Uncategorized Archives - Rightpath Investments & Financial Planning, Inc.

ESG Investing Back in the Arena, Political Hot Potato Gets Tossed Again

ESG Investing, Meanderings, Uncategorized / By Steven Smith / December 28, 2022

The political football has been tossed back into the hands of workplace retirement investors who want to take their values into account in managing their portfolios. At the end of 2020, the US Department of Labor, responsible under ERISA for regulating 401Ks, changed the rules for sustainable investing, moving the goal posts for fiduciaries by …

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2nd Quarter Client Note – A Bear Market Roars

Uncategorized / By Steven Smith / July 11, 2022

Every spring, the bears in Colorado’s high country come out of hibernation. (In fact, we just had one – pictured below – stop by for dinner with us the other day.) Thankfully, bear markets are not quite so regular. But they do occur periodically and we are experiencing one right now. Interestingly, use of that …

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1st Quarter Client Note

Uncategorized, Waypoints / By Steven Smith / April 14, 2022

We finally turned the corner on Covid (hopefully) and now find our European allies facing the worst military crisis since World War II — and possibly on the precipice of a nuclear confrontation with the out-of-control Russian leader. After being down by over 10% mid-quarter, the S & P 500 (total return) Index ended the …

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Dealing with the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Meanderings, News, Uncategorized / By Steven Smith / February 25, 2022

On Wednesday night, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin followed through on his threat to invade his neighbor, the sovereign nation of Ukraine. It is difficult to know his actual motivations and what his plan is. But this is obviously an affront to the post-WW War II international order. And a tragedy for the Ukrainian people. …

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1st Quarter Client Note – Still Standing

Uncategorized, Waypoints / By Steven Smith / April 16, 2021

When writing my client note at this time last year, we were in the vortex of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Cases were exploding around the world. Hospitals were overwhelmed – or nearly so. And deaths were mounting. Social distancing had been imposed. Businesses were shuttered. There were massive layoffs, particularly in the …

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Preparing for Short-Term Election Volatility

Financial News, Investment Management, Peak Thoughts, Political News, Uncategorized, Wealth Management / By Steven Smith / October 2, 2020

What’s better for investors, Republican Presidents or Democrat Presidents? It’s a trick question. First, because in general, over the long run, it doesn’t matter. While some data correlates Democratic administrations with stronger markets since the end of World War II, there is no evidence of a cause and effect relationship. And this nifty interactive exhibit …

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Retire Early? Retire Late? Or Retire Right on Time? – Lessons from the Early Retirement Movement

Financial Lifestyle, Peak Thoughts, Retirement, Uncategorized / By Steven Smith / September 10, 2020

The FIRE movement captured my interest only recently. Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) is an aspiration of motivated young people today to stop working and retire in their 30’s and 40’s. As a retirement advisor, seeing the obvious challenges of saving enough money and otherwise getting one’s act together at such an age, I rather …

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CARES Act Relaxes Rules for Charitable Giving

Meanderings, Uncategorized / By Steven Smith / April 5, 2020

The $2.2 trillion stimulus package – known as the CARES Act – passed by Congress and signed by the President on March 27 created strong incentives for charitable giving in 2020 to meet the needs of people tragically affected by Covid-19. There are provisions for both modest and more affluent donors alike. $300 Above-the-Line Universal …

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The Coronavirus and Market Volatility

Uncategorized / By Steven Smith / March 6, 2020

The trickle of news out of China, beginning last December, around the novel coronavirus (now being called Covid-19) became a deluge last week, as over 100,000 cases have now been detected in 70 countries, including the US. Colorado reported its first case yesterday. There have been around 3,000 deaths reported world-wide, including 12 as of …

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Value Investing and Skiing May be The Key to Living Longer

Peak Thoughts, Uncategorized / By Steven Smith / September 20, 2019

A recent column entitled, Survivor Bias: Why Successful Value Investors Live Longer, mused on the apparent longevity of legendary value investors Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett. Today’s long suffering value investors, looking for a silver lining in the decade plus underperformance of value stocks, may find one in Munger’s quip that “professors, judges and value …

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