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Monday, January 27, 2020

2019 was a fantastic year for U.S. stocks. The S&P 500 Index delivered a total return of 31.5% for the year. As the chart below demonstrates, last year’s return was nearly two and a half times the historical average (median)...

 

Thursday, January 23, 2020

On December 31, 2009, the S&P 500 Index closed at 1,115.10. Ten years later on December 31, 2019, the index closed at 3,320.78. During the decade, the S&P 500 gained 198% on a price-only basis and 257% on a total return basis which...

 

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

In a recent commentary I took a look at how the U.S. stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index, has historically fared following “great” years such as 2019 when the market delivered a stellar 31.5% return. In this...

 

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

As we head into the 2019 tax filing season there are a few important items that we would like to bring to your attention. Understanding what we have outlined in this letter will simplify the filing of your 2019 tax return. (Click here...

 

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Following the S&P 500 Index’s stellar 31.5% gain in 2019 (including the reinvestment of dividends), it’s natural for many investors to wonder how the market has historically fared following past “great” years to...

 

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Wednesday, January 8, 2020

As 2019 was coming to a close, Congress passed some pretty significant changes to retirement savings laws that will affect just about all of us. It will directly impact individuals in or nearing retirement, new parents, small business...

 

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

As the calendar turns from 2019 to 2020 and we embark on a new decade, I thought it would be a valuable exercise to take a cursory look back on the decade that was in financial markets and contrast it with the decade that preceded it,...

 

Friday, November 22, 2019

We have put together the above short video commentary to talk through a question we have received lately regarding diversification and the S&P 500. Specifically, why diversify when one investment has been the best performer for so long?

 

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

A number of our clients recently sought our advice after receiving a letter from their common employer (a large pharmaceutical company) presenting them with the choice of taking a lump sum distribution from their pension. After working...

 

Thursday, August 15, 2019

There’s been a fair amount of hysteria in the financial media of late about the markets in general which appears to have crescendoed yesterday as the Dow shed more than 800 points. In this brief commentary we share three key...

 

Thursday, August 8, 2019

In a widely expected move, the Federal Reserve moved to cut interest rates by a quarter-percentage point on July 31. The move marked the first rate reduction since December 2008 when the Fed pushed rates to zero and ended the...

 

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Interest rates have come down again and it leads many of us to start asking if we should look into refinancing any mortgages or loans we have. Here’s some thoughts on different reasons and how to see if the savings outweigh the...

 

Thursday, July 25, 2019

The renowned dispenser-of-wisdom, Ferris Bueller once said “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” I thought of this nugget recently when pondering the recent...

 

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC), the group that sets our nation's monetary policy, is poised to cut the policy rate at its meeting on July 30–31, but members of the committee are divided. Markets are...

 

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Do you feel overwhelmed with the amount of information and opinions there are out there regarding planning for your financial future and investing? Have you ever Googled “how to manage my money better”? I did. In just under...

 

Friday, May 10, 2019

One topic of fairly regular coverage in the financial press these days has been the underperformance of value stocks relative to their growth stock counterparts. As the table presented below demonstrates, U.S. value stocks (Russell...

 

Thursday, May 9, 2019

As many holders of globally diversified portfolios are likely well aware, foreign stocks have underperformed U.S. stocks in recent years. The chart below, using data from Dimensional Fund Advisors, shows that U.S. stocks, as measured...

 

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

What’s the best investment advice you have ever received? Not a “hot stock tip” but actual ADVICE. How about something you could implement into how you invest long-term, a large strategic change in your allocation, or...

 

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Stocks reached new highs last week. The S&P 500 Index completed a V-shaped recovery last week to register its first record high since September 20, 2018, to close at 2,933.68 on April 23 [Figure 1]. Here we share our thoughts on what...

 

Monday, April 15, 2019

Our Director of Private Wealth, Nicholas Olesen, CFP®, CPWA®, gave a quick recap of the markets and economy for this past quarter. During this 10-minute recap, he covers: How well the markets have done this quarter, after a...

 

Monday, March 25, 2019

As investors, it’s easy to focus on trying to find the best investment, find the lowest fee fund, or how well your portfolio did compare to the S&P 500. It’s easy because you can “feel” those things. While these...

