Does Your Portfolio Reflect Your Risk Tolerance?

When it comes to investing, many people associate risk with losing money. But investing entails different types of risk. Understanding each type -- and the potential return associated with your retirement portfolio -- can help you determine whether your investments are appropriate for your situation. Examining Risk and Return Stocks historically have exhibited the highest level of market risk -- or the potential that an investment may lose money in the short term. Over long periods of time, however, stocks have outperformed both bonds and cash investments.1 This risk/return trade off may ...

Reality Check on Your Retirement Savings

Whether you’re 23 or 35, it’s important to know whether you are saving enough for your retirement. There is no time like the present to ensure you are allocating enough funds to your retirement account. With folks routinely living into their 80s and 90s, it’s more important than ever to ensure your money lasts your lifetime. Millennials have the advantage of time. You can benefit from compounding and the long-term trends that can make a real difference over the course of several decades. A good savings target is 15% of your income. That’s a very general target, and in many cases, it’s too ...

Recognizing and Avoiding Online Scams

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of U.S. data breaches hit a new high in 2017. Nearly 20% of breaches included credit and debit card information, a nearly 6% increase from the prior year. The actual number of records included in these breaches grew by a dramatic 88%. 1 This crime occurs when a thief obtains confidential information -- including passwords, personal ID numbers, Social Security numbers, or an account number used with a financial institution -- and uses it to commit fraud. Identity thieves use a victim's stolen information to open bank and brokerage ...

Happy New Year!

January 2, 2020 Dear Valued Investor: Happy New Year! What a difference a year makes. One year ago the stock market was plunging and came perilously close to ending what has become the longest bull market ever recorded. In December 2018, dropping stocks were suggesting an increased risk that a recession, or market crisis, might be on the horizon. Confidence in investing fundamentals coupled with attractive stock valuations helped keep a focus on long-term investing objectives in the face of short-term volatility. One year later with 20/20 hindsight, what appeared to be a bullish forecast for ...