If you’re a Pinnacle client, I have some very good news for you. I’ll get to that in a moment, but first, I want to share a few observations about recent market activity… Based on the current status of the markets as related by the media, are investors entitled to be anxious? Nervous? Frightened? Of…
Sophisticated investors pay attention when someone brings up the topic of portfolio risk management. Affluent investors are often the most risk averse, perhaps because they have already accumulated enough money during their lifetime to achieve their financial planning objectives. Having reached their accumulation goals, they don’t want to lose their hard-earned gains because the financial…
On Saturday, March 17, 2018, Pinnacle Advisory Group’s investment team offered their thoughts on the market, outlined upcoming investment trends and wealth preservation strategies, and explained our approach to risk management. Here’s what they covered: 0:00 – Ken Solow: Volatility and Risk 20:56 – Rick Vollaro: A Time of Gradual Transition 39:08 – Sauro Locatelli:…
James had been a saver for his entire adult life and was proud of the fact that he had accumulated his retirement nest egg by following the financial ‘rules of the game.’ He and his wife, Irene, had saved the $3 million their advisors said was the amount they needed to finally retire and pursue…
We are pleased to present a recording of “Roadmaps and Hangovers,” our 2017 Inside the Investment Committee event, which gave attendees an inside look at the thoughts, views, and strategies of our investment team.
Do the terms “upward sloping equity glide paths” and “bond tents” seem unfamiliar to you? They are terms that financial planning researchers are using to describe investment strategies designed to mitigate “sequence risk,” the risk that your portfolio returns will occur in the wrong order, thereby negatively impacting the amount of income your retirement account will generate. Pinnacle’s Director of Wealth Management, Michael Kitces, writes an interesting article on the subject in this month’s OnWallStreet, titled, “Avoid the Retirement Danger Zone.” (You can read the article by clicking here.) Since most Pinnacle clients fall in the age range of 50 to 70, where pre-retirement and early post-retirement risk is the highest, and since the recent election has clients questioning recent portfolio volatility (in this case, to the upside), it seems a good time to revisit the question of whether active portfolio management still makes sense.
Is a portfolio worth $500,000 a lot of money for retirement? How about $1 million? What if you’ve saved $5 million? I get asked this a lot, and I find it helps to reframe the question: Is $2,000 a month a lot of money? What about $5,000 a month? Or $10,000?
When you look at it this way, you probably already know your answer. That’s because we generally conceive of wealth in terms of current income and not assets. Think about it: We pay income taxes and see our tax withholding on every pay stub, and we routinely deal with monthly bills and expenses that must be paid with current income.
We are pleased to present a recording of “Bearish Tendencies (and Silver Linings),” our 2016 Inside the Investment Committee event, which gave attendees an inside look at the thoughts, views, and strategies of our investment team. Table of Contents (To go directly to a speaker, drag the round video playhead to the time listed below.)…
Hear Ken Solow discuss presidential politics, the national economy, global markets, and your money on Dan Rodrick’s Roughly Speaking podcast. To fast forward to Ken, click on the 51 minute mark.
The S&P 500 Index is down over 12% from its high last May, which qualifies as a market correction but not a bear market. In fact, it’s been quite a while since we experienced our last bear, although it may not feel that way. From April to October of 2011, the stock market declined by 19.39% on a closing basis. While experts can debate whether this meets the definition of a bear market (which are typically defined as 20% declines), those who remember it will recall how scary it was. By the time the market bottomed in October, many were recalling the 2007–2009 bear market, which was gut wrenching for everyone. During that excruciating market decline, the S&P 500 Index fell by 55% and the economy tumbled into a deep recession. It is only in hindsight that we can see that both the market bottom in 2009 and the October low in 2011 marked important market bottoms. Since October of 2011, the S&P 500 Index rallied 94% to its eventual high set in May of last year.
