Newsletters

Forty-three percent of Americans spent more time planning their most recent vacation than planning for their retirement.1
1 AARP, 2008

Will you outlive your retirement income?  How much liability insurance should you have? Should you add stocks to your portfolio?  Are your financial expectations for the coming year realistic?

Our financial newsletters are designed to provide helpful information on a wide variety of financial topics.  Simply click on one of the newsletter topics below to read the article in its entirety.

  • March

    HOT TOPIC: Sum of All Fears: Are Risk Aversion and Greed All in the Mind?
    Do you change your investment strategy as the markets go up and down, or do you stay the course? As difficult as it may be, staying the course is usually the more advisable approach — but research shows that you may need to defy your brain to do it.

    Pursuing Both Growth and Value
    Maintaining a balance of growth and value investments may help investors add a new dimension of diversification to their portfolios.

    Don't Let a Disability Cripple Your Family's Finances
    One way to help protect against the financial ruin that a disability can bring is through disability income insurance.

    Working for Social Security
    There's nothing wrong with wanting to work in retirement, but if you decide to earn some extra income, make sure you understand how it will affect your Social Security benefits.

    A Simple Way to Help Your Family
    A letter of instructions, while not a legal document, can help your family cope during a difficult period by providing information that has no place in a will.

    Most Recoveries Are Announced Months After They Begin
    Because it can take so long for the National Bureau of Economic Research to determine when a recession began or ended, people who delay financial decisions until they are certain a recession is over are at a disadvantage because they may be operating on old information.

  • January

    HOT TOPIC: What's Ahead for 2010?
    Economists expect the economy to grow by a respectable 3% in 2010, but they don't hold out much hope for the employment situation. What else can investors and consumers expect from the coming year?

    Are Target-Date Funds Off Target?
    Target-date funds are not for everyone, so it's important to gather all the facts.

    The Benefits of Social Security
    Take this quiz to assess how much you know about Social Security benefits.

    Love and Marriage and Retirement
    More than 80% of married couples 45 to 72 say they don't agree on when they should retire, what their retirement lifestyle should look like, or whether they will work in retirement.

    Beware the Better-Than-Average Effect
    Economists have found that, on average, people tend to believe that their own lives are improving at a faster rate than most everyone else's.

    When Tea Leaves Won't Do
    Economic indicators can be a good source of clues about trends, but it takes experience and skill to interpret their meaning.

  • December

    Hot Topic: 2010: The Year of the Roth Conversion?
    Starting in 2010, anyone, regardless of income, can convert retirement plan assets to a Roth IRA.

    An Extra Layer of Protection
    Umbrella liability insurance can help protect a family from the financial ruin that a civil liability trial could bring.

    Getting the Right Mix
    Asset allocation is the process of dividing investment dollars among asset classes that often behave differently in different market cycles.

    New Year: Check and (Re)balance
    Even if people have become jaded about making new year's resolutions, it shouldn't stop them from doing what they need to do to accomplish their financial goals.

    Mark Your Calendar
    Once we approach the end of our working years, birthdays take on a renewed importance.

    Ready or Not, You're Retired!
    In 2009, 47% of retirees left the workforce earlier than they expected.

  • November

    HOT TOPIC: Investors Flock to Bond Funds, But What Happens When Rates Rise?
    Investors are on track to invest 11 times more money in bond funds in 2009 than they will invest in stock funds. This is not surprising, considering the market volatility in 2008, but are these investors operating on false assumptions about the capabilities of bond funds?

    Home Equanimity
    The contraction of the housing market has caused many people to take a second look at the way they view their homes.

    The Measure of a Life
    One way to help mitigate the financial blow of the loss of a head of household is through life insurance.

    Confident in Consumer Confidence?
    The consumer confidence index can be a useful tool, but it should play only a minor role in an investor’s overall outlook.

    Playing Catch-Up with Contributions
    Something as simple as increasing your contributions to tax-advantaged retirement programs can go a long way toward helping you pursue your long-term financial goals.

