Blog

As we mentioned in our previous blog article, this is the season for looking back over the past year and also thinking about the year that lies ahead. With only four trading sessions left in the calendar year, 2020 is just about in the history books.

The Holidays are a time of tradition and giving. For 18 consecutive years, we have offered to make contributions to charities in honor of our clients instead of sending gift baskets during the Holiday Season.

As we come to the end of what has been possibly the most challenging year in recent memory, it is only natural that many of us are reviewing 2020 in our minds, thinking about the sweeping changes that we experienced: personally, professionally, and as citizens of our communities and our nation.

In a previous article, we discussed some specific ways that this pandemic year is affecting all of us. Many Americans—in fact, people from all over the world—feel more anxious, uncertain about the future, and on edge.

Many parents and grandparents have discovered that one of the secrets to teaching kids about money is giving them a chance to handle it responsibly, which includes saving a portion and watching it grow. The magic of compounding, if learned early in life, can impress upon even the very young that money is something that can actually work for you, rather than the other way around.

Inheriting money comes with plenty of benefits. From being less worried about paying for life’s necessities to enjoying the luxuries affluence can bring, inheritors often find that many of life’s key stumbling blocks are no longer in their paths.

During the pandemic, as many have been forced to remain at home, some analysts have traced a rise in day-trading activity, much of it coming from amateur investors who are using their forced quarantine time to indulge their speculative interests.

In our financial and investment counseling work with clients, we often use historical research to provide context and background for current market and economic conditions. In fact, when we are looking at almost any current situation or problem, it helps to remember the lessons we can learn from history.

For decades, buying gold or gold-based funds has been the classic hedge for investors who either fear worsening inflation or extreme disruption in the markets or the economy.

I recently heard someone use the phrase, “The map is not the territory.” This is an interesting way of stating the truth that looking at a map of an area doesn’t tell you everything about the area. For example, a map can’t tell you what it’s like to drive a particular stretch of highway on a rainy day or at night.