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Last year we saw the return of volatility to the stock market. This was a hard pill to swallow after a very smooth ride in 2017. In 2018, the stock market had two notable downturns. At one point, the SP500 was down 19.8%. But here we are, mid-way through February and the SP500 was back up to 2,753 (as of the close of business on 2/13/19). Remember, the SP500 hit its peak in September when it closed at 2,930. We’ve gone through a lot of ups and down to end up in roughly the same spot. So what do we do from here? We believe that with portfolio management, it is better to prepare than it is to repair. By “prepare” I do not mean market timing as we know this is next to impossible to do with any level of consistency. Rather, we believe it is important to design a

Did you know that when Andrew Carnegie was drafted by the Army to fight in the U.S. Civil War, he paid another man $850 to report for duty in his place? Granted, this was common at the time but this is a prime example of how this tycoon mastered the art of delegation. In the early 1870s, Andrew Carnegie co-founded what would later be known as Carnegie Steel Company. By 1902, he was the richest man in the world. According to Carnegie, “No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.” Undoubtedly, without Carnegie’s ability to delegate and outsource tasks, he would never have grown into the success that we think of him today. So, let’s talk about delegating/outsourcing. Throughout your career, you built a skillset that allowed you to complete jobs or projects better than anyone else. Once you got

Reaching retirement and relishing in a ceremonial mortgage-burning party was a twentieth-century custom recognized by many Americans. At that time, there was no better reason to celebrate than rejoicing in the liberty that comes with paying off your mortgage. Fast-forward to 2018, where mortgage-burning parties rarely, if ever, occur. Why? Well for starters, etiquette experts strongly disagree with the custom. But beyond that, financial advisors are now pushing baby boomers to reevaluate whether or not paying off mortgage debt makes sense. A recent survey from American Financing, a national mortgage banker, revealed that 44 percent of Americans ages 60-70 still have a mortgage upon retirement. Baby boomers seem to be much less debt-averse than the previous generation of Depression-affected retirees, pushing them to reconsider the benefits of paying off their mortgages. As such, retirees will look to a financial advisor to conduct a strategic analysis of an individual’s financial situation, revealing