If the words “tax code” immediately make your eyes glaze over … well, you wouldn’t be alone. Jeff Sommer of The New York Times recently wrote that, unfortunately, “navigating the byzantine U.S. tax rules … may be enough of a headache. But you can count on fresh tax stress coming from Washington not far down the road.” That’s because significant parts of the Federal …
Black Swans & The Certainty of Uncertainty
Rarely but inevitably, a single event will flip the world upside down – the kind of improbable, unexpected thing that occurs on a day just like any other, but then alters life as we know it. Sometimes that thing is devastating, such as a freak accident or the sudden death of a loved one. Sometimes it’s delightful – a newfound …
2023 Year-End Market Update
We had no idea what the 2023 year-end market update would look like a year ago. As it turns out, the year ended with US stocks up 26 percent, as measured by the US Total Stock Market index fund. The total bond market was up 6.8 percent. Inflation cooled in late 2023 to a 3.4 percent annual inflation rate – …
An Unflashy Yet Proven Investment Approach
November was a great month for stocks. The S&P 500 – a stock market index that tracks the performance of 500 of the biggest companies in the US – performed better in November than it has all year. By December 1, it had risen over 10 percent from its late-October low, gaining all the ground it had lost earlier this year. …
A Humble and Balanced Investment Approach
When the world – or the market – feels unstable, unpredictable, and perhaps even unnerving, people often draw comfort from simple narratives. Our lack of control drives us to search for some sort of explanation that we can understand – a storyline we can wrap our minds around that provides answers and creates meaning. Maybe this desire for a tidy …
August Stock Market Update: More to the Story
Maybe you thought the August stock market update would be dismal. To be fair, there’s some truth to that. US stocks, developed international stocks (from countries in Europe and Japan), emerging international stocks (from countries including China, India, and Brazil) … markets from literally all over the world were down during the month of August. And yet if we widen the time …
A Season of Transitions
For many of us, Labor Day Weekend indicates a transition. The unofficial end of summer; the herald of fall activities; a new school year for kids, grandkids, or even ourselves; the subtle shift in nighttime temperatures; the sudden ubiquitous pumpkin spice everything. Within the last few weeks at Park Piedmont, one of us announced a pregnancy. One of us dropped off a …
The Hidden Curriculum of Money
My grandfather never invested in the stock market. It seemed to him that investing was an awful lot like gambling. And gambling was a sin, so if A = B and B = C … investing in the stock market must be sinful too. The way my dad tells it, he’s not entirely sure his parents would have had money to invest anyway. They had five kids, …
In Defense of Real Things
Moving to a new home when we were 38 weeks pregnant wasn’t ideal, I’ll give you that. But then our moving truck’s engine spontaneously caught on fire and exploded. Nearly everything we owned — packed Tetris-style onto that truck — was gone. We hadn’t planned for that. It was a full 24 hours before my husband pulled out a chair and asked me to …
Mozzarella … with a Pinch of Inflation: Gender Roles & Inflation Expectations
“Fewer fruits and vegetables, more carbs and cheese.” That was the recommendation our pediatrician gave us a few weeks ago for our one-year-old daughter. It was enviable. Sign me up for that diet. The next day I dutifully added “block of fresh mozzarella” to our grocery list. When my husband returned from the grocery store, he dropped the heavy cheese …
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