 

Monday, March 11, 2019

In honor of the current bull market turning 10 recently, I thought it would be interesting to take a trip down memory lane back the bull run’s start. On Monday, March 9, 2009, the day on which the widely followed Dow Joes...

 

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Did you take a really hard look at your 1099s this year? Did you pay attention to each line, showing what you paid for each holding and sold them for? Or did you just get the form and pass it along to your accountant or enter it into a...

 

Thursday, February 14, 2019

In 1979 Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, who are widely recognized as the pioneers of the field of behavioral finance presented a concept called prospect theory which has gained widespread acceptance over the years. One of the key...

 

Friday, January 25, 2019

It’s that time of the year again. Of course, I’m talking about Prediction Season. The time of the year where market strategists at all of the largest investment banks participate in the annual ritual of publishing their...

 

Monday, January 14, 2019

At 22 years old I had done everything it took to earn the title “Financial Advisor”. Sounds impressive, right? While it felt that way at the time, it really wasn't at all. I hadn’t completed any intense training...

 

Thursday, December 20, 2018

The New York Times ran two separate articles in its recent Sunday Edition carrying the following headlines: “Assume Crash Position” “The Best Place to Put Money? Your Mattress” I couldn’t help to think...

 

Monday, December 10, 2018

The yield curve—more specifically, shape of the yield curve—is back in the market headlines.[1] Specifically, the widely followed spread between the 10-year Treasury U.S. Treasury yield minus the 2-year yield has sharply...

 

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Turn on any nightly newscast or open any major daily newspaper and there’s likely to be a segment or an article discussing the recent performance of “the market.” It’s natural for investors to then think about...

 

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

The Wall Street Journal highlighted in a recent article that on the whole, 2018 has been a rough year for investors. In the article carrying the dramatic title, “No Refuge for Investors as 2018 Rout Sends Stocks, Bonds, Oil Lower...

 

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

“U.S. Stocks Hit Hard as Tech Worries Deepen” read the front-page headline in today’s Wall Street Journal. The article’s opening sentence succinctly summarized the rest of the article that followed: “U.S....

 

Monday, October 22, 2018

Our Chief Investment Officer, Nick Ryder, narrates our Quarterly Market Review presentation which reviews the performance of global capital markets, shares our insights into the drivers of performance and provides our perspective and...

 

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

“U.S. Stocks Close at Records” was the headline of a front-page article in a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal. As a result of strong recent results, the S&P 500 Index, a widely-followed index that tracks the...

 

Monday, October 8, 2018

In recent communications we’ve covered the relative weakness in international stocks thus far in 2018. According to data from Ycharts, through September 30, the MSCI All-Country World ex USA Index, a popular barometer of...

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Kathmere Capital Management is proud to announce its plans to open an office in Denver, Colorado. Matthew Lengel, currently serving the firm as Investment Coordinator in the King of Prussia PA office, will transition into the role of...

 

Monday, September 24, 2018

Have you ever had a restaurant that you could say “I’ll take my usual” and they brought exactly what you wanted? Or called a friend (before caller ID) and just from the sound of your voice they knew who it was?...

 

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Sounds like a trick question, doesn’t it? What if I told you that I’m talking about investment returns? So, how can a 6% return be greater than a 9% return? I promise I’m not tricking you or talking about some...

 

Monday, September 10, 2018

It may sound obvious, but shouldn’t we always expect to receive advice that is in our best interest? Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. Sometimes it is obvious to us when someone is selling us on something versus...

 

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

The shape of the yield curve—a graphical plot of the interest rate offered by U.S. Treasury bonds of various maturities—has been getting a lot of attention in recent months. Specifically, many commentators have been...

 

Monday, August 27, 2018

One of the most dangerous and consequently costly illusions in investing is the great company = great stock investment fallacy. We were reminded of this point recently when we witnessed the market’s reaction to a certain well...

 

Monday, August 20, 2018

Do you feel it’s safe to say that the world is changing pretty rapidly? That information flows quickly? That new discoveries are made constantly? Hopefully we are in agreement here. Then my next question is, how often should our...

 

Monday, August 6, 2018

At Kathmere Capital Management, our clients benefit from our team approach to wealth management, as each member of our team brings specialized skills across various disciplines. Clients benefit from the depth of their experience,...

