Blog
Social Security: Should I File and Suspend?
Social Security is top of mind for many retirees and pre-retirees as it is often an integral part of a couple's income in that last third of their life. New rules passed by Congress threaten to kill an often used strategy by many to maximize retirement income.
Who Owns James Bond - You'd Be Surprised
Great article today in the NYT about the family that owns the rights to the James Bond franchise. The story is fantastic and not what you'd imagine.
Interest Rates are Going Up - Kind Of
As a reminder, the US Federal Reserve ("Fed") has what is called a "dual mandate" although in reality it has three objectives. These are:
- Maximum Employment
- Stable Prices
- Moderate Long Term Rates
Fortis Wealth Management Weekly Insights: 7 Things We're Reading
7 things we are reading or watching this week we want to share with our readers.
The Hidden Reasons People Spend Too Much
One of our main roles as financial advisors is to act as a behavioral coach for our clients. The primary function of a behavioral coach is to protect clients from making life-changing wealth destroying decisions. However, beyond these life-changing wealth destroying decisions, there are also much more subtle parts of each of our behavior and psychology that can have a negative impact on our wealth...
The Habits of Eventual Millionaires
Here at Fortis, one of the components to our wealth building strategy is to increase your earnings potential. We believe that increasing your earnings potential isn't purely figuring out how to get a promotion at your job though. Increasing your earnings potential means taking the time to invest in yourself...
Cash Is Certainly Not Trash
The general belief is that holding cash in one’s portfolio is a waste as it earns nothing these days. We disagree with this, and we disagree strongly. If we are unable to find enough securities to be 100% invested, we will hold cash. Typically we hold cash equivalents whereby we own securities with little downside and some upside. Holding cash allows us to move quickly when we see opportunities...
Buying a Business You Understand - Isn't that what every manager does...no
This sounds pretty simple and maybe even a bit silly. That being said, if you own any mutual funds, take a look at their holdings. There will likely be 50-100 securities. Now, there will likely be multiple analysts at these firms who are reviewing these stocks. However, in the end there is typically one portfolio manager (PM)...
Inaction Can Be the BEST Action
Inaction is a choice in the stock market. And a very hard choice at that. Every day Mr. Market is yelling prices at you on thousands of different goods. On some days, certain goods seem more appealing to you than other goods...
Inefficiency 2 - Informational
Informational: You never realize, until you work in the industry, how superior the information is of certain investors over others. While illegal insider trading activity is always present in a market system, the US regulation is fairly strong and deters much of this. What we are referencing is the informational advantage that certain investors have as a result of spending more time and resources finding the information...
Inefficiency 1 - Technical
Technical: What we term as “technical” inefficiencies are inefficiencies caused by market activities that are unrelated to the underlying intrinsic value and economics of a business. An example would be the forced selling we typically see when a parent company spins off a subsidiary...
Using Technology to Help Our Clients
With all the recent talk of "robo-advisors" it is obvious there is a need for improved technology in the financial advising space. The benefit of technology is almost always convenience. Clients need more convenience because their lives continue to get busier. Clients want to be able to see all of their assets in one place, want to be able to work on their budget on their phone while they have 5 minutes of downtime, and want to be able to make adjustments to their financial plan with the click of a mouse...
Media Investments
The Wall St. Journal has an interesting article today discussing the net losses of cable subscribers in the third quarter...
6 Fast Facts About 529s
Setting up and contributing to a 529 college-savings plan is usually a fairly straightforward process. However, whether you are new to 529s or already invest in a 529 account, understanding more about the ins and outs of how these plans work can help you maximize your investment...