The three horsemen of the retirement apocalypse. Dramatic, yes. Accurate, yes. Scary, maybe. I consider the most significant risks to a healthy and well-planned retirement: Low-Interest Rates Inflation Healthcare Costs The 2nd quarter of 2021 was marked with expansive growth in both GDP and, more importantly, inflation. As communicated in the Quarterly Economic Update, “According Read the full article…
Many times, I sit down and write these letters with a clear understanding of what items I want to cover because they are newsworthy or something remarkable has happened. This is not one of those times. Compared to last year at this time, this letter would be about as boring as they get. No massive Read the full article…
COVID-19 vaccine prospects should make 2021 a year of Global Economic Recovery. As I sit here in my home office in early January, thinking about topics to add to this 2020 review and quarterly letter, my monitor is a constant reminder of how our world has changed, as I would normally be writing this letter Read the full article…
Happy campaign season! I hope everyone is as tired of political ads as I am, and if you are not, good news, there’s one more week! I rarely and with good reason, discuss politics in these letters. However, I recently wrote a piece comparing the two tax plans from the major presidential nominees and the Read the full article…
This last quarter saw violent fluctuations in the capital markets, which have shaken the very core of retail investing for private clients as well as created massive stimulus actions by the federal government. Good thing we didn’t have anything else going on at the time! Oh, wait. COVID-19 has blanketed our country for a second Read the full article…
A computer programmer named David Cook started a company in Dallas, Texas in 1985. After two years, Cook sold the company Blockbuster for $18.5 million, missing one of the most impractical run-ups in history. By 1992, this once small retail shop was sold again for $8.4 billion. By the late 90s, Cook’s bright idea for Read the full article…
Never in my career have I experienced such a poorly accepted bull market. As I sit here in my Pasadena office writing this letter, I am amazed at the market returns for the year. US Markets are up 23.12% with US growth outpacing value 25.77% to 19.04%. Yet, people are still finding reasons to be Read the full article…
The US-China Trade Deal, Student Loan Debt, and Other News from the Last Quarter. The second quarter of 2019 ended with a 3.8% gain of the S&P 500, 2.59% for DJIA and 3.58% Nasdaq. This year, the S&P500 has returned 17.35% with the DJIA +14.03% and Nasdaq +20.66%.7,8,9 On my screen, almost everything has made Read the full article…
As we look toward the summer and seasonal change, there is much to reflect on from this last quarter. Losses Turned into Gains The first quarter S&P price return was 13.07%, the best first quarter since 1998, which followed one of the worst Decembers to date after a mediocre equity market in 2018. Many investors Read the full article…
Friends, This quarterly client letter marks the first, in many, distributed to joint clients of KROST Wealth and KROST. Client letters are a long-time tradition in this industry that I value, and I hope you will too; as it is an opportunity to provide you with insights into the business, our economy, capital markets, and Read the full article…
