Category: Investing
The Value of Discretionary Investment Management
At The Fiduciary Group, we serve as fiduciary investment advisors. This means that we are required to act in the best interest of clients and to not place our own interests ahead of clients. As part of this relationship, we have the discretion to act on our client’s behalf and we endeavor to make thoughtful…
6 Financial Planning Needs of Wealthy Families
You have enough money to support an affluent lifestyle — with more than adequate savings to spare. You’re not concerned about your ability to pay for your children’s college or fund your retirement. But significant wealth comes with its own set of challenges and complexities. Here are some of the unique financial planning needs that…
Coordinating Couples
If you and your significant other don’t always see eye-to-eye when it comes to finances, you’re not alone. When it comes to spending, investing, and planning, quite often couples are more divided than united. According to a recent study by Sun Trust Bank, 35 percent of married couples reported that money was the primary cause…
A Rational Approach to Market Volatility
Through the first nine months of the year, it looked like 2018 would be another pleasant year for investors. The S&P 500 climbed more than 7% in the third quarter, pushing the year to date return for the index above 10%. But those gains – and then some – evaporated in the fourth quarter, with…
A Financial Planning Christmas Carol
Maybe it’s the holiday season, but financial planning makes me think of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Remember how Ebenezer Scrooge was visited by 3 ghosts—Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future? It gave him the opportunity to witness, from a reality-ringside seat, a view of where he’d been, where he is presently, and where…
Hiring a CFO to Manage Your Family’s Wealth
As you accumulate significant wealth, your financial world becomes increasingly complex. Your wealth may include not only stocks and bonds, but also private equity investments, real estate and perhaps a family business. Your estate plan may be complicated as well and may include a private foundation. At some point, high-net-worth individuals may find their attention…
Not Reaching for Yield
At the 2013 Berkshire Hathaway meeting, a shareholder asked Charlie Munger for his thoughts on Federal Reserve policy and interest rates. Here’s what he had to say: “Well, I strongly suspect that interest rates aren’t going to stay this low for extended periods. But, as I pointed out, practically everybody has been very surprised by…
Choosing A Smart Investment Strategy
If you’ve ever looked at a graph of stock market returns, you might notice the similarities with an EKG. Lots of ups and downs. But overall, the trend is up. Over the long term, the stock market has delivered compounded annual rates of return of 8-10% per year. In order to achieve the long-term…
The Path to Value Realization
For many years, we’ve heard market prognosticators proclaim that the current bull market is nearing its fateful end. Between the Euro crisis, the U.S. debt downgrade, concerns about China, Brexit, the “taper tantrum,” and now the threat of an expanding trade war, they have offered plenty of reasons to be cautious over the years since…
The Impact of Inflation
From the end of 2017 through April, inflation has increased from +2.1% to +2.5% (using CPI as a proxy). Over the same period, the yield on ten-year Treasury bonds has risen from 2.4% to 3.0%. These moves have led market participants to question if a change in the status quo is underway. Let’s assume inflation…