 

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

The economic expansion which officially began in July 2009 is entering into its 10th year. Based on data from the National Bureau of Economic Analysis (NBER), the current expansion is now the second longest expansion on record,...

 

Monday, July 23, 2018

"We believe clients are best served when advisory teams do more than just manage their investments." Every year we see more and more evidence showing how important it is for us to take a holistic view of our clients’ financial...

 

Friday, June 15, 2018

Interest rates across the U.S. Treasury yield curve have generally trended upwards over the last year and a half since touching cyclical lows during the summer of 2016. A cursory glance at the chart presented nearby, which depicts the...

 

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Imagine walking out to the first tee on a beautiful spring day. You can smell the freshly cut grass, hear the symphony of birds chirping, and feel a calm breeze on your face. There’s nothing like spending your day in the outdoors...

 

Friday, May 4, 2018

Kathmere Capital Management, a wealth management firm that helps entrepreneurs, executives, and high-net-worth families bring clarity and confidence to all aspects of their financial life, is proud to announce that Director of Private...

 

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Long-term interest rates have been steadily increasing for much of the last six plus months as the global economic expansion has progressed and signs of building inflation pressures have begun to surface. The yield on the 10-year U.S....

 

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

A quick glance at financial news lately will undoubtedly alert a reader that the stock market has indeed become more volatile lately. While there are countless ways to measure stock market volatility, one relatively simple method is to...

 

Friday, April 27, 2018

Lost amid the deluge of negative headlines about tariffs, trade wars, Syria, Russia, interest rates, technology regulation and so on has been the impressive health of the corporate sector. Earnings season, where companies report their...

 

Monday, April 16, 2018

Geoffrey Forcino named one of the Top Retirement Plan Advisors Under 40 for the Second Year in a Row. Geoffrey Forcino Named to NAPA’s 2018 Class of “Young Guns”, the Top Retirement Plan Advisors Under 40 (click to...

 

Thursday, April 5, 2018

The rise of the internet over the last 15-20 years has been spectacular. It’s re-shaped the way we do business, communicate with friends and family, and how we manage our financial affairs. This digital revolution is a benefit to...

 

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Market volatility ratcheted up again recently on growing fears about the prospects of a global trade war. Last week, U.S. stocks posted their worst week in two and a half years in part on the news of the Trump administration’s...

 

Monday, February 26, 2018

Yahoo Finance! - KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Feb. 1, 2018 -- Kathmere Capital Management has taken another step in revolutionizing their client wealth experience by aligning with several powerhouse brands in the financial services industry....

 

Friday, February 16, 2018

The return of volatility to U.S. stock markets over the past few weeks and the media’s extensive coverage of it has understandably raised some concerns among investors of all stripes. In this commentary, I offer three brief...

 

Monday, February 5, 2018

Forecasting interest rates is an investment pastime nearly as ubiquitous and popular as trying to guess “what’s next” for stocks. In contrast to what we with market pundits and their stock market outlooks, when it...

 

Friday, January 26, 2018

For formatted, printable PDF, please click here. As we covered in recent our 2017 Market Review commentary global socks delivered historically strong returns with U.S. stocks finishing the year up more than 21% and non-U.S. markets...

 

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

2017 Market Review At the beginning of 2017, a common view among money managers and analysts was that the financial markets would not repeat their strong returns from 2016. Many cited the uncertain global economy, political turmoil in...

 

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

In today’s environment, we all try to find quick, on-demand answers and advice to our questions. We ask Siri, Alexa, or Google just about everything. I recently read that the top four “how to" searches on Google were: (1)...

 

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

The US stock market has delivered an average annual return of around 10% since 1926, as measured by the S&P 500 Index. However, as it went in the parable about the 6-foot tall person drowning in a river that was only 5-feet deep on...

 

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Global Capital Markets Global stock returns were positive once again in October; global bonds, and commodities bounced back to post modest gains while real estate remained lagged in October. Global stocks remain the top performer over...

 

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

We recently passed the 10-year anniversary of when, in early October 2007, the S&P 500 Index hit what ultimately was its highest point before losing more than half its value over the next year and a half during the depths of the global...

 

Monday, October 2, 2017

To view formatted PDF, click here. Global Capital Markets Global stock returns were positive once again in September; however global bonds, real estate and commodities posted modestly negative returns. Global stocks remain the top...

