Roadtrips & Recessions | Financial Perspectives

The economy and markets are a bit like summer car travel/construction. There's a recession and/or a bear market in the rearview mirror, you're in one, or there is one right around the corner.

Chart of the Month – June 2022

There are nearly two job openings for every unemployed worker with labor statistics showing 11.4 million job openings compared to 5.9 unemployed workers as of April 30, 2022. This mismatch between jobs and workers means that workers have options, including leverage to ask for more pay.

Making the Best of It | Financial Perspectives

It continues to be a volatile period for investors in stock and bond markets around the world. And while the news, like the weather, has seemed a little gloomy this spring, summer is around the corner and maybe it’s time to make the best of it! In today’s edition, Matt Moklestad, Lead Advisor – Institutional, discusses tax loss harvesting.

Investment Policy Statement – Why Is It Important?

It is important for all investors, whether an individual, family, retirement plan, or nonprofit, to plan their investment approach around their goals and objectives. Investment Policy Statements (IPS) often document these items. Here are four reasons why it is important to have a clearly articulated IPS.

An Investment Portfolio Is Like a Good Smoothie

Recently, I rediscovered the benefits of homemade smoothies for breakfast. They are nutritious, natural, easy to make, efficient, and delicious! This morning, I was thinking about how a good investment portfolio is like a good smoothie! 

September 27th, 2021 Financial Perspectives

In Part two of our interview with Marlena Lee from Dimensional, Kent Kramer and Marlena dig deeper into changes to asset allocation and ESG investing risks and considerations.

DraftKings Knows More About You Than You Know About You

For 12 seconds, consider what a company knows about you and their own profitability if they are willing to offer you a $500 risk-free bet to get started. That’s what DraftKings just promised me in a commercial. Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? OK, the 12 seconds are up. What did you come up with?

Equilibrium Markets in the Time of COVID

Over the years, Foster Group has utilized a number of mutual funds and exchange traded funds managed by Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA). DFA was founded in 1981 on the idea of making academic investment research and empirically based portfolio management accessible to investors. In this article, Professor Kenneth French describes how markets responded to the events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

You Will Have Forgotten Monday, July 19

By the time you read this, you will have most likely forgotten today. My guess is that you won’t remember what went on this day. You might remember a feeling or thought you had when you heard what was happening in the stock market. But then, you sent an email, mowed your lawn, took your dog on a walk and ate something healthy, like broccoli, for dinner.

August 24, 2021 Financial Perspectives

Is it possible to be too smart? Can a problem or set of circumstances be overanalyzed? Is there such a thing as too much information? There’s some evidence out there that this is indeed possible! Kent Kramer shares our perspective on what’s been happening in and around financial markets recently and what we think successful investors should be thinking about – without overthinking it!

What’s Your Best Buy: Firm Foundation or Castle In the Air?

If an investor could discover the true worth of a company, a piece of real estate or even an idea, where “true worth” equated to the future value or price that others would pay, success would be almost certain to follow. Those opportunities that were priced significantly lower than the future value would be automatic buys. The one’s with higher prices today than the future price would be ones to avoid. If only it were that simple!