Insights

No matter how familiar we are with investing, we’ve all navigated uncertainty, weighed risks and rewards, and made carefully considered tradeoff decisions. Just by being human, we’ve been compelled to tackle the central challenges of life—which also happen to be the central challenges of investing. We believe that having a good investment experience is about more than returns. What matters just as much is how someone feels along their financial journey. And that’s really what the investment business should be
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On Friday, March 10, regulators took control of Silicon Valley Bank as a run on the bank unfolded. Two days later, regulators took control of a second lender, Signature Bank. With increasing anxiety, many investors are eyeing their portfolios for exposure to these and other regional banks. Rather than rummaging through your portfolio looking for trouble when headlines make you anxious, turn instead to your investment plan. Hopefully, your plan is designed with your long-term goals in mind and is
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Certain planning situations like when a client is scheduled to receive substantial sums of wealth ($5M-$15M+) call for advanced planning techniques. Our client may feel a need to transition from wealth creation to wealth preservation. These scenarios include a large inheritance, liquidation scenarios such as a company sale, either a personal company or a corporate sale when the client holds a sizeable amount of company stock, and/or simply the payment of a large bonus. Advanced planning techniques include the consideration
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As a fiduciary, MFG is committed to illustrating all investment options available to our clients, identifying pros and cons of each opportunity and assisting in making informed decisions based on your personal investment plan and financial life. One way we support our clients is by minimizing single stock risk in your portfolio caused by stock concentration. We define a concentrated position as a single stock or handful of stocks making up 10% or more of someone’s investable assets. Stock concentration
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Many apps today claim to instantly calculate your net worth by adding up your banking and investment accounts and then deducting what you owe on your credit cards and mortgage. But in my mind, that number reflects wealth. Worth is more complex. Because I believe that if you make life better for someone else, then you’re worth something. That’s true in business, and it’s true in life. My parents never made a lot of money, but they were worth a
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Bucket portfolios aren’t rational, but they are perfectly normal and can be an effective tool for investors. Bucket portfolios are aimed at providing spending resources during investors’ decumulation periods, usually in retirement. They are typically composed of three buckets, arranged by time horizon and investment type. The first bucket contains cash, such as a money market fund, sufficient for spending as planned in the short horizon and set at one, two or perhaps five years. The second consists mostly of
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Think back to December 2019. The economy was humming. Unemployment, interest rates, and inflation were at historically low levels. But then what happened? A global pandemic hit. By the end of March, the S&P 500 had dropped nearly 20% in value.1 Later in the year, scientists announced that they’d developed a vaccine, and markets roared back. FAANG stocks soared … before giving up a lot of gains.2 Meme stocks shot way up … and fell back down. Bitcoin and other
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Technology enables immediate access to everything wherever and whenever we want it. In many cases, such as staying in touch with friends and family, or learning about world events, that’s a good thing. However, when it comes to investing and money management, my fear is that faster and easier ways of investing will allow people to lose more money faster and easier. As access to investing expands, it becomes even more important to adopt an investment plan that doesn’t try
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Along with warmer weather and lazy days spent at a pool, summertime also often includes a family gathering, such as a Fourth of July barbecue, a family vacation, a reunion, or time spent at a family cabin or lake house. Whatever the form, in our always-on-the-go society, getting the whole family together is a rare occurrence. Consider taking advantage of this time together to discuss your estate and financial wishes with your family by including a family meeting in your
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KEY TAKEAWAYS Soaring inflation and record market highs may leave investors wondering whether it’s time to adjust their portfolios. Researchers have examined a wide range of timing strategies based on earnings, dividends, interest rates, economic growth, and more. A recent Morningstar report showed that investors may be better off steering clear of tactical asset allocation strategies and avoiding making short-term shifts among asset classes. After touching record highs in early January, US stocks(1) have slumped, and investors have been confronted
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