    Measuring the Jobs Situation
    Many people understand that a rising jobless rate is one of the hallmarks of a shrinking economy. But the national unemployment rate does not always reveal a complete picture of the jobs outlook.

  • October

    HOT TOPIC: Moving Forward from the Credit Crisis
    On Monday, September 15, 2008, the country awoke to news that three of the nation's largest financial institutions were unable to survive without help. Now, more than a year after that fateful September day, the economy shows signs of stability.

    Making Moves to the Money Market
    Money market funds are mutual funds that invest solely in cash-equivalent assets that are categorized as low-risk, low-return investments.

    Estate Conservation You Can Trust
    Trusts are popular estate conservation tools that can help facilitate the smooth transfer of estate assets and maintain the family’s privacy.

    Retirement Countdown in a Down Market
    The process leading up to retirement should begin years beforehand to help protect portfolio assets in the event that the markets are affected by unfavorable economic conditions.

    Fixed Annuities May Offer Stability
    A source of guaranteed income may help remove some of the uncertainty associated with retiring when the financial markets are fluctuating.

    Get Ready for Earnings Season
    Earnings can provide a key to understanding the performance of an individual company and the behavior of the stock market in general.

  • September

    HOT TOPIC: The Personal Saving Rate: What It Doesn't Mean to You
    The term "personal saving rate" can be misleading. It doesn't define "saving" in the same way that most people do. What should the personal saving rate mean to you?

    A New Way to Diversify
    Exchange-traded funds are unique investments that resemble mutual funds in some ways and behave like stock in other ways.

    One Final Letter
    A letter of instructions can help someone clearly state his or her preferences for many important issues such as organ donation, funeral arrangements, and other details not enumerated in a trust.

    Insurance for Your Whole Life
    If your situation calls for life insurance coverage that extends beyond your working years, it might be time to consider whether permanent life insurance would be appropriate.

    Variable Annuities Add Guarantees
    Investors who would rather not choose between a guaranteed income and above-average investment gains may want to consider variable annuities with living benefit guarantees.

    A Long Look at the National Debt
    To better comprehend the size and scope of the national debt, it helps to measure it against the size of the overall economy.

  • June

    HOT TOPIC: Social Security and Medicare in Crosshairs
    An entitlement crisis has been looming on the horizon for several years. Unfortunately, according to the latest reports from the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, a spike in unemployment has helped to hasten the arrival of these programs’ insolvency.

    Estate of Emergency?
    To help ensure that an estate is distributed according to one's wishes, it’s important to have certain legal documents in place.

    It's Time to Get Real
    During times of market volatility, it can be easy for investors to lose sight of two seemingly immovable obstacles standing in the way of their long-term investment goals: taxes and inflation.

    Inflation Goes to College
    Over the past 10 years, tuition and fees have grown more than 4% faster than the rate of general inflation at public four-year colleges and more than 2% faster than inflation at private four-year colleges.

    Testing Your Liability Limits
    This quiz tests the reader’s understanding of personal liability.

    The Positives of Negative Correlation
    Few asset groups are perfectly negatively correlated, but a portfolio may still be able to benefit from the correlation principle.

  • May

    Celebrate Life and the Benefits of Insuring It
    In addition to the protection it can bring, life insurance can also offer some tax benefits.

    A Question of Identity
    Not only is identity theft costly, it can also be a major hassle that affects a person’s credit score for years. The key to preventing ID theft is awareness.

    Exchange-Traded Funds Can Be for Conservative Portfolios, Too
    If you avoided ETFs because they were predominantly composed of stocks, the growing availability of bond ETFs might warrant a second look.

    The Land of Income Mobility
    In America, just about anyone who is dissatisfied with his income has the opportunity to roll up his sleeves and move into a different income bracket.

    Recapping Market Capitalization
    The blurring of lines between large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap companies is an indication that it may be time to evaluate whether your portfolio holdings have shifted toward or away from your investment objectives.