By Jay Pluimer, AIF® CIMA®
Monday, 10 October 2016
When the markets are relatively stable with no crisis on the horizon, whatever is the financial media to do? It comes up with headlines like: "It's Getting Scarily Quiet in the Stock Market" and "The Stock Market Is Quiet. Too Quiet".
Even when the stock market is humming along nicely (as it was in August), there's still pressure to act - often in a way that's contrary to your best interests. Although the fear of losing what you already have is real, successful investing requires discipline in good times and in bad times.
Friday, 24 June 2016
In its perpetual quest to feed the insatiable 24/7 news cycle, the financial media has once again latched onto the uncertainty over next steps for the Federal Reserve as it evaluates potential interest rate increases. Reminiscent of late last year, when the Federal Reserve raised the fed funds target rate for the first time since 2006, dire predictions abound for investors should the Fed make a policy misstep. While we agree that Fed policy does have important implications for investors, and uncertainty about the Fed's next move could be contributing to market volatility, we want to take a step back and provide a balanced assessment of the situation.
By Jay Pluimer, AIF® CIMA®
Thursday, 09 June 2016
Markets around the globe overnight and today are responding to Britain's decision via referendum to begin the process of exiting the European Union. Though the decision has seen widespread shock and some volatility in the market, we recommend taking a long view and not reacting to immediate market behavior.
By Kathy Longo, CFP®, CAP®, CDFA
Saturday, 30 April 2016
This might come as a shocking statement from a person who looks at numbers as part of her profession, but we can get too fixated on numbers to determine success or happiness. My discovery of number fixation wasn’t necessarily in preparation for building a new financial plan or working with a client. In this case it was related to an online shopping experience. My first question was about the quality of the item given the low price. The second question was my hesitation to buy clothes that didn’t meet the “vanity sizing” standards we are used to if they arrived with tags with a larger size number. (Did you know that the sizes we see in stores and on-line are larger in the US than elsewhere, so we can make a purchase and feel good about it?)
By Kathy Longo, CFP®, CAP®, CDFA
Thursday, 28 April 2016
The following article from CNBC provides helpful background information on the Financial Planning industry’s trend toward the use of Turnkey Asset Management Programs (TAMPs). As stated in my portion of the article, Flourish Wealth Management selected BAM Advisors to provide these services to support our clients. We have definitely benefited from this decision during the first 2 years at Flourish and are happy to share this article to provide additional perspective about these services. Enjoy!
