A Word on the Debt Ceiling
May 23, 2023
Chief Investment Officer Andy Popenfoose gives a video update on The U.S. Debt Ceiling and the markets.
Insights
Dealing with the Rising Cost of Healthcare and other Risk Planning
April 25, 2023
Planning for contingencies is so much a part of day-to-day life we forget we even do it. Like keeping a spare tire in the trunk or band aids in the medicine cabinet – just in case. Those of us who drive have car insurance, most of us have healthcare coverage, and either home-owner’s insurance or a renter’s policy. We understand, and even hope, that we never use the insurance and are willing to pay the
Four Ways to Apply the 80/20 Rule to Your Financial Pursuits
February 20, 2023
Ever heard of the 80/20 rule? It suggests 80% of an outcome is often the result of just 20% of the effort you put into it. This doesn’t always work. Sometimes, it’s worth going the extra mile. But often, by prioritizing the 20% of your efforts that makes the biggest splash, you can save time, simplify your finances and likely gain better results. In that spirit, here are four financial best practices that pack a
Investment Fundamentals Part 4: Patience and Personal Persistence
February 8, 2023
So far in our investment fundamentals series, we’ve explored the history of investing; how important it is to save (so you have money to invest); how to invest efficiently in broad markets; and why to avoid chasing or fleeing rising or falling prices. By applying these principles, you are much better positioned to let capital markets work their wonders on your investments. But there are two more essentials that can make or break even the
Investment Fundamentals Part 3: The Price You Pay Matters
February 2, 2023
In our last piece, we described, Our Marvelous Markets and how to account for it being both robust and random at the same time. Today, we’ll look at how stock pricing works, and why Nobel laureate William F. Sharpe was correct when he reminded us: “Asset prices are not determined by someone from Mars” (even if it may sometimes feel that arbitrary). Markets are inspired by ingenuity, tempered by diversification. The price you pay matters.
Investment Fundamentals Part 2. Our Marvelous Markets.
January 31, 2023
In our last piece, we wrote about how recency bias can damage your investments by causing current crises to loom large, while rewriting your memories of past challenges. Recency tricks us into overpaying during heady times, and bailing at bargain rates, when our confidence fades. One of the best ways to combat recency bias is by focusing instead on the fundamentals that have served investors well for centuries, if not millennia. In this series, we’ll
