ChatGPT & The Big 8 | Financial Perspectives
With the biggest tech companies regaining stock market leadership, it’s understandable why investors and the media are attracted to these stocks. However, it’s tempting to forget how these same companies’ stock prices performed in 2022. This week, Kent Kramer shares some investment lessons to be learned from this AI/big tech story.
Chart of the Month – September 2024
Do you wonder why we invest in equities? Equities are an attractive investment for their growth characteristics, but they have also served as a hedge against inflation.
Chart of the Month – October 2024
Is stock market growth a thing of the past? Headlines making predictions about this have come and gone, some turning out to be spectacularly wrong. Let’s take a look.
Chart of the Month – Oct 2023
Have you ever said to yourself “If I would have just bought that stock, I would be set!” Or “How did I not see this coming? I was watching this stock years ago!” Or maybe “I should have never sold that stock!”
Chart of the Month – November 2024
When we examine the historical relationship between equities and cash, it becomes evident that while cash may offer safety and short-term stability, equities tend to outperform over time. For long-term investors, remember that your plan should influence the portfolio and that reacting to market conditions is not a wise reason to change your plan.
Chart of the Month – Nov 2022
The past fifteen years have been phenomenal for U.S. stocks. They've outperformed international stocks by close to 200%. Unfortunately, no one can predict when international stocks will outperform U.S. stocks, or vice-versa.
Chart of the Month – May 2025
When it comes to future performance, you don’t always get what you pay for. Let’s take a closer look.
Chart of the Month – May 2024
While cash may offer stability and security in the short term, the DFA Returns Web chart from 1926 through February 2024 suggests that the growth potential in stocks offers a higher rewarding investment opportunity in the long run.
3 Reasons to Own Foreign Stocks … Now! | Financial Perspectives
You may find yourself asking, "Why should I be invested outside the US, when the US market is doing so well relative to foreign stocks?" This week, Kent Kramer explains how this question can be answered by understanding risk management, global opportunities, and the currency effect.
2024 Looks as Uncertain as Ever | Financial Perspectives
The world is, and has always been, a surprising and uncertain place. This week, Kent Kramer dives into Foster Group's foundational investment principle #2: Embrace Uncertainty. He provides four positive reasons to embrace uncertainty and two big dangers of not embracing it.
2020: A Predictor’s Kryptonite
At the end of 2019, Foster Group’s Investment Strategy Group wanted to create an object lesson to illustrate how hard it is to predict what will happen in financial markets and the world in general.
10 Obstacles to Investing – and How to Overcome Them
In the following article David draws on his years of experience talking with investors and academics alike to address some common hesitations all investors face from time to time.
$1 Trillion!
“Sportsified” Diversification
The benefit of a diversified investment portfolio is that, while again we do not know who the actual winners and losers will be, the risk of excluding the best is greatly reduced.
“My Portfolio is Doing Well / Poor Compared to What?”
Merriam Webster defines a benchmark as “something that serves as a standard by which others may be measured or judged”. For investors, the question to ask is what should be my standard, my benchmark, in determining the success or failure of my overall investment portfolio?
“60% of the Time, It Works Every Time.”
“But it’s different this time!” I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this over the years. While it is true that the set of circumstances driving the market are always unique, the end result is almost always the same.