Happy New Year! The year 2006 was a great one for equity investors around the world as stock prices rose in 46 of the 50 countries whose equity market returns are reported by MSCI. Among these, only Israel, Jordan, Thailand, and Turkey saw their local stock market indexes slump for the year. The 2006 return for US stocks was 15.32% […]
Quarterly Letters
Client Letter – Q3 2006
We enjoyed a strong quarter, despite the slow start in July, as evidenced in the chart below. Even large U.S. stocks (represented by the S&P 500 Index) did well this quarter, which was a pleasant surprise! Nevertheless, the international asset classes (small, small value, and emerging markets) still have the highest 5-year returns of any asset class. Also, bond returns […]
Client Letter – Q2 2006
During the last quarter, investors experienced a lot of volatility in the markets. Although the markets recovered considerably by the end of the quarter, most diversified portfolios are still down slightly for the quarter (but remain positive for the year). Fortunately, the last 2-3 years have had such strong returns (for internationally diversified portfolios) that you may have started to […]
Client Letter – Q1 2006
I have some very important news to share. I recently purchased a property in the Town Center district of Macungie (just south of Allentown), and I am almost finished renovating this two-story Colonial home (originally built in 1936). I am planning to move Keystone Financial Planning to its “new home” on April 24th, assuming that everything goes as planned. I […]
Client Letter – Q4 2005
Happy New Year! We had a pretty good year in 2005, with regards to overall portfolio returns, which were more in line with historical averages than the past two years. Unfortunately, for the typical U.S. investor who is overweighted in U.S. large stocks (as measured by the S&P 500 Index below), 2005 was not a very good year. Also, bonds […]
Client Letter – Q3 2005
One of the first rules of financial success is to protect what you have so that a disaster won’t set you back too far. That means investors who are trying to increase their wealth should protect their sources of wealth with appropriate insurance: health insurance to cover medical catastrophes, disability insurance to protect against loss of salary, and long term […]
Client Letter – Q2 2005
Did you get a big surprise when preparing your federal income tax return this year? If you were lucky and did not, just wait until next year: your time may be coming. The dreaded alternative minimum tax took a larger bite out of taxpayers’ wallets this year, costing an estimated $6,000 apiece for more than 2.9 million taxpayers. Next year, […]
Client Letter – Q1 2005
I hope you are enjoying the spring weather as much as I am! I just love watching the grass turn green and the flowers bloom. Just as nature goes through cycles, so do the investment markets. At the end of 2004, we had just finished two amazing years in the real estate and equity markets. So, it did not really […]
Client Letter – Q4 2004
Happy New Year! We had another excellent year and I think you will be pleased with the results. Our diversification into such areas as real estate, small stocks, international stocks, and emerging markets stocks and bonds was very profitable in 2004. Returns in those areas beat the U.S. stock market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. The […]
Client Letter – Q3 2004
So what’s going to happen to the market after the election? That question seems to be on the minds of many individual investors these days. The implications are that the market will be affected by the election and in a different way depending on which party lands on Pennsylvania Avenue. More importantly, the investor who asks this question is also […]
