Does Ann Wagner or any politician really have your back?

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Fiduciary4Dear Mr. Market:

We don’t typically venture into topics that involve politics as they can be polarizing to say the least. Everyone can think of an individual they know that is always more than willing to share their political opinions whether you want to hear them or not! From time to time, however, there is a topic that needs to be addressed and political party affiliation has absolutely nothing to do with it … It’s a matter of doing what is right.

Recently the Department of Labor issued a new proposal addressing investment management fees associated with retirement accounts. According to a report issued by the White House Council of Economic Advisors, a difference of only one percentage point in fees equals $17 billion! This is money that will either remain in individual’s retirement accounts or find its way to brokers and financial firms’ pockets.

There have been other versions of this legislation proposed in the past. This most recent version requires any advisor that is compensated for providing advice with retirement accounts (IRAs, 401(k), 403(b), Simple IRAs and SEP IRAs for example) to operate as a fiduciary, always putting the clients interests first. Why is this even a debate?! What it essentially comes down to is the mighty dollar. Continue reading →

MPG Core Tactical 60/40: May 2015 Performance Update

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MW-BB798_sm6040_20130422180557_MD

Dear Mr. Market:

If you’re new to this monthly series…remember what we’re doing. This exercise, as we like to call it, is not an attempt to pick the best stock or “time the market”. We leave that futile task to those who own time machines and If you’re new to this monthly series…remember what we’re doing. This exercise, as we like to call it, is not an attempt to pick the best stock or “time the market”. We leave that futile task to those who own time machines and accurate crystal balls. For a refresher, see our first article on the MPG Core Tactical 60/40 portfolio.

Here’s the current summary of the MPG Core Tactical 60/40 portfolio mix, which is updated as of this writing (June 5, 2015).

Click here to compare the portfolio against the benchmark

What adjustments did we make?

We didn’t make any portfolio moves in May. Aside from collecting nice dividends through BND, LQD, and Conoco Philips (COP), the market environment did not warrant making any adjustments.

Why? Continue reading →

Happy 529 Day!

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529 #2Dear Mr. Market:

Today is the last day in May and although you’re still positive for the month you look like you’re limping home. School is wrapping up for the year so perhaps you have a bad case of “senioritis” or “summer fever”.  Are you getting tired Mr. Market? It sure looks like it. Speaking of being a student, today also is May 29th, and it marks the sixth annual national 529 Day. With that being said, let’s review why a student needs you (the market and a good platform) to ultimately get to their “finish line”.

Whether you are a parent or grandparent it’s likely been a long time since you’ve been in college. Even if you stay close to the numbers of what it costs to send a child to college, you’re likely to be blown away when it actually comes time to write that first tuition check. For the 2014-2015 academic year the College Board surveys reported that in-state college budgets averaged $23,410/year and private college averaged $46,272. Before we go into how you’re going to help pay for these types of college costs let us share with you the two reasons you should NOT use a 529 College Savings Plan. Continue reading →

We’ve Hit The Century Mark! The 100th Letter to Mr. Market

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100 #1Dear Mr. Market:

How time flies! Our first letter to you was on March 20, 2013.   This marks our 100th article. Over the last two years we have covered a variety of topics and events that our clients and readers have been confronted with. Over 15,000 individuals have visited the website and our top rated articles have been viewed over 12,500 times!

As we look through the library of topics we have assembled, there are several articles that stand out for various reasons. It’s challenging to pick favorites so we’ve decided to share the most popular “letters” we’ve written: Click here to read more…

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

 

MPG Core Tactical 60/40: April 2015 Performance Update

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MW-BB798_sm6040_20130422180557_MDDear Mr. Market:

Every month we write to you and chat about the markets and how people are behaving based on your results. Sometimes it’s good to refresh (click here) our memory of why we do this and what the MPG Core Tactical 60/40 portfolio is intended to do. First and foremost, our aim with this series of monthly articles is not to “beat the market”, race against any benchmark, or pretend we have a crystal ball. In the most ironic way possible, those that follow this series of articles will eventually understand that the primary focus of this exercise is to show you how picking stocks and trying to “time markets” is usually a hit or miss expedition. At the end of the day (or in this case, whenever we decide to stop writing these “letters”), you will likely see that holding a properly disciplined and balanced portfolio of instruments tracking specific indexes beats out most “potpourri” type portfolios. Continue reading →

Warren Buffett’s Baby

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Buffett2Dear Mr. Market:

This past weekend, the investment world descended on Omaha, Nebraska; best known perhaps as the hometown of one of the most successful investors in the world. Warren Buffett, also known as the “Oracle of Omaha”, will be hosting investors at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. The schedule is filled with presentations, shopping & dining experiