The housing market continues to heat up alongside the post-pandemic boom. The limited supply of homes, historically low interest rates, rising financial asset prices and other factors have created a sense of urgency among many to buy new homes and list their existing ones. As the market further eclipses pre-2008 levels, how does this affect investors?
As with many things in life, investing is often about managing expectations on the economy, markets and portfolio returns. Doing so can be challenging since strong market gains and solid economic growth can fuel even greater and eventually unrealistic expectations. At the same time, long-term investors understand that temporary market pullbacks and economic slowdowns are unavoidable. Preventing disappointment is often a matter of maintaining discipline and perspective as market expectations continue to rise. After a red-hot economic rebound and stock market rally, there are certainly high expectations across the entire investment landscape. For instance, last week's jobs report severely missed economist projections.
The sudden rise in interest rates has spooked some investors. Fears of runaway inflation, the Fed losing control, and concerns over highly-valued sectors have resulted in renewed market volatility. Of course, this adds to the ever-growing wall of worry around the pandemic, tech stocks, retail investor behavior, and more. While shocks to interest rates can certainly rattle markets, history shows that these events are actually positive in the long run. How can patient investors keep all of these concerns in perspective as the outlook remains uncertain?
Investors often find it more natural to be pessimistic. After all, with one's hard-earned savings on the line, it's hard not to focus on what can go wrong. This is made worse by the vast number of negative events and attention-grabbing headlines every day. In contrast, real progress tends to happen slowly - often at a barely perceptible pace. Even so, this drives the stock market higher over the course of years and decades.
Hello Clients, Colleagues and Friends, I hope your New Year is going well. 2020 was a difficult year for so many of us. But we like to focus on positive things in the face of such devastating events. The resiliency of our economy and the human spirit displayed themselves in remarkable fashion. Vaccines were developed at previously unimaginable speeds, the workplace evolved, creativity blossomed and a light at the end of the tunnel appeared.
Here’s an uncomfortable truth you need to accept: Someday—hopefully in the very distant future—you are going to die. The good news: You can make that moment easier on your heirs by taking a few simple steps. One of the best ways, financially, to prepare now for that time is to choose a person to be the executor of your estate. Unfortunately, that also can be one of the more overlooked aspects of estate planning—which can spell trouble for your family and your wealth.