Author Archives: mmwealth

While the phrase, “wealth management” means many things to many different people, the industry accepted concept is this: wealth management is a professional service that provides financial planning and investment portfolio management coordinated with estate and tax planning. Note the word “coo ...

I was recently conducting a portfolio review with a client when they asked, “How are we doing?” Having been asked this question before, I knew they weren’t asking, “How are my investments doing?” but rather, “How do we stack up financially?” There are a number of ways to address thi ...

In the last two weeks the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed the previous high of 14,164 set back in October 2007. While some rejoiced the milestone with cautious optimism, everyone was already asking the big question: What happens next? Not surprisingly, there are two schools of thought on t ...

Whether you are choosing your very first financial adviser or looking to make a switch to a new one, there are many factors to consider before making the final selection. One of most important — and often most overlooked — is whether to work with an investment adviser or an investment broker who ...

Over the last several weeks, I’ve had a number of conversations with friends and colleagues about their 401k plans. I was pleased to discover that a few people were taking an active role in monitoring their fund choices and capital markets and, in general, had a good handle on their retirement sav ...

As of last week, the major U.S. Stock Market Indexes had fallen approximately 7 percent from the September highs. These types of drops in the stock market aren’t uncommon. Almost every year — and some years, more than once — the market will drop 7 to 10 percent before stabilizing and starting ...

Allow me to tone down the seemingly alarmist meaning of the words: “End of World Market”.  “End of World Market” refers to a style of portfolio management that treats most risks as a risk that has the potential to move the market to a 50% decline.  Pretend for a moment that you and I are l ...

Not surprisingly, saving for retirement is a popular topic of discussion for a financial adviser like myself. But what is surprising, at least to me, is the lack of true commitment most people make to retirement savings. To that point, a recent survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute ( ...