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25 Sep 2015 Dow Plunges Triple Digits

Posted at 14:05h in The Friday Brief by Geoff Hall, CFP®

How often have you seen a news headline that looks something like this: “Dow Plunges Triple Digits?” Makes for a great headline, but a better way of saying the same thing is, “Dow Ends Down 0.6%.” Not quite the same attention grabber, is it?

11 Sep 2015 Our Down and Dirty on the World Economy

Posted at 14:13h in The Friday Brief by Sam Bass Jr.

A couple of days ago a friend and client suggested we were just too darned upbeat in our economic briefs. He was right. We do indeed try to see the positive aspects of the economy, leaving the the doom & gloom and the sensational to the ad-selling media.

02 Jan 2015 How Much of Your Portfolio is in the Stock Market?

Posted at 14:11h in The Friday Brief by Geoff Hall, CFP®

2014 marked another good year for the stock market. With a 13.7% gain including dividends, the S&P 500 finished in positive territory for the sixth year in a row. The market never goes up in a straight line and 2014 was no different. Several major geopolitical events including Ebola, ISIS, plummeting oil prices and the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused volatility during the year. In fact, the S&P 500 fell 7.2% from its September 18 peak before bouncing back in late October and November. Here's a chart of the S&P 500's 2014.

17 Oct 2014 Good Perspective

Posted at 14:19h in The Friday Brief by Geoff Hall, CFP®

Some of the best advice during times of stock market uncertainty can be to turn off CNBC and ignore the financial section of your newspaper for a while. That is, of course, if you've planned ahead and set up your portfolio to withstand the markets's ups and downs.