No matter your political affiliation, the goings-on in Washington, D.C., has had an impact on investors over the last several months. Post-election, U.S. stocks rose strongly in the hopes of increased infrastructure spending, lower taxes and reduced regulations. Eventually, though,...

Dividend yields, price-earnings ratios and cyclically adjusted price-earnings ratios have long been used to forecast long-term stock returns, which may lead some investors to believe that these multiples can also be valuable tools for asset allocation. A dividend yield (D/P) is...

Weekly Market Summary The holiday-shortened week started off rather muted but picked up steam as it progressed. U.S. stocks edged lower on Tuesday following the Memorial Day holiday, as financials and energy stocks pulled the broad indexes lower. However, the range in which the...

Many investors seek income to supplement their portfolio returns while at the same time insulating themselves from market declines. In “The Little Book of Big Dividends: A Safe Formula for Guaranteed Returns” (John Wiley & Sons, 2010), Charles Carlson outlines a recipe for...

Earlier this month, global computer networks were hit with the “Wannacry” ransomware cryptoworm. The attack started on Friday, 12 May 2017, and within a day was reported to have infected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries. WannaCry spreads across local...

The term “fake news” has entrenched itself in our daily vernacular. Sadly, there was a time the only fake news I came across were stories sent to my by my sister from The Onion, a well-known news satire site. In the aftermath of the U.S presidential election, though,...

We all want to achieve retirement security—and to maintain our sanity during volatile market periods. If we could only predict tomorrow’s markets, we would handily satisfy these needs—we would be able to sell before a market decline and buy at the bottom. Truth be told,...

Weekly Market Summary Political drama, corporate earnings and oil prices were the drivers of the U.S. stock market this week. Most of the attention was on Washington, D.C. and the Trump administration. After revelations that the President shared sensitive intelligence information...

A week after writing about the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, hitting a 23-year low, U.S. stocks turned in their worst day in 10 months this week as the VIX surged to its highest level in over a month. Most of the apprehension stemmed from Washington, D.C., as the Trump administration...

Many people do not see an estate plan as necessary, while others recognize the need to plan but have no idea whom to contact or how to begin. Estate planning encompasses much more than simply protecting one’s assets; it provides peace of mind that your assets will pass according...