Category: Investments

Controlling Your Emotions During Volatile Markets

Controlling Your Emotions During Volatile Markets

By Michael J. Searcy

In our current market, we’re seeing changes daily and some are drastic enough to spook even the most seasoned investor and cause them to make decisions outside of their best interest. How have the market changes been affecting you?

If you were to ask yourself whether you make decisions based on headlines and short-term volatility scares, you would probably believe those issues wouldn’t affect your behavior. We tend to believe that we will always make the most rational, considerate decisions. However, controlling your emotions during volatile markets and staying rational isn’t as easy as you might think.

Should a Trust be the Beneficiary of Your IRA? Factors to Consider

Should a Trust be the Beneficiary of Your IRA? Factors to Consider

For many Americans, the assets in their Individual Retirement Account represent a significant portion of the wealth they hope to leave to their loved ones. You may have heard that creating a trust and naming it as the beneficiary of your IRA is a good way to direct how your assets are distributed after your death and force your heirs to “stretch” the IRA for generations.

However, trusts and inherited IRAs are complex vehicles that have a lot of details to get right. Here are some of the pros and factors to consider regarding naming a trust as a beneficiary of your IRA:

9 Investment Pitfalls for Investors to Avoid

9 Investment Pitfalls for Investors to Avoid

Financial markets are rarely easy to navigate alone, and when you add in economic factors, complex political and global developments and devastating weather events, it can seem even more challenging.

Experience has taught us that successful investing requires discipline and patience. A long-term investment focus can help when emotions run high. While balancing ongoing changes can seem daunting, a steady course can help buffer you against turbulence and uncertainty.

To help you overcome these challenges, we’ve compiled a list of common mistakes and guidelines.

Investing Through the Highs and Lows

Investing Through the Highs and Lows

By Michael J. Searcy

Are you limiting your investment success by letting emotions about market volatility control your decisions? We know that you’re more likely to find success, however you define it, if you have a plan in place. Your plan needs a defined purpose and vision, corresponding goals, and a timeline for measurement. But it’s not enough to just have a plan, you also have to trust your plan. When emotions take over, they can quickly steer you off course. That doesn’t mean prudent changes can’t or won’t be made along the way to your goal, but without discipline, you may as well throw your plan out the window or not bother making one at all.

This year has already taken us through some market ups and downs. After months of relative calm, extreme movement in the market can lead to confusion. Fluctuations can be unnerving and it’s very normal to have anxiety, especially when headlines are shouting doomsday predictions to get more attention. Understanding the potential causes of the volatility and having steps in place to get through the fluctuation can help ease your anxieties.

Avoiding Emotional Investing

Avoiding Emotional Investing

When building a financial strategy, we work hard to create an approach that plans for your longevity and allows you to live a satisfying life. But beyond helping clients prepare for a longer retirement, we are focused on addressing a key goal: Managing emotional reactions.

For many investors, the market’s inevitable fluctuations can make investing feel like an emotional roller coaster. However, letting erratic, short-term market movements create anxiety can lead to detrimental financial decisions.

What Does the New Tax Plan Mean for Investing?

What Does the New Tax Plan Mean for Investing?

While much of the political fire and fury from Congress’ tax plan debate has settled, some of the economic smoke still lingers as financial analysts and private investors plot their way through the new $1.4 trillion law’s long-range ramifications.

President Donald Trump signed the historic tax bill into law December 22 following a firestorm of partisan exchanges in the last few weeks that painted near apocalyptic visions if the bill either passed or failed. Republican pundits hail the sweeping tax bill as Trump’s first major legislative victory in office.

Bitcoin & Friends: A Look into Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin & Friends: A Look into Cryptocurrency

We once read an article about what to say when your parents ask you about Bitcoin and it makes sense that even though we’ve been hearing about Bitcoin for years, the concept may not be understood by everybody. The article explains, “Well, it’s like money in that it has value and you can use it to buy goods and services. It’s also like a stock because the value fluctuates based on supply and demand. Unlike stock, there are no dividends, just whatever the bitcoin is worth on a given day.”

A common question that follows the explanation usually seeks to uncover where you find Bitcoins. Bitcoins are virtual and can be accessed from your computer, which acts as a “wallet.” A global system is used to update everyone’s holdings and a sophisticated computer system is used to help track the money. The money is not backed by any government and isn’t regulated like other currency.

Understanding the Election, Market Surprises and Interest Rate Increases

Understanding the Election, Market Surprises and Interest Rate Increases

As the end of 2016 grows closer, we have to say that this has certainly been an eventful year. A long presidential election campaign left many Americans feeling bruised and more divided than ever. And many people were surprised when Donald Trump emerged as the victor. Similar to Brexit’s unexpected win in June, election polling and conventional wisdom proved to be quite wrong once people actually voted.

The 2016 Election and Your Investments

The 2016 Election and Your Investments

Every four years, investors have to grapple with the volatility and uncertainty that comes with a presidential election. Sure-bets drop out, long-shot candidates surge to the front. Every election comes with plenty of surprises and uncertainty and the 2016 election is no different. As financial professionals, we field a lot of questions from our clients and friends about how politics and elections affect financial markets so we are going to address some of these common questions and concerns:

The DOL’s Fiduciary Rule: Bad for the Small Guy?

The DOL’s Fiduciary Rule: Bad for the Small Guy?

By Jessica Kmetty

Backdoor payments, hidden fees, loopholes in the rules…these were the conflicts of interest buried in fine print that advisors who were not acting as fiduciaries used to chisel away about a quarter of their clients’ retirement savings. When the Department of Labor issued their fiduciary rule, the theme was clear: when advising clients on retirement, advisors would legally be considered fiduciaries required to put their clients’ best interests before their own interests and excessive profits and loopholes would no longer stand. This sounds great for the investor, but what about the hidden consequences?