Breaking Down the Banking Headlines: Part One | Financial Perspectives

With the banking industry and markets continuing to be leading topics in the news, many investors are asking, “What is going on? Is this something to be worried about? Should I be taking action?” In this special edition of Financial Perspectives, Matt Abels and Michael Westphal provide context and insights to those questions. Tune in next week for part two, where we’ll be joined by Jim Plagge, President and CEO of Bank Iowa.

Poker Lessons. Expect to Be Surprised. | Financial Perspectives

Poker is great training ground for evaluating circumstances where you may have enough information to know the odds of success or failure, but not enough information to guarantee the outcome -- a lot like investing. This week, Kent Kramer looks at how understanding odds and probability can help make sense of elections and investment markets.

Chart of the Month – Aug 2022

The housing market has been hot since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prices have soared and the interest rate to borrow money for those homes has been at historically low levels. But what is happening now?

Poker Lessons. Expect to Be Surprised. | Financial Perspectives

Poker is great training ground for evaluating circumstances where you may have enough information to know the odds of success or failure, but not enough information to guarantee the outcome -- a lot like investing. This week, Kent Kramer looks at how understanding odds and probability can help make sense of elections and investment markets.

Chart of the Month – Aug 2022

The housing market has been hot since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prices have soared and the interest rate to borrow money for those homes has been at historically low levels. But what is happening now?

Q1 Wrap Up: Ukraine, Inflation, Interest Rates | Financial Perspectives

The first quarter of 2022 is in the books and once again, surprising events dominated the news. Russia invading Ukraine and the continued climb in inflation were the focus of attention and for good reason. In this week's Financial Perspectives, we'll take a look at what is happening in markets and the global economy and what investors may want to know.

Happy New Year? | Financial Perspectives

Market returns for the first three weeks of 2022 have not been full of happy reports. US stocks, especially some of the biggest names and winners of 2020 and 2021 have fallen into what is called “correction” territory. Is inflation and the concern with rising interest rates the whole story?

New Year – Rates are Rising | Financial Perspectives

Welcome to 2022 where the news seem to focus, again, on rising rates –for COVID infections due to Omicron, inflation, and interest rates. The markets seem to be most concerned about interest rates. This week Kent Kramer looks at why that might be the case and what may be in store for interest rates in 2022.