 

Friday, September 1, 2017

To view formatted PDF, click here. Global Capital Markets Global capital markets returns were generally positive once again in August as global stocks, bonds and commodities posted modestly positive returns with global bonds standing...

 

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Global Capital Markets Global capital market returns were mixed in July as global stocks and real estate posted modestly positive returns while returns on commodities and bonds were slightly negative once more. Over the last three...

 

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

One in Six. One in six students throughout the U.S. do not reach the baseline of proficiency in financial literacy.[1] Think about that? These students eventually become the next generation of citizens and workers in our great country....

 

Friday, July 14, 2017

Global Capital Markets Global capital market returns were mixed in June as global stocks and real estate posted modestly positive returns while returns on commodities and bonds were slightly negative. For the third quarter, global...

 

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Pascal and Type I and Type II Errors I have a habit of skimming through books I’ve previously read and re-reading the passages that I highlighted or otherwise annotated. I was recently flipping...

 

Monday, June 12, 2017

Global Capital Markets Global capital markets returns were generally positive once again in May as global stocks, bonds and real estate posted modestly positive returns while commodity returns were...

 

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Click here or see attachment for printable PDF. In a recent article Don Boudreaux, an economics professor at George Mason University, argued that, contrary to what seems to be the conventional wisdom of the day, Americans’...

 

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Kathmere Capital Management is proud to announce that Kevin McDermott has joined the firm as a partner and the Director of Advanced Markets.. Kevin has a lengthy history of working with the current team at Kathmere Capital.. Kevin...

 

Monday, May 1, 2017

Global capital markets were mostly positive in April as global stocks, bonds and real estate posted modestly positive returns while commodity returns were slightly negative. Over the last three months and one...

 

Thursday, April 6, 2017

If PDF viewer is not working below, click here to download the PDF.

 

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Geoffrey Forcino Named to NAPA’s 2017 Class of “Young Guns”, the Top Retirement Plan Advisors Under 40 (click to view PDF) The National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) is pleased to acknowledge Geoffrey Forcino...

 

Friday, March 10, 2017

US stocks, as measured by the popular Dow Jones Industrial Average (“the Dow”), closed down 21 points (-0.12%) on February 28, in the process snapping the index’s 12-day winning streak which had been the longest for...

 

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

From the team at Kathmere Capital Management, it’s our pleasure to introduce the first edition of Kathmere Kares. This will be a quarterly segment where one of our team member’s share stories and spread the word about an...

 

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

No matter what industry you work in, the reality is that you know more about the “inside scoop” of that industry more than the average person. It clearly puts you in a better position if you needed to hire someone to do...

 

Sunday, January 1, 2017

To view a printable PDF version, please click here: https://bit.ly/KCM-2017-01 2016 recap Humor us for a few moments and entertain this admittedly odd hypothetical scenario. Take yourself back to New Year’s Eve of last year as...

 

Thursday, December 1, 2016

To view a printable PDF version, please click here: https://bit.ly/KCM-2016-12 December Monthly Market Update Yet again, investors in aggregate (ourselves included) were surprised by global events and the financial markets in November....

 

Monday, November 14, 2016

Market Performance Overview Recently, we’ve received a few questions from clients questioning the merits of international diversification. It’s easy to understand why investors are inclined to doubt the benefits of...

 

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Stocks Drop on Trump’s Startling Victory reads the headline on the online version of the Wall Street Journal this morning. As the headline suggests, financial markets around the world appear to be a bit unsettled in the wake of...

 

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

In light of today’s election, we thought you’d enjoy the commentary attached below from our partners at Dimensional Fund Advisors. As always, please give us a call or send us an email with any questions you have of if...

 

Monday, October 17, 2016

Market Performance Overview Monthly Commentary In last month’s edition, we wrote about how U.S. stock market volatility took a bit of a summer vacation. Like all vacations, this one too came to an end. While September started our...

 

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

While the occurrence of all three major U.S. stock market indexes—S&P 500 Index, Dow Jones Industrials Average, and Nasdaq Composite Average—recording new all-time highs on the same day on August....

 

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Executive summary In a widely anticipated referendum held on June 23, the majority of voters voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. The result surprised most market participants and sent major global stock markets...

 

Friday, April 15, 2016

It is with great excitement that we announce the formation of Kathmere Capital Management.