It’s a funny thing, momentum. Some investments can have absolutely no momentum at all for years, then suddenly turn around and produce some very strong performance numbers. At the same time, some other investments will have years of consistent out-performance and then, seemingly overnight, crash and burn. More often than not, these behaviors happen to…
Investors with any experience at all can recite the long-term results: U.S. stock market has averaged about 9-10% total returns over the last 30 years 6% the last 15 years Bond market has averaged about 5%. In truth, the average stock market investor has gained only about 3.5%, on average over the last 15 years,…
United Kingdom voters chose to leave the European Union one month ago on June 23rd. Panic immediately spread across the world as people extrapolated this decision into what they expected to follow. Talking heads suggested this would cause a worldwide recession. SELL, SELL, SELL! Some investors actually followed this advice, as it caused the S&P…
Summer calls for cool, refreshing wines. Rose´ wines have certainly made a comeback in the last few years. For the most part, these are not your mother’s bland, semi-sweet blush wines, and that is certainly good news. At the same time, there are any number of refreshing white varietals that should not be overlooked as…
Take a moment and think about what could happen if you were to suddenly become physically or mentally unable to handle your affairs. Young, old, single, married, in a committed relationship or not: the fact is unless you have certain documents in place, your financial and health well being could be in limbo. PDS urges…
Thoughts by Bob Cochran When clients ask me to explain the Greek debacle, I have likened it to a financially dysfunctional family. We all know what they look like. When times are good, they spend a lot of money to acquire stuff, much of which they really don’t need. They accept every credit card offer…
Originally published April 2, 2015 Thirty years can go by very quickly. And for us more mature folks, it can seem like yesterday. As I think about those years, I am struck by the changes to the financial planning and investment world, specifically changes at PDS Planning. Our very basic and very large computers had…
Historically, mid-term elections have served as reflection points for stocks. Regardless of the outcome, stocks have rallied before the election in the second half of October, and the rally has continued through the following year. The S&P has not declined after a mid-term election since 1946, and the average 12-month increase has been about 16%.…
