News & Updates

August 15, 2011 | Catey Hill, Smart Money This past week’s historic market gyrations have most investors worried, but none more so than retirees, who have a fixed pot that has to last as long as they do. And when the markets change dramatically, advisers say, so do the rules...

Dear Clients, The credit rating downgrade of US Treasuries discussed in a previous communication has come to pass.  Yesterday, S&P lowered the rating for US Treasuries to AA+ from AAA.  As noted in that earlier communication, it is likely that the impact of this action on the Treasuries market will...

A version of this letter was originally sent on July 24, 2011 Dear Clients, I am sure that you have been following with concern the political drama unfolding in Washington around the issue of raising our nation’s debt ceiling. At this moment, it is not clear what the final resolution...

June 03, 2011|Carolyn Bigda, Chicago Tribune It seems that every time I log on to Facebook these days I see another post announcing a new baby. And for many of the proud parents, one of the spouses will be leaving the workforce to care for the growing family....

November 22, 2010 | Wall Street Journal/Financial Adviser Section I practice KISS investment management. KISS stands for ‘Keep it simple, stupid.’ Too many advisers make their investment strategy the heart of their business, when it’s just one facet of a complete financial plan. Complex investment schemes might be seductive to...

October 10, 2010 | Jessica Toonkel, Investment News Adam Bold, chief investment officer of The Mutual Fund Store, thinks that all the talk about exchange-traded funds is just hype. But last fall, he saw an ETF that interested him: Van Eck Global’s Market Vectors Pre-Refunded Municipal Index Fund. However, when...

September 20, 2010 | Veronica Dagher, Wall Street Journal/Wealth Adviser Section Many financial planners don’t want to take on clients in their 20s and 30s, figuring that young investors have too few assets to justify the planner’s time and attention....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 6, 2010 – Highland, MI –ACA member Joe Alfonso, CFP®, ChFC has been elected to the NAPFA West Region Board of Directors. He will begin his two-year term on September 1, 2010....

Investors fret about the performance of their portfolios. They worry whether they will be able to realize a rate of return sufficient to help them meet their goals and if they are taking on enough (or too much) risk to achieve this. While these are valid concerns, they are ultimately...

Morningstar recently issued a report regarding the performance of the CGM Focus mutual fund. They reported how this fund was the decade’s best performing mutual fund, rising more than 18% annually, yet investors in the fund experienced a yearly loss of 11% during this same period. How could this be?...

There exists a long-running debate regarding whether it is possible for individual investors to outperform the broader stock market consistently over time. On one side are those who believe that there are investors who have an inherent ability to outperform, add “alpha” is the expression, through shrewd stock picking and...

You’ve seen the ads for “huge savings” on central air conditioning systems touting a $1,500 federal tax credit. What these ads are referring to is the expansion of tax credits for heating and air conditioning equipment in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) signed into law on...

As you probably already know, the tax law is changing in 2010 to remove the current restriction for making traditional IRA to Roth conversions. Currently, individuals with modified adjusted gross incomes in excess of $100,000 cannot do a conversion without incurring a 10% penalty if they are younger than 59...