There’s been quite a bit of press coverage of “fiduciary duties” when it comes to professionals giving financial advice. Bank trust departments and trust companies always have been held to the fiduciary standard, and are proud of it. Unfortunately, there are some documented cases when individuals with such duties simply ignored them. Special needs Lawrence […]
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Market Facts vs. Personal Facts
Investment decisions require more than gut feeling responses to current news. Typically, after a long decline in stock prices, a good deal of risk has been removed from the market, yet investors perceive the risk has increased. Conversely, when stock prices are high and rising, investors perceive the risks of investing to be much lower […]
Read MoreTriple record
Dear Trust Officer: I heard that the stock market has been setting new highs. Does that mean now is a good time to invest in stocks? — New at investing Dear New: On one hand, by example, last August all three of the major stock market indices (DJIA, S&P 500, and NASDAQ) set records on the […]
Read MoreThe Entire Process
Financial planning is one half of the process. Estate planning, often neglected by the majority of financial service providers, is the other half of the process. The Trust Company of Kansas (TCK) has always stressed a holistic approach to wealth management. Good investment results can be squandered if accounts are not appropriately titled and beneficiaries […]
Read MoreFear of Identity Theft
A survey of high-net-worth investors, reported on wealthmanagement.com, probed for respondents’ greatest fears. Major illness came in third, at 56%. Terrorism concerned 65%. The top worry, for 72% of respondents, was identity theft. The concern is not misplaced. Reportedly, in 2015 alone there were 13.1 million victims of identity theft, at a cost of $15 […]
Read MoreNoise Versus News
As of May 10th, only ten companies of the five hundred which make up the S&P 500 Index are responsible for 46% of the gain in the index so far in 2017. The S&P 500 is a market capitalization weighted index and those same ten companies make up just 12% of the market cap of […]
Read MoreTapping Retirement Funds to Pay for College
DEAR TRUST OFFICER: Should I withdraw or borrow from my 401(k) plan to help pay for my child’s college expenses? —PUZZLED ON FUNDING DEAR PUZZLED: As a general rule, impairing your retirement savings to meet current spending needs is not a good idea, even for higher education expenses. There are other sources of funds for education […]
Read MoreSell in May and Go Away?
Not this year, according to Stephen Auth, who oversees asset allocation at Federated Investors. Any corrections should be viewed as buying opportunities. He provides observations to support his view. News of the various political risks is mostly noise and both tax and healthcare reforms will begin to take shape in coming weeks. First quarter earnings […]
Read More12 Reasons to Review Your Will
Creating a will and an estate plan is not a “one and done” event. Many events can cause a plan that made perfect sense when it was drafted fail to meet expectations and the needs of the family. Life happens. As a rule of thumb, a will and estate plan should be reviewed every five […]
Read MoreIn the Mood
With 83% of the companies in the S&P 500 reporting, 65% have exceeded the average revenue estimate and 75% have beaten the average earnings per share estimate, according to FactSet Research. Earnings growth for the S&P 500 for Q1 is 13.5% as of current reporting. The market has moved higher since the end of the […]
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