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.
In my experience, the joy of generosity is not dependent on monetary value or other objective measures of size or significance. Generosity done well always has the potential to bring joy to both givers and receivers.
In the NCAA tournaments, uncertainty and underdogs pulling off the impossible upset of a top-ranked team is a certainty. This week, Kent Kramer observes how we can learn from March Madness and apply those observations to investing.
In this week's special edition of Financial Perspectives, Kent Kramer has a conversation with 2022 Morningstar Outstanding Portfolio Manager award winner, Mary Ellen Stanek, who is managing director and co-chief investment officer of Baird. In this conversation, Kent and Mary Ellen cover everything from market history and trends to surprising interviews.
Spring and it's emerging signs of life are great reminders of how many things in our lives start small. But with a little attention year after year, small things can grow to become meaningful and enjoyable contributions to our lives and the lives of others.
Educated optimism is an antidote for anxious uncertainty, and it can be of great help in enabling investors to embrace the uncertainty that is with us all the time.
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.
I certainly would argue that building a business is more than just a dice game, but both involve risk. How you fill out your scoresheet in Yahtzee is a good example of what business owners might decide to do with their business profits.
What is true wealth? That’s a question we ask our clients at Foster Group. It’s a question we ask ourselves. I’d like to share a story that reminded me of what this means to me.
While executive benefits such as stock options, other equity compensation, and deferred compensation can be powerful accumulation tools, knowing how they fit into your overall financial picture can be challenging.
Barbells work great at the gym because they put weight on a bar in such a way that it’s balanced, leaving room in the middle for someone to use it to workout. We often see portfolios that are designed like a barbell at the gym: lots of risk in one account and lots of cash or very short-term securities in another. In aggregate, it might produce some balance, but the reality is that it can create some real challenges.
In more than a decade of working with clients, I’ve discovered that one thing tends to do more damage to financial plans than any other.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with a number of executives over the years and have found some commonly missed financial opportunities.
The beginning of the fourth quarter is a great time to check-in on your finances and make sure you consider planning opportunities before the end of the calendar year. Read this blog to see my top three priorities when it comes to fourth quarter planning.
For most of us, it’s that time of the year when we make benefits elections for next year. These are important decisions.
Index funds are popular investment tools for good reason. They are low cost, effective ways to capture market return. Choosing to use index funds is only half the battle though; you must use them correctly to truly benefit.
One of the significant changes in the tax reform bill signed by Governor Reynolds on March 1, is the eventual elimination of federal tax deductibility for determining taxable income. Iowa was one of the few remaining states that allowed taxpayers to deduct federal taxes to determine their state income taxes.
