2024 July Market Review
The S&P 500 recouped its April (-4.16%) decline and posted its 23rd new closing high of the year, up 15.3% year to date.
Surplus Cash in the Bank, Put It To Work!
When you find yourself with a surplus of cash sitting idle in your bank account, it's time to strategize. Here’s how to put that money to work effectively, making every dollar count. Whether you’re eyeing investment opportunities, planning for future expenses, or simply wanting to boost your financial security, let’s explore some savvy moves you can make.
1. Maintain your Emergency Fund
How Financial Plans Can Also Help in the Short-Term
When most of us think about financial plans, the focus tends to be on the long-term, particularly retirement. That makes sense because most people need to save and invest money to help cover their future expenses when they eventually stop working.
When preparing a financial plan, it is also important to be ready for potential short-term financial needs. In 2024, a number of our clients across various ages, geographies and industries have been laid off from their jobs, making it hard to predict who is at risk for short-term financial needs.
Do You Worry About Paying for High School or College?
Every year at this time our neighbourhood is filled with lawn signs congratulating students for graduating from elementary, middle, or high school. For graduates, it’s an emotional time of year, particularly for teenagers who leave schools where they were accustomed to routines and embark on a new stage in their life - whether that be high school, college, or perhaps a different path altogether. For our family, we are celebrating our oldest daughter’s graduation from 8th grade.
Understanding the Asset Class Periodic Table
The asset class periodic table is a useful tool to help investors understand the characteristics of different types of investments and how they may fit into a diversified portfolio. Let’s begin with the end in mind.
The asset allocation portfolio (white box in every column) illustrates how spreading investments across a variety of asset classes can reduce overall risk with more consistent relative returns: never at the top, never at the bottom.
Bonds Are Not Always Boring
Bonds are intended to be one of the less exciting, some might even say boring, parts of most people’s portfolios. For retirees, bonds often make up a large part of the portfolio in order to generate needed income. For people saving before retirement, bonds take on the role of stabilizing the portfolios, so they are not completely subject to the ups and downs of stocks.
Keep Your Eye On The Prize
In life, focusing on what’s within your control can be easier said than done. The same can apply to investing and planning for retirement. With investing and planning for retirement, there is more that is out of control, than within our control. Try not to get distracted by social media or volatile markets, and instead focus on what’s within your control including saving, investing and diversifying across asset classes.
Let’s start with the importance of starting early and staying invested to take advantage of compounding your investment returns.
2024 April Market Review
As they did last quarter, US large cap returns continued to dominate, up 10.6% in Q1. US stocks are now at all-time highs and near-record valuations.
2024 January Market Review
2023 was an interesting year in the equity and fixed income markets. Check out AssetGrade’s review of the markets for 2023. Learn more about the markets, inflation, resilient US consumer, and importance of staying invested.