Siegel: Obama, Clinton and McCain on Tax Policy

Yahoo! Obama, Clinton and McCain on Tax Policy More

Interesting article by Professor Siegel, in a nutshell, if the Democrats win the White House or Congress or both, you can expect much higher taxes. This would be a disaster for our economy. Regardless of your political persuasion, higher taxes are a major drag on the economy, be mindful of that and how it will affect your investments.

Scott Dauenhauer, CFP, MSFP, AIF

www.meridianwealth.com

Safety-Minded Flock to Bond With Negative Yield

Safety-Minded Flock to Bond With Negative Yield (Ahead of the Curve) | SmartMoney.com

I'm not actually recommending TIPS (treasury inflation protected securities) right now, but Luskin actually makes a decent arguement for them.

The fact of the matter is that none of the treasury bills that you could purchase right now have a positive return available to them - the only reason to buy them is safety. Treasuries now have an after-inflation, after-tax yield that is negative. This means that anyone buying a treasury will guarantee themselves a negative return till maturity.

There really isn't much in fixed income land to buy that will give you a positive return - perhaps some municipals, GNMA's are a possibility, but there yield is effectively zero after taxes (but slightly positive if purchased in a tax-deferred account).

Bottomline, you need to watch your fixed income, but don't panic. People are panicking a bit in the stock market as it is down a little more than 15%, however bond yields are down more than 50%, in some cases 70%.

A diversified portfolio that is low in cost and passively managed will fluctuate, but will hold up just fine in the long term, the key right now is patience.

Those with patience will ride out this storm, just like they've ridden out other, much worse storms.

Scott Dauenhauer, CFP, MSFP, AIF
949-916-6238
www.meridianwealth.com

Winners Are Difficult To Predict

This chart shows the Annual asset class returns from highest to lowest over the last ten years. The point is that attempting to pick which asset class is going to do the best from year to year is impossible.

You can download a full PDF by clicking on the above link.

Scott Dauenhauer, CFP, MSFP, AIF
www.meridianwealth.com

Ask Lynn: Stockbrokers are not investment advisors

Stockbrokers are not investment advisors

Want to know the difference between a stockbroker and an Advisor? Lynn O'Shaughnessy gives us a nice brief introduction as to those differences and why they are so important.

Scott Dauenhauer, CFP, MSFP, AIF

Are We Really Experiencing Something New?

For those of you who think that we are in the final stages of an inevitable Apocalypse, perhaps this Time magazine cover from 1974 will shake you loose from your stupor.

"That which has benn is what will be" Ecclesiastes 1:9 "that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun"

Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun, or as another once put it - "The only thing new is the history you don't know" - paraphrased.

In October of 1974 the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 700. That's right, 700.

My Point: Don't let today's media fool you into thinking that somehow we're experiencing something new and out of the ordinary. We will make it through, like we always do and those who panic will be the ones who miss out on the next big upswing which will inevitably occur (though I can't say when).

Stop worrying about the market, stay focused on what's important - you know what that is.

Scott Dauenhauer, CFP, MSFP, AIF