News & Insights

Resources on Trusts, Investments, Estate Planning, Financial Issues, and Living Well

2020 2nd Quarter Market Commentary

2020 2nd Quarter Market Commentary

Late in the second quarter, I wrote To Be Equity-Lite or Equity-Heavy?, which spelled out the predominant arguments for and against significant equity ownership in the current environment. I encourage you to read or reread that article to evaluate your own reasons for remaining either equity-lite or equity-heavy. Departing from our typical Quarterly Commentary format, [...]
What is Securities Custody?

What is Securities Custody?

One of Mission’s core services, Securities Custody, is a term widely used by the securities and banking industries, but is not commonly understood by the investing public.  So, what in the world does it mean? A “Custodian” is a financial institution (trust company, bank, brokerage firm) that keeps custody of stocks, bonds, and other assets. [...]
To Be Equity-Lite or Equity-Heavy?

To Be Equity-Lite or Equity-Heavy?

During the first quarter, we experienced the fastest ever 35% decline from an all-time high in US equity market prices. The subsequent remarkable recovery rally regained most of the lost ground in barely a month and a half. Commentators are currently marveling about the disconnect between aggressively rising stock prices and the weakest economic data [...]
Is April’s Rally A Forecast?

Is April’s Rally A Forecast?

As the month of April closed last week, Wall Street celebrated the S&P 500’s powerful 12.7% advance, the strongest monthly gain in 33 years. Whether that success points to continued gains in the short run, however, is open to question. Looking back, two even more profitable months saw slightly varied outcomes. The most profitable month, [...]
Relevant News

Relevant News

Two articles from The Wall Street Journal weekend edition struck me as particularly helpful to readers seeking insight into prospects for the pandemic, the economy and the investment markets. Relative to the coronavirus pandemic and its potential effect on the economy, let the authors Louise Radnofsky and Ben Cohen speak for themselves: There has always [...]
2020 1st Quarter Market Commentary

2020 1st Quarter Market Commentary

In just under two months, stock prices worldwide have plummeted from historic highs to bear market lows and have rocketed part way back up again. The coronavirus has infected nearly 2 million people, killing over 100,000, and shut down vast swaths of the world economy. In less than one month, our way of life has [...]
2020 1st Quarter Cash Management Commentary

2020 1st Quarter Cash Management Commentary

In our January Commentary, we noted that the Fed had dropped short-term interest rates in late-2019 in three distinct quarter point increments to the year-end level of 1.50-1.75%. As the coronavirus spread around the world in early-2020, the central bank cut interest rates on March 3 by half a percentage point, its biggest single cut [...]
The CARES Act Provides Relief for IRA Owners in a Turbulent Market

The CARES Act Provides Relief for IRA Owners in a Turbulent Market

Many retirees are worried about taking a required minimum distribution (RMD) in a down market and uncertain times. On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law, which alleviates this worry by suspending RMDs for 2020. Congress’s aim in suspending RMDs was to provide relief to [...]
Equity Market Update 3/26/20

Equity Market Update 3/26/20

Readers of our reports over the past few years know that we have described the condition facing investors as a bet. Older market veterans who have lived through a number of market cycles would tend to bet on what has always ultimately played out-- that the equity markets would eventually revert to their historically normal [...]
Interim Market Commentary 3/19/20

Interim Market Commentary 3/19/20

In my 52 years in the investment industry, I have never seen anything like the stock market activity of the last month. From its Feb 12 all-time high, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by more than 35% (about 10,500 points) to its Wednesday low, just below 19,000. That significant decline was the fastest in [...]
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