This most recent quarter and the Tariff announcements immediately afterward (which we detailed in our Tariffs and a Declaration of Parental Independence blog post here) reminded investors that markets don’t move in straight lines. After a strong end to 2024, stocks stumbled out of the gate this year. The S&P 500 declined -4.3% as interest
Category: Quarterly Report
Quarter in Charts – Q3 2024
2024 is shaping up to be one of the rare years with no major asset class in decline (see far right column in the chart below.) Large Cap US, Foreign Stocks, and Real Estate have led the way, while Bonds and Commodities have returns barely more than money markets. Below, we will detail the relevant
Quarter in Charts – Q2 2024
A Quarter on Repeat Our family has a handful of stories we tell on repeat. There is the one about my driver’s ed instructor who made me go through the Burger King drive-thru to pick up her lunch (a “Whopper with no mayonnaise this time!” emphasis hers.) After discovering mayonnaise on her Whopper, she made
Quarter in Charts – Q1 2024
“Dad, our lawn looks like the Masters!” That’s an actual quote from our eleven-year-old son last weekend. When we moved in 12 years ago, the backyard was a jungle without a blade of grass. But over the years, we’ve slowly transformed it to allow us to host countless parties and backyard football games. It has
Quarter in Charts – Q3 2023
In this Quarter in Charts, we have several graphs detailing the current interest rate environment, global market events, the bond bear market, and various economic indicators. We use this data to explain what happened (and look ahead to what could happen) in economies, markets, and investment portfolios. But none of those graphs will be able
Quarter In Charts – Q1 2023
Kids Today Have It Too Easy As a dad of teenagers, it’s my duty to occasionally put on the “grumpy old man” act and talk about how kids today have it too easy. I say things like, “You know when I was a boy…” followed by a misremembered anecdote of my days working at the
Quarter in Charts – Q4 2022
It’s hard to describe how rare and painful 2022 was for investors of all kinds. The phrase “off the charts” is often overused, but in this case, it seems appropriate. And while we’ll look at the causes and details of this year’s returns, we’ll also spend some time exploring how investors should consider viewing the
Quarter in Charts – Q3 2022
Over the last few weeks, I kept the kids up far past their bedtimes to witness Aaron Judge break the American League single-season home run record. While we had to sit through a whole lot of walks, we eventually got to witness a once-in-a-lifetime event that we’ll tell some grandkids about. Sadly, this year, investors have also witnessed an investment market for the record books. Through the charts below (and a recounting of my real-world experience with our 15-year-old new driver) we’ll examine the year so far, talk through viewing investments through the “windshield” of a financial plan, and see how investors have typically fared better than average coming out of historic times like these.
Quarter in Charts – Q2 2022
“The Circumstances” So far this year, investors have experienced a dramatic increase in interest rates and sustained high inflation, coupled with a decrease in both stock and bond prices not seen in half a century. All of this while the US continued to add jobs and public companies increased profits at a steady pace. Below
Quarter In Charts – Q1 2022
We just completed Science Fair season in our house – whew! Finley (age 12) tested different ratios of Corn Syrup to Sugar to determine the optimal recipe for homemade marshmallows (I take all the credit for the title: “Who Wants S’more Marshmallows?”) Going into the project, she had no idea which recipe would make the