The Return of Investor Pain and Volatility Every few weeks, Jonathan slides a chair up to my desk and pulls out an updated version of a chart, the Investor Pain Index. If you search for it online, you won’t find it. To call it “proprietary” would be accurate but (says Jonathan) far too complementary. The
It’s More Than Money
Explaining Market Losses to a 10 Year-Old
Today the Dow Jones experienced a 4% drop, closing below 24,000 for the first time since November 28th (just 72 days ago). Furthermore, in the last 9 trading days, the Dow has dropped 10.3% from it’s all-time high (thus officially earning the name “a correction”). While it’s unsettling to see a pullback in the market,
Life Lessons: Mr. Early Achiever
I’ve never enjoyed waiting for things. Patience is a muscle I’ve had to exercise and strengthen, whether I’ve wanted to or not. Ironically, one of the hardest things to wait patiently for is “experience.” Of course, always looking for a more efficient way, I wondered if I could gather up others’ experiences and learn from
2017 Market Recap & 3 Can’t Miss “Investments”
Without fail, the financial markets teach us lessons every year, but it is up to investors to learn. In 2017, the overwhelming lesson was a rerun: short term predictions are worthless (at best) and dangerous (at worst). We ran across a great example of predictions in Bob Seawright’s 2018 Investment Outlook. Seawright is Chief Investment
Our Most Read Blog Posts of 2017
Wrapping up our year, we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss out on our most read blog posts of 2017. We also want to say a big “Thank You!” for reading, sharing, and dialoguing with us along the way. If you have any suggestions for future topics, send them to us at Team@SmithPartnersWealth.com. 6
Tax Bill Update and Resources
For better or worse, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has been signed into law. While it would be fun (is that the right word?) to explore the estimated impacts on our country and economy here, it would be more helpful to take some of our own advice and focus on the more certain
Lighted Christmas Balls – 2017 Update
It’s hard to go anywhere in our city in December without the conversation turning to the Lighted Christmas Balls, the Food Drive and the Running of the Balls. If you’ve lived in Greensboro twenty-one years or less, you’ve never known a December without Lighted Christmas Balls. In 1996, our daughter, Alison, came home from
Annual Financial Checklist (January through April)
Anticipating the start of the swim portion of Raleigh’s 2017 Half Ironman, 99 strangers and I waded into Jordan lake. Five hours of grueling effort and quad cramps later, I finished the race to the sound of crowds chanting my name. Ok…maybe not the “crowds chanting my name” part, but I crossed the finish line. The only
Is Social Security Going Bankrupt?
In short, yes. But don’t take our word for it: as seen in their 2017 annual report, the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees “project that the combined trust funds will be depleted in 2034“. However, the Social Security Administration and Congress have a few “levers” they can pull to extend this 2034 date
Navigating a World with Alzheimer’s Dementia
UPDATE 11/13: It thrills me to no end to wake up today and read about Bill and Melinda Gates’ $100 Million commitment to curing Alzheimer’s. You can read about why he’s chosen to fund Alzheimer’s research on his blog. As a Rotarian, I’ve seen firsthand what their foundation has done to bring us “this