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Whether you are on the frontlines of the fight every day or required to shelter in place, the new reality the Coronavirus has imposed on our day-to-day lives is jarring. We have all had to dramatically adapt the way we work, live and interact with one another over a very short time. If you are […]

Whether you’re reviewing investments as a trustee or tasked with picking your own options as a defined contribution participant, the start of your evaluation process is likely the same: “What do the trailing returns look like?”  In other words, are the 1, 3, 5 & 10-year trailing performance numbers better, worse or largely similar relative […]

Many professions have their own expressions and acronyms that are freely used to communicate effectively with other colleagues and industry participants. This specialized diction creates an obstacle that hinders understanding for non-industry professionals, and when asking questions feels uncomfortable or difficult, “head-nodding” often ensues, and that action outwardly implies comprehension. Unfortunately, the financial services industry […]

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”  – H. Jackson Brown Jr A couple of weeks ago, caravans of kids across America dressed as their favorite characters and canvassed the streets with a singular declaration. After a few hours […]

If any of our readers has the “joy” of experiencing a commute to or from an urban area with frequent interchanges or has experienced the “wonder” of lane closures during rush hour, often without a worker in sight, this blog’s for you – but it’s probably not what you think. In the field of traffic […]

Many public funds are facing increased scrutiny regarding their required rates of return. These important projections, often referred to as a plan’s “interest assumption”, are used to document the long-term return goals of a pension plan’s investment portfolio and are used in part to determine the level of funding contributions that may be required to […]

We don’t typically opine on individual securities outside of their impact on a specific market segment or the market in general, but recently Apple (AAPL) hit a valuation milestone no other U.S. company had ever achieved. On August 1st, Apple became the first U.S. company to eclipse a market capitalization (stock price multiplied by the […]

As expected, the Federal Reserve (the Fed) voted to raise interest rates for the second time this year at their June meeting. With this increase, the Fed Funds rate (range) increased from 1.50%-1.75% to 1.75%-2.00%.  Importantly, the Fed updated its forecast for potential rate hikes for calendar year 2018 to four as the U.S. unemployment […]

One of my favorite quotes from the classic tome Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig is the following simple truth: “Some things you miss because they’re so tiny you overlook them. But some things you don’t see because they’re so huge.” For most Americans (US consumers), the concept of tariffs (trade […]

While much of the current economic news has been positive, there are signs that rising interest rates are starting to take a bite out of the economy. Recently, the Atlanta Federal Reserve revised its forecast for 1Q Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth down from more than 5% to a mere 1.9%. Despite this, The Federal […]