Historically, emerging markets have shown more volatility than developed markets, something we expect to continue. We believe, however, investors who remain in emerging markets should be compensated for this risk over time as current valuations are more attractive as compared to developed markets.

The IRS recently released the cost-of-living adjustments for qualified retirement plans for the 2019 tax year. We’ve created a chart that provides a brief overview of the changes as compared to the current tax year and is helpful as you plan your retirement contributions for next year.

On Wednesday, October 24th, equities pulled back sharply, as mounting concerns over global growth, corporate earnings, and rising rates left global equities down nearly 3%. The S&P 500 Index has now fallen in 13 of the past 15 trading sessions. October’s market volatility has brought equity indices down nearly 10% — or more — from recent highs. Because of last year’s low volatility, the market fluctuations in 2018 have seemed extreme.  

October marks the fifth anniversary of Fi3 Financial Advisors, and we want to thank our valued clients, colleagues and friends for their support on our journey. We are proud of the work our firm has provided to clients over the past five years and the relationships we have developed.

As of the close of the third quarter 2018, the S&P 500 index (U.S. Large Cap equities) continued to show dominance over international equity peers. In fact, over the past 10 years, the S&P 500 index has outperformed the MSCI ACWI ex USA index (international equities) in 70% of the calendar years and by 6.2% annualized, the widest margin in the last 20 years.

This performance has caused investors to rightly ask, will the U.S. equity freight train ever stop? History may provide investors some answers.

The dip in the markets earlier this month may have caused some anxiety in investors. Over the course of Wednesday, October 10th and Thursday, October 11th, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index dropped more than 5%, marking the largest decline for U.S. equities since this past February.

What began as a modest sell-off across global stocks and bonds last week accelerated sharply Wednesday. In one day, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ indices lost 3.3% and 4.1%, respectively, as the VIX Index, a forward-looking measure of implied volatility, increased by 44%.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (enacted in December 2017) contained a provision with special tax incentives for taxpayers making investments in economically distressed communities. The program ultimately aims to spur economic development and job creation in these communities.

Guest author Brad Steiman encourages investors to use the happiness model developed in the book, Solve for Happy. As an investor, your happiness depends on having realistic expectations about returns and viewing market events in proper context. These two factors can drive your sense of financial well-being and influence your financial outcome.

As expected, Federal Reserve officials raised the federal funds rate 0.25% at their September meeting to a range of 2% to 2.25% and reiterated expectations for another 0.25% rate increase at the December Federal Open Market Committee meeting.