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Market Breadth Broadens in 2026: Mid-Year Outlook
This commentary was prepared for clients on July 2, 2026. The second quarter ended very differently than it began. When we last wrote in April, markets were wrestling...
4 Easy Steps To Protect Yourself From Financial Cyberfraud
A while ago, our Walnut Creek investment office received an email from a client who wanted to know their account balance and requested a large money wire transfer to a third...
Active vs. Passive Investment Strategies: Which is Right for You?
Academics and investors have debated over the superiority of a passive investment strategy versus an active investment approach for years. First, let’s clear up the confusion...
Election 2016: 7 Crucial Investment Questions Answered
Our Investment Advisory clients experienced nine months of solid performance despite numerous stiff headwinds in 2016. The headwinds started in the opening weeks of the year with...
Bond Investment Ladder: Reduces Interest Rate Risk While Providing Income
With interest rates at generational low levels, investment advisors face two distinct dilemmas. How to: 1) safely generate additional investment income, and 2) do this while...
A Turn in the Tide: The Case for Rising Interest Rates
The purpose of this article is to make the case for a primary trend rise in yields. If this assumption turns out to be correct, it is within the realm of possibilities that this...
2016 Fall Financial Market Outlook
Summary This update focused on the challenges facing investors. Retired investors are especially challenged to both protect and grow their portfolios in today’s low return...
A New Cyclical Bull Market in the Oil Patch Has Begun
The price of crude oil topped out in June 2014, then bottomed in February 2016 and has since partially recovered. During this period, the price of oil plunged by 76% and reached...
Stocks Are Breaking the Glass Ceiling: 6 Reasons to Be Bullish
At the beginning of 2000, I unsuccessfully submitted a bearish stock market article, A Turn of the Tide, to a well-known US financial publisher. At the time, in the middle of a...
Meeting the Investment Challenges
Summary Our typical portfolio was well positioned and, despite the many challenges, performed nicely with attractive returns. We take comfort in relying on time tested market...
Streamers: The Low Risk Gold Investment
“A mine is a hole in the ground with a fool at the bottom and a crook at the top.” – Mark Twain In May we laid out the case that a new cyclical bull market in gold had begun -...
The Win-Win Case for a Bull Market in Gold—Part I
For years I have always thought of the gold price as a discounting mechanism for inflation. In recent months though, the price has rallied sharply under what appears to be a...
Keep Your Investment Seat Belts Fastened
In our October Newsletter, Reducing Risk to a Safer Portfolio Speed, we explained how stock market driving conditions were more hazardous and why it was prudent to maintain a...