News & Updates

The following is our update of global market performance in Q1 2013. Q1 2013 Global Market Performance...

One of the keys to successful investing is to resist the natural human tendency to extrapolate the recent past into the future. This tendency is known in behavioral science as “recency bias” and manifests itself in investor decisions to buy or sell based on recent market performance....

April 24, 2013|Joseph Alfonso, Credit.com All of us hope that at the end of a long working career we will be able to enjoy retirement secure in the knowledge that we can support our desired lifestyle without ever running out of money. Given that Americans are living longer than ever...

April 15, 2013|Joseph Alfonso, Credit.com By now most of us have filed our income tax returns, and the last thing we want to do at this point is think about taxes....

April 13, 2013|Veronica Dagher, The Wall Street Journal What you don’t know about your 401(k) could hurt you. Millions of Americans are counting on their 401(k) to fund their golden years. But financial advisers say some people may be making mistakes with their 401(k)s that could hurt them now and...

April 11, 2013|Cliff Newell, The Lake Oswego Review Kathleen Rehl to lead workshop on financial planning for widows April 20 in Lake Oswego Nothing can prepare a woman for the shock and grief that comes with the loss of a husband....

I’d like to share this drawing sent to me by a colleague. It is motivated by the current news in the headlines about the situation in Cyprus, but it applies to all crises du jour that the media chooses to pontificate about....

January 25, 2013|Joe Light, The Wall Street Journal For the past five years, the Federal Reserve has pushed down the interest rates on traditionally safe assets such as Treasury bonds to near record lows, in hopes of sparking the economy. Today’s 10-year Treasury rate of about 1.95% is about half...

The following is our update of global market performance in Q4 2012. Q4 2012 Global Market Performance...

January 5, 2013 |Brent Hunsberger, The Oregonian From afar, cliffs can be beautiful, awe-inspiring. Up close, they’re jagged, intimidating and dangerous. What Congress did last week to avert the fiscal cliff works just the opposite. For now, the vast majority of taxpayers will find nice windfalls, immediate relief. But down...

The following is our update of global market performance in Q3 2012: Q3 2012 Global Stock Market Performance...

The following is our update of global market performance in Q2 2012. Q2 2012 Global Markets Review...

I am always struck by the financial media’s response to market turbulence. Pundits regularly react to events such as the current European debt crisis or the slow-to-recover US economy as if these challenges are somehow unprecedented, requiring a fundamental change in how investors should behave....

Putting aside politics and the ongoing debate about its long term viability, Social Security remains a core component of retirement planning. Knowing your estimated benefits at age 62, full retirement age and age 70 is important in developing a retirement strategy and deciding when to begin receiving Social Security payments....

May 2012 |Eric Rasmussen, Financial Advisor Magazine Whether it’s sibling rivalries, poorly thought out trusts or simply greed, the estate planning world offers an abundance of horror stories....