful business, stick with it. Patience pays, and one wonderful business can offset the many mediocre decisions that are inevitable. -Warren Buffett We were pleased to see that the five most profitable companies of the Fortune 500, based on profits generated in 2023, were, in…
Hardware is Eating the World
Hardware is Eating the World “While the hardware and software layers in technology are mutually dependent, the location of talent and resources across their respective ecosystems is not static.” In 2011, Marc Andreesen famously wrote that “software is eating the world”. It’s a fun article to read 13 years on. Consider just how voracious software’s…
My Personal Approach to Budgeting
My Personal Approach to Budgeting For years, I struggled with implementing an effective budgeting tool, drowning in the minutia of expense categorization. Should Chipotle go into Restaurants or Fast Food? Or maybe Fast Casual? Turns out, the correct category probably should have been, “Who cares?” Rather than trying to categorize every single expense, which in…
Inherited IRAs and the 10-Year Rule: Beware of Potential Tax Consequences in the Future
Inherited IRAs and the 10-Year Rule: Beware of Potential Tax Consequences in the Future If you have inherited an IRA after 2019 from a non-spouse, it is highly likely you are subject to the rule under the SECURE Act (passed in December 2019) forcing beneficiaries to distribute the entire account within 10 years. There are…
Quarterly Client Letter: Q1 2024
Therefore, we are prepared for a very broad range of interest rates, from 2% to 8% or even more, with equally wide-ranging economic outcomes — from strong economic growth with moderate inflation (in this case, higher interest rates would result from higher demand for capital) to a recession with inflation; i.e., stagflation. Jamie Dimon, Chairman…