Rising prices seem to be at the top of everyone’s mind. From Social Security recipients wondering if the cost of living adjustments will keep up their actual expenses, businesses and employees wondering how to factor in wage increases, or everyday consumers struggling to keep their energy and food costs under wraps. Congress even joined in with concerns. Last week at the Senate Banking Committee meeting, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers,
Author: Justin Smith
Knowing full well that financial planning is about far more than numbers, Justin loves to help clients walk through both the routine and the significant decisions in life. While he could have been perfectly happy with a career as a mathematician or counselor; he is delighted to get to be both...often within the same meeting or even sentence. Justin thrives on being able to transform complex financial and relational issues into practical plans and clear action steps.
Quarter in Charts – Q3 2021
According to NPR’s Rob Elving “The Basics” explainer on the Debt Ceiling, congress will likely raise our nation’s imaginary borrowing “line in the sand” for nearly the hundredth time since 1917.
Do Cryptoassets Like Bitcoin Belong in My Portfolio?
Bitcoin has dominance, with 45.6% of the market cap, followed by Ethereum, at 17.1%. As more people have made (and lost) money…
Quarter in Charts – Q2 2021
As we close out the first half of the year, significant headlines continue to surround the Pandemic. Concern has shifted to the impact on the labor market, inflation, interest rates, and housing.
Quarter in Charts – Q1 2021
So much over the last year has felt like it belonged in a movie rather than real life. From COVID to the election, from social unrest to working and schooling from home.
Quarter in Charts – Q4 2020
Much like the buffet lines, the financial media served up a lot of “food” this year, not all of it of substance. In an effort to cut through to what is most important and what we need to pay attention to going forward
Quarter in Charts – Q3 2020
COVID-19 Still Hits Hard “What a year this week has been.” That was the response I got from a friend when I asked him how things were going. And it is probably what most of us have felt as we process COVID-19, the economy, elections, and the market on top of managing work, family, school,
Quarter in Charts – Q2 2020
So, How Was Your Day? Your Quarter? Your Year? It’s hard to wrap my mind around the wildly different experiences we’ve all had over the last four months. For every quarantined person who has learned to bake sourdough, many more kids aren’t getting their school lunches. For anyone who has realized they can do their
Kids & Money – Greenlight: A Solution to Help Kids Save, Spend, Give & Invest
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about how my wife and I are teaching our three kids about money. I covered the basic principles we’re trying to instill (Simplicity, Giving, Discipline, Compounding, Enjoyment, Responsibility, and Hard Work) and how those show up practically. While we have loved teaching these principles, the
Quarter in Charts – Q1 2020
From an economic and investment perspective, saying that the first quarter (particularly March), was without precedent is an understatement. Investors experienced the fastest bear market (from Peak to -20%) ever recorded in US stocks. But it wasn’t just down days that we experienced; we had plenty of dramatic positive days as well. As Nick Maggiulli