With this being Election Day, I wanted to share some links to interactive maps where you can view predictions and, eventually, election results. You may already have a resource for this but just in case not, I like 270towin this season. The links below are to the House and Senate pages, but the site lets you drill down further as well. https://www.270towin.com/2026-house-election/qy1NmNq https://www.270towin.com/2026-senate-election/qEbN0e We’ve talked about th…

There was a lot of news as we began the week. First was a big election upset in Brazil leading to that country’s market having its worst open, I think ever, down around 25%. Prices improved but still closed down by around 20% for the day. Yikes. We have another Fed meeting tomorrow but, as I type, the odds of a rate increase are less than 10%. Most investors assume the Fed will raise rates again but not until December, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool…

This week I’m repurposing some information I received yesterday from JPMorgan. The first part is a quick look at imbalances in the stock market right now. The second part is the annual update to the firm’s long-term market assumptions which, when coupled with other sources, helps set the strategic tone for our plans. First, to the imbalances we’ve reviewed several times already, but a reminder is always good. Stocks were down last week at the macro level from 1.5%…

A couple of months back I wrote a post about several things I don’t do when working with clients. I talked about avoiding using leverage, not buying private investments, and not letting third parties handle client portfolios. While making choices about what not to do is a foundational part of business, deciding what we actually do is obviously more important.   So, here are some of the things I do when working with clients.     The basic stuff……

The third quarter of 2026 (Q3) was solid for US stocks while it seemed like other asset classes could only go down. Some positive trends continued during the quarter and lifted portions of the stock market and economy. But negative trends like the Iran War’s impact on oil prices, bad breadth in the stock market, and interest rates continued to weigh on markets, especially bonds which saw their worst September in years. All told, diversification helped “moderate” po…

Before we talk about bonds, Schwab has received reports matching up with one of my posts from earlier this summer about how fraudsters are leveraging AI to make it easier to rip you off. The idea is you’re contacted by someone purporting to be a Schwab employee who needs to verify suspicious transactions within your accounts. They have some information about you gleaned from the internet and maybe an authentic-looking website. You’re asked to confirm login credenti…