Articles

By Kyle Tetting Amid strong returns through July, investors have finally felt weakness in the past couple of months as the looming shutdown returned uncertainty to the economic outlook. Taking a pause in the run-up is healthy, allowing investors to reassess positioning. But it also challenges investors who benefitted from heavier equity exposure earlier in the year. […]

By Kyle Tetting The summer of 2022 may have conditioned investors to expect more volatility. Absent the shocking inflation numbers of last June, it’s difficult to match the market movements we saw a year ago. But it’s also clear that the economic landscape now appears much less uncertain. […]

By Kyle Tetting It’s hard to argue with the year-to-date success of the vast majority of investment categories. As I write this on April 26, broad measures of stocks like the S&P 500 had gained more than 6% with only a few trading days left in April. Similarly, less volatile measures like bonds have added half as much or more. While the gains are encouraging, I am struck by how pessimistic many of the headlines remain. “Markets climb a wall of worry,” the saying goes, and that seems especially true now, though investing from a place of worry is tough.

By Kyle Tetting Especially with the unknown timing and magnitude of the Federal Reserve’s remaining steps to fight inflation, long-term optimism can get overlooked. […]

By Joel Dresang We let too much cash build up in our checking account, and it was costing us money. […]

By Kyle Tetting We’ve been through this before. In July of 2011, Bob Landaas shared his thoughts on Congress’s hesitation to raise the debt ceiling. As Bob commented then, “My respect for politicians continues to sink by the day.” In simple terms, the debt ceiling is a statutory limit on the amount the United States…