Stay in-the-know about the latest.

Our team regularly reads articles from industry peers and trusted resources to stay up to date on financial markets. We enjoy reading about topics related to economics, investments, current events, and financial planning.
In addition to circulating some of the best pieces internally, we thought our clients, partners, and friends might enjoy reading some of the same articles as us.
We received great feedback on the articles we circulated in the first quarter of 2022, so we wanted to follow up with some more!

I grew up in Highland Park and chose to move back 3 years ago to raise my family.  Several of our team members and literally hundreds of our clients and their families share a similar story, as either current or former residents (or both).  Unfortunately, on July 4th, our town became the latest victim of an epidemic that our country cannot seem to rid itself of.  I am profoundly sad, and extremely angry that we all face the possibility of being a victim of gun violence as part of our daily lives.

I filled up my car with gas the other day, and it cost $91.78. Good times!

As I reflect on the first five months of 2022, expensive gas is certainly one thing that sticks out. Inflation is running at +/- 40-year highs, and we are all feeling it one way or another. Even my Starbucks Venti Cold Brew costs 25% more than a year ago!
I find the economy and financial markets so interesting because of how intertwined everything is. For example, rising inflation impacts corporate earnings, which, in turn, impacts stock prices. To be sure, some companies benefit from inflation, but many more are hurt by it.

There’s no sugarcoating it; the current state of the markets has many of our clients thinking like the 1981 punk rock classic by The Clash:

Should I stay or should I go now?

If I go, there will be trouble

And if I stay it will be double

So come on and let me know

Should I stay or should I go?*

I don’t suspect that the song was meant as a commentary on portfolio management strategies. (In fact, the band has never disclosed any real meaning to the lyrics.)  Nonetheless, I do think it provides an appropriate framework for examining today’s investment world.

So, let’s take a look at the cases for “going” and for “staying.”

Each month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks the price of consumer goods and services in the United States. Recently the BLS reported that the cost of this “basket” of goods increased by 1.2% in March — bringing the 12-month change to 8.5%, the highest in more than 40 years.[1]

In this article, we want to share our perspective on what is driving inflation and, most importantly, how your SWP team is navigating this period of increasing prices.

Here are five more pieces that additional team members have read, along with some commentary on why they found the respective articles interesting. Like the last set of articles, we’ve included pieces related to economics, investments, current events, and behavioral finance.

Here are six recent pieces that our team members have read, along with some commentary on why we found the respective articles interesting.

Let’s start with a basic question – what exactly is inflation? Inflation is an effective decrease in the value of a currency, which happens when there is an overall increase…

I woke up this morning to more worrisome news about the situation in Ukraine. The reality of the worst outbreak of hostilities in Europe since the end of World War…