The current volatility has domestic equity markets on edge. Many U.S. equity asset classes and sectors are in negative territory so far this year. One unexpected bright spot in 2025 has been international equities, including emerging markets.
Investing can feel like a juggling act—whether you’re a professional or just trying to keep your family’s finances on track. The flood of data, numbers ticking up and down, and endless stream of opinions can leave your head spinning. You’d think it’s all about crunching the facts, but here’s the twist: your emotions are quietly running the show. Those sneaky “mind bugs” creep in—the “Fear of Loss” that makes a dip feel like a disaster, the “I’ve Got This” feeling after a fluke win, or “Following the Pack” into the latest craze.
It doesn’t take much to lose trust in a financial planning relationship. I’ve seen it happen in real time when an analysis uses the wrong name in a presentation (not good) or relies on inaccurate spending data (very bad). Depending on the severity of these errors, they can call into question what bigger mistakes exist in the overall analysis. While we take care to double and triple check our work, the fact is that humans are prone to make mistakes. And while that is not ideal, solely relying on computers to do the work presents far greater problems, in my opinion.
The SECURE Act of 2019 fundamentally changed how inherited Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) must be handled, with significant implications for those who have inherited IRA assets since 2020. In 2025, these changes become even more critical, as the IRS will begin enforcing penalties for missed Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), where applicable, after waiving the penalties from 2021-2024 due to confusion caused by the original regulations.
Anyone who has been in the market for a new home over the past few years has discovered something many economists once considered highly improbable – a sudden and sustained lift in mortgage interest rates coupled with resiliency in housing prices. The combination of higher rates and higher housing prices has pushed the dream of homeownership out of the minds of many would-be buyers.
When I think of a 30-year retirement for myself, I find it completely overwhelming. It is a long time horizon and somedays I can barely plan for tomorrow, let alone 30 years into the future. However, when it comes to discussing retirement planning with clients, I thoroughly enjoy helping them see all of the possibilities. For some, retirement is stepping into the unknown. And for others, it’s doing something that they may have waited their whole life to do. The reality is people are living longer and, we have more centenarians than ever.
In recent years, the frequency and scale of data breaches have skyrocketed, exposing hundreds of millions of individuals to the risk of financial fraud. Since the beginning of the year, we have seen some of the largest and most damaging attacks on record, including:
Historically speaking, election years tend to be positive in terms of stock market performance. And this election year is holding true to historical patterns, so far. But this may be entirely coincidental and not reflective of any real or direct impact that elections have on stock prices. If you think about it, correlation of elections to company profits and/or growth does not equal causation.
When the topic of concentration risk comes up in portfolio management, normally folks think about the possibility of holding a large individual stock position in their account. We recently ran into a situation with a planning client who inherited concentrated stock positions from a family member. The client wished to memorialize their loved one by holding onto these stocks. Another way concentration may occur is when a client works in a particular industry and feel they have a pulse on the companies in that industry.
We are seeing more and more clients with children or grandchildren who have special needs. Adapting to life with special needs or a disability is never easy, but there are steps that can be taken for those individuals to achieve greater financial security and independence.
When planning for retirement, we often focus on the accumulation phase: saving diligently and investing wisely. We spend 40 or more years of our lives focused on building the proverbial “nest egg,” but after retirement, things change and so should our financial focus.
How much do you like the rewards you get from your credit cards? Are they worth any additional costs to your purchases? These are questions to consider as the Credit Card Competition Act is reintroduced to Congress, after failing to pass in 2022. The Credit Card Competition Act would require banks of a certain size to give merchants more choices when it comes to which payment network can be used for processing credit card transactions. If passed into law, this bill could result in reduced benefits for credit card rewards programs.