Impact of Trump’s Fiduciary Rule Delay

Impact of Trump’s Fiduciary Rule Delay

President Trump today ordered that the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule – scheduled to begin implementation on April 10th – be delayed pending a review by his administration.  What impact is this expected to have on consumers? Some background first.  When it came to providing investment advice prior to 2016, Registered Investment Advisors (aka RIAs,…
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Positive Economic News But…

According to the Federal Reserve’s most recent Beige Book – a collection of anecdotal information on current economic conditions in each of its 12 districts – the U.S. economy continues to strengthen.  Several districts reported a pickup in manufacturing, and the energy sector in particular was experiencing an uptick in employment for the first time…
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Rollover Pension To IRA? New option!

One of the most difficult decisions that people face when leaving an employer is whether or not to rollover their company pension to an IRA.  It’s an especially difficult choice when you’ve worked at the same company for many years.  If you choose to keep the money in your pension, the money will be distributed…
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The Lowest Interest Rates In The Last 5000 Years?

Most everyone is probably aware that interest rates today in the U.S. are at historical lows.  To a large extent this is due to the quantitative easing strategy that the fed has been following since the depression of 2008.  Their goal was to suppress interest rates to make borrowing easier in order to stimulate the…
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How Well Did You Predict 2016?

Now that the year is almost behind us, let’s turn to my favorite topic, predicting the future.  As usual, there were a number of events that occurred at various times during the year, the results of which (1) were completely missed by the media and (2) went totally counter to investor expectations.  In case you’ve…
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Setting Expectations In The Absence Of Facts

Now that 2016 is nearly behind us, investors’ thoughts naturally turn to 2017.  What return should I expect from my investments next year?  The great difficulty in answering that question is that we have limited facts to guide us.  Sure, there is a plethora of historical data, as well as economists and media pundits who…
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