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Please find the next blog in our monthly series that provides a review of the prior month’s market data, the state of the economy, and the global financial markets. Global Economy: Relative to the historic second half of March, markets appeared comparatively calm throughout April. Alongside that reduction in volatility was a very strong comeback in markets across the risk spectrum, with US equities generally leading the way. The tidal wave of COVID-19 infections that started in China continues to roll through the US and other countries while an undercurrent of optimism is helping to buoy the markets. Uncertainties around…

According to a 2019 Senate committee report, older adults lose an estimated $2.9 billion each year to financial scams. Law enforcement struggles to fight these scams because they are being executed from foreign call centers beyond their scope. From the report, the most common scam involved individuals impersonating someone from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) attempting to con seniors by telling them they owe money trying to get personal and financial information. Other prevalent scams this report mentions are robocalls, sweepstakes and lottery scams, computer tech-support scams, elder financial abuse, grandparent scams, romance scams, Social Security impersonations, impending lawsuit scams…

The situation with COVID 19 evolves daily. Recent reports indicate that many business are set to re-open in the next couple weeks. As this happens we think it is critical to remind our clients, friends, and family over the age of 70 just how risky the health situation remains. As I’m sure we have all seen in the news, people over the age of 70 are the most at risk for having complications from the virus. From the data so far, we know this age group makes up the largest percentage requiring hospitalization, being admitted to the intensive care unit and those…

Business owners are visionaries. They possess the ability to see a future they want, define a plan to get there, and gather the necessary resources. Currently, we are all in a time where this is being challenged. During this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic time, we believe business owners will define themselves by how they respond to this adversity. We believe stage one is play defense and protect what you can. Our thoughts and advice are: Conserve Cash         Accounts receivable management – You need to be on the phone with people who owe you money now. Collect as much as you can…

Background Coming out of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2009, developed market central banks utilized Quantitative Easing (QE) as a way to stimulate their respective economies. Generally through the purchase of sovereign bonds, the central banks were able to reduce interest rates along the yield curve, essentially making it less desirable to hold safe haven investments and consequently more attractive to favor risk assets. This action, in conjunction with reductions in key policy rates, encouraged investment and helped to revive economic growth. The new “normal” has been characterized by easy access to money via the bond market. Inflation has…

Please find the next blog in our monthly series that provides a review of the prior month’s market data, the state of the economy, and the global financial markets. Global Economy: In some sense, the world was more united than it has been in a long time in March. As COVID-19 moves like a tidal wave across the globe, all countries are at different but inevitable stages in addressing the abrupt social and economic impacts of this external health shock. Whereas China has most of its production facilities back on-line, the U.S. has at least another month of recommended social…

As we are now a few weeks into this tragic period in the U.S. and the world, it can become easier to get discouraged and let negativity take over our mind.  One thing we learned during the financial crisis of 2008 was that there are opportunities to make progress during a horrible situation.  We must force ourselves to try to identify even the small things we can do to move forward during these tough times.  Often, doing small things makes us feel better and more confident, and then progress can begin to snowball into other areas. With this idea in…

As we continue to deal with the spread of COVID-19, we thought it was important to review some facts about the virus that we know as of now. As you know, this is a developing situation, and the facts will change and evolve as our health care community learns more and more about the situation. But as of today (3/26/2020), here are what we believe to be very solid facts about the virus. Symptoms: According to the CDC, these most common symptoms of COVID-19 usually appear 2-14 days after exposure: fever, cough and shortness of breath. Emergency warning signs to get…

Extraordinary Market Events: Implied and realized volatility in both stocks and bonds has ramped to levels not seen since the global financial crisis. Equity markets officially entered bear market territory, with key benchmarks down over 20% from mid-February highs. The entire US Treasury yield curve briefly traded below 1%, as the 10-year bond breached 0.40% and set all-time lows. Oil has fallen 48% year-to-date as a pricing war between Saudi Arabia and Russia compounds global demand concerns. Aggressive Monetary Policy Response: 2/28/20 – In a short statement, Chair Powell acknowledged how “the coronavirus (COVID-19) poses evolving risks to economic activity,”…