Financial Archives - Smith Partners Wealth Management

Market Commentary Q4 – 2016

ByJonathan Smith January 18, 2017January 27, 2017

“Look at me, look at me, I am the Captain Now!” On Election Eve, pollsters predicted Donald Trump’s probabilities of winning at around 12%. By Election night, the world experienced a low probability, high impact event. As Mr. Trump neared 270 Electoral College votes, investors flew to safety: bond prices soared, the dollar sank, and…

Market Commentary

Market Commentary Q3 – 2016

ByJustin Smith October 14, 2016February 21, 2017

Only the 1st Three Paragraphs are about the Election …I Promise "What will this election do to my investments?” Almost everyone we talk to seems to be both completely wrapped up and at the same time utterly exhausted with this election, so we will keep it to the first three paragraphs. Our answer always seems...

Market Commentary

Market Commentary Q2 – 2016

ByJonathan Smith July 15, 2016December 15, 2016

Lost in the Woods On June 24th, more than 30 million citizens of the United Kingdom turned out to vote on the issue off their sovereign state’s future relationship with the European Union. With a surprising 52% majority, the “Leaves” won and the “Brexit” wheels were set in motion. According to The Economist, in the...

Market Commentary

Market Commentary Q4 – 2015

ByJonathan Smith January 15, 2016November 21, 2016

Never Before North Carolina joined the ranks of lottery states in 2005 by introducing the NC Education lottery. As a side note, only 29% of the revenue goes into actual education and somehow, NC still ranks 50th in the nation in teacher pay and 51st (that’s not a typo) in percentage increase in teacher pay...

Market Commentary

Market Commentary Q2 – 2015

ByJonathan Smith July 15, 2015December 15, 2016

Grinding Like a Garden Tiller The human brain works nonstop trying to figure out what the eye sees. It’s been working overtime trying to figure this one out: over the last year, the Dow has gone up one percent and down one percent 53 times. Over this time, it traveled 42,823.56 points up and down,...

Market Commentary

Market Commentary Q3 – 2014

ByJustin Smith October 15, 2014November 16, 2016

Our son, Everett, just turned 18 months old last week. And after having two tutu-wearing daughters (Grayson now 7 and Finley Cate now almost 5) it felt like a real “win” for me, as a dad, to have my son’s favorite word be “truck.” And that doesn’t really even do the word justice, because he...

Market Commentary

Market Commentary Q3 – 2013

ByJustin Smith October 17, 2013November 15, 2016

“We the People, In Order to Form a More Perfect Union…” Last month, we sent our first kid off to kindergarten and I quickly discovered one of the joys of parenthood: learning from your kids. Every morning in September, all the students at her school would recite (well, really sing the “Schoolhouse Rock!” version of)...

Market Commentary

Market Commentary Q1 – 2013

ByJustin Smith April 15, 2013November 11, 2016

Margin of Safety, simply put, is the world’s oldest and cheapest form of insurance against stupidity, overconfidence and bad luck…and a few months ago, I apparently needed insurance against all three. With the arrival of our third child on the horizon, my wife finally gave up her cool mom image and decided she needed a...