Before we get started, do us a favor. Pick up your phone or go to your computer. Open your internet browser and search for “S&P 500.” The first result will show the current price of the index. Make a note of the number.
Looking back on the quarter that was and ahead to the quarter that is to be better-informed investors!
Everyone knows the Fourth of July is a chance to go on that much-needed summer vacation. It’s an opportunity to get together with family and enjoy backyard barbecue. It’s a time for parades and picnics, fireworks, and fun. It’s a way to feel and express pride in our country.
When we were kids, most of us were taught that “The only bad question is the one left unasked.” As a financial advisor, we've found that statement to be proven true time and time again.
Have you ever heard the stock market be compared to a roller coaster? There’s a good reason for this. While sometimes the markets will go through long, relatively flat periods, there are also times when they will rise and fall, climb and dip with astonishing speed.
For most of us, the words “bank failure” immediately trigger the same memory: the financial crisis of 2008. That was a year no investor could ever forget. The year some of the largest, most storied financial institutions in the world – think Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and others – collapsed, never to return.