Posts by Jacob Milder, CFP®, ChFC®
Dealing With Fluctuating Markets: Q3 2021 Quarterly Market Review
Whether you’re a long-time investor or you’re new to the market, fluctuations – and losses – can feel jarring. In fact, we know from research that losses are significantly more painful than gains of a similar size are rewarding. Yet successful investors continue to invest because they know that over long periods of time, investing…
Read MoreDon’t Let Your Parents Start a 529 for your Kids
If you have parents who are offering to help you with college planning for your kids…lucky you! With college tuition increasing 7-8% every year, most of us can use all the help we can get. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to accept this assistance. While your parents might want to…
Read MoreIf You’re Doing This, You Might Not Get the Financial Results You Want
As someone who works in the tech industry, chances are you’re going to relate to the scenario I’m about to describe. Someone walks into your office and says, “I’ve been wondering about _____, so I Googled it and now I think I can do it on my own, but I’m not quite sure.” …
Read MoreWhat Makes Financial Planning for Tech Professionals Different?
Almost every client who walks through my (virtual) door these days has one thing in common: they’ve realized their time is better spent doing something other than dealing with their money. Many of us hit that tipping point at some time. You can change your own oil, but that could take you five hours, so…
Read MoreYou Only Live Once: 2021 Q1 Quarterly Market Review
You only live once! Social media investors have banded together on unconventional platforms to drive up the prices of a handful of “meme stocks,” seemingly without traditional evaluation of investing risks and rewards. They made headlines with their “short squeeze” of GameStop (GME), and, as they garner media attention, their tactics continue. While it’s not…
Read MoreGame-Stop Right There!
In the previous blog, GameStop, Blackberry, AMC: How “Dud” Companies are Suddenly Worth Billions, we discussed the origins of the GameStop and meme-stock fiasco. Now let’s take a look at some of the other players (read: enablers) and the possible outcomes of this type of trading. Reddit As GameStop’s stock price was going vertical,…
Read MoreGameStop, Blackberry, AMC: How “Dud” Companies are Suddenly Worth Billions
As shocking as the whole GameStop/Blackberry/AMC activity felt…in the world of commerce it’s actually nothing new. Today’s investor would call this type of trading “meme stock” – “a stock that has seen an increase in volume not because of the company’s performance, but rather because of hype on social media and online forums like Reddit. For…
Read MoreIs the Market the Economy and Why Does My Coffee Taste Bad?
There have been a lot of confusing things about the past year: Will my kids ever go back to school? Have they been scarred psychologically? And WHY, even 4 months after my COVID diagnosis, does some coffee still taste like cough syrup mixed with aluminum foil? These are the questions that keep me up at…
Read MoreThe Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021…In Under 5500 Pages!
Does the excitement of the new Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 keep you awake at night? If so, you can find all 5,593 pages here on Congress’s website and I’m confident your insomnia will be cured by page 3. Like most of you, I skipped most of the tiny print of the bill in favor…
Read MoreEnd of Year Action Items – 2020 Edition
The past 12 months have brought significant tax changes including the CARES, Disaster, and SECURE acts, each with implications for retirement and tax planning. In addition to providing action items to potentially help reduce your 2020 tax burden, the purpose of this post is to recap the financial planning implications of – and opportunities created by these acts.
Read More3Q2020 – When in Doubt, Rebalance!
Skip Jake’s Take and Download Q3 Market Slides ________________________________ Jake’s Take – 3Q2020 With deep concern surrounding the pending elections, and elevated volatility (read: market swings) priced into January 2021, stocks continued to climb the wall of worry, finishing the 3rd quarter up over 9%. For those keeping track at home, where most readers are…
Read More2Q2020 Newsletter – Why Are Markets So High?
The markets will continue to be choppy in the coming months, due to the Coronavirus and upcoming elections. Don’t let that derail your long-term investment goals.
Read More1Q2020 Newsletter – Where Do We Go From Here?
Investors purchasing stocks/stock funds at these levels should expect a higher return over a long-term investment horizon than those who purchased in January, after 10 years of compounding double-digit growth. Likewise if the market continues to fall, that increases the investors’ expected returns.
Read MoreCARES Act – What You Need to Know
Last week the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), an economic stimulus package worth approximately $2 trillion.
Read MoreVolatility 2.0
An investor’s inclination to sell or buy is strongly inversely correlated to the proper time to do so. If your investment objectives and time horizon have not changed (other than being one day older), studies have consistently shown that your best course of action, difficult as it may be, is to remain invested.
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