What's New in Our Blog

• Market Insights – February 1, 2012 02/01/12
  “He who lives by the crystal ball, soon learns to eat ground glass” — Edgar R. Fielder, “The Three R’s of Economic Forecasting – Irrational, Irrelevant and Irreverent” Dear Clients and Friends, According to Brian Westbury, Chief Economist for First Trust, there are three types of people involved in the prognostication business these days. They are: the EOTWT’s, better known as the “end of the world” types, the IASPAWT’s, who are known as the “it’s a slower, post- apocalypse world” types, and finally the EIGTBOT’s, otherwise known as the “everything is going to be OK” types. As we start a new year, those who embrace the EOTW concept, are still chewing away on the ground glass, the IASPAWT’s are enjoying a satisfying Kobe beef burger, and the EIGTBOT’s are just sitting down to a thick and juicy 16 oz. New York strip. Throughout 2011, the EIGTBOT’s invited the EOTWT’s and Read more...
• Blueprints For Special Needs Families – January 31, 2012 01/31/12
  Make Yourself Into A Financial Elite By Rob Wrubel, CFP®, AIF® OK, let’s get this out of the way. I am from New Jersey and am rooting for the Giants to beat San Francisco in this evening’s NFL playoff game. At the start of the season, the Giant’s Super Bowl winning quarterback Eli Manning was asked if he was one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL. His answer was, of course I am. For many reasons, his name does not jump out in the football pantheon like some other current superstars. Tom Brady. Drew Brees. Peyton Manning. Still, Manning has won a Super Bowl ring with the Giants and looks to be breaking records this year with his fourth quarter touchdown passes and come from behind victories. There is a lot to learn from following Eli Manning’s season and career in the context of special needs planning. Lead with Read more...
• Wealth Notes – January 24, 2012 01/24/12
  Staying Diversified Through Volatile Markets By Rob Wrubel, CFP®, AIF® From end to end (and from a few weeks perspective) last year looked fairly benign to US investors. The S&P finished positive, bonds continued to perform well, inflation did not surge and the economy chugged along at a decent rate. As we remember, the story beneath the surface did not look so smooth. According to Yahoo Finance, the S&P 500 closed on October 3, 2011 at 1,099.23. It had been at 1,363.61 on April 29, 2011. The return from the high to the low of the year was down close to 20%. The return from that low moment to the end of the year was about 17%. In October, it looked like the markets were going to get worse by the day, not better, and many investors kept leaving the markets in search of lower volatility and perceived safety in Read more...
• Blueprints For Special Needs Families – December 21, 2011 12/21/11
  Save A Penny, Lose Your Dollars? By Rob Wrubel, CFP®, AIF® Do you know that you could be savings pennies every day for your special needs family member, but setting yourself and family to lose thousands of dollars? If you do not fund your trust the right way, you could potentially lose expected Supplemental Security and Medicaid benefits. Regular readers of my Blueprints newsletters know that I generally recommend a special needs trust be considered (and most families choose to use this technique) for families with a special needs member. The trust can be used to hold assets that can be used to improve the quality of life for our special needs family members while protecting available government benefits. Funding the trust requires special care as tax and other government driven rules are complicated. My recommendation is to build a strong financial team to work with you to make sure Read more...

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