August 9, 2021 Financial Perspectives – ESG Investing Pt 2
Barbell Portfolios Can Be Hard To Hold On To
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.
Baseball and Investing: Managing Behavior for Success
Money is emotional and our “news” cycle is a catalyst. Investors react to what they hear and how they feel, oftentimes to their own detriment.
Basketball, Movies, and the Transformed Investor | Financial Perspectives
In this week's edition of Financial Perspectives, Kent Kramer covers everything from basketball and movies to Nobel Prize winners and a unique investment journey with Dave Butler, Co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors.
Watch "Tune Out the Noise": https://film.dimensional.com
Access Code: MARKETSWORK
Bear Markets and Life Jackets
For anyone invested right now, it feels like we’re sinking. But just as boats have lifejackets to keep you afloat, your financial life should have its own lifejackets in place to help keep you from sinking in bear market times like these.
Being a Counterintuitive Investor – Do Stock Markets Follow GDP?
Breaking Down the Banking Headlines: Part Two | 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 Jim Plagge, President & CEO of Bank Iowa, provide context and insights to those questions.
Can Your Lifeboat Stay Afloat
Celebrating Saying Goodbye Day
In our family, we have a tradition in which, the night before our kids’ birthdays, we pause for a moment to recap the last year by reminiscing about their successes and failures. It dawned on me that these are the same feelings investors experience and learn from on their financial journeys.
Changing with My Aging
Chart of the Month – Apr 2022
Housing affordability is trending in the wrong direction. Take a look at our chart of the month showing housing affordability over the last 50 years.
Chart of the Month – Apr 2023
"Why would anyone buy a 5-year bond at 3.5% when you could get a 1-year bond at 4%?"
"Why don't I put all my money in a 4-month T-bill and make 4.9%?"
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?
Chart of the Month – Aug 2023
Increasing interest rates have many effects, not only on the economy, but also on stocks. Given the recent rally, we wanted to highlight that rising rates do not always mean that stocks will go down. While the stock market is not making new all-time highs just yet, the market has been resilient to a regime thought to be a drag on the markets.
Chart of the Month – Dec 2022
Those of you who keep up with the financial news are likely familiar with the three most quoted indices, the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the NASDAQ. Sometimes, the returns for all of them are similar, but sometimes they are not.
Chart of the Month – December 2023
This year, we have seen a runup in several large names, mostly in the technology space. They have been dubbed the “Magnificent Seven” by financial news publications. Why might this matter to an investor?
Chart of the Month – Feb 2022
Market declines are never enjoyable in the moment. But these kinds of intra-year pull backs are normal when looking at market history.