By Steven Smith | Waypoints
The S&P 500 (Total Return) Index gained 9.07% in 2019’s final quarter. Bringing the advance for the year to 31.49% — and for the decade, to an average annual 13.56%. (And yet, all anybody wants to talk about is how poorly their bonds are performing. The Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index eked out a […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Financial News , Waypoints
After a fitful bout of volatility during the month of August, including an 800 point one-day drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 (Total Return) Index turned in a respectable 1.70% gain for the quarter. That brought the year-to-date return to an extraordinary 20.55%. (For context, the most recent 12-month return, which […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Financial Lifestyle , Life Transitions , Mountain Lifestyle , Peak Thoughts , Retirement , Wealth Management
Do the mountains call you for your dream retirement? Many people, including most of my clients, aspire to retire to the active lifestyle, fresh air and natural beauty of the Colorado mountains. What will it take to achieve that dream? Here are some considerations for planning your mountain retirement: Follow Your Dream […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Peak Thoughts , Uncategorized
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 […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Peak Thoughts , Uncategorized
If you are – or expect to be – the owner of a $500,000 or greater IRA or 401k, you’ll want to monitor the progress of the SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act, recently passed by the House, by an overwhelming 417 – 3 margin. Among its provisions is the elimination of […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Financial News , Money , Uncategorized , Waypoints
By almost any measure, the past decade has been one of the best 10-year periods in history for the US stock market. Quarter after quarter, with just a few hiccups, the market has climbed steadily since the market bottomed in March of 2009. This past quarter was no exception, with the S&P 500 (total return) […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Uncategorized , Waypoints
There is a saying about the weather here in Colorado: If you don’t like it, just wait a minute. When it comes to the stock market, one quarter is the equivalent of about a minute’s worth of weather. The S&P 500 (total return) Index rose 13.65% in the first quarter; the largest first quarter gain […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Peak Thoughts , Uncategorized
One of the great influences in my practice has been Larry Swedroe. (Another, of course, was the late John Bogle). Fifteen years ago, I started this practice by giving away copies of one of Larry’s first books, The Successful Investor Today, 14 Simple Truths You Must Know When You Invest (St. Martin’s Press 2003). (I […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Peak Thoughts , Uncategorized
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs… Rudyard Kipling, from the poem If, circa 1895 We will forever be debating the causes of the 2008 financial crisis and the government’s attempts to minimize its effects. But the worst modern bear market other than the one caused by the Great […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Meanderings , Uncategorized
It’s only been a few weeks since the passing of John Bogle, the inventor of the index fund. In memoriam, I – along with many others – was singing the praises of the index fund for its ultra-low-cost ability to track the broad market. One writer has even given credit to the index fund for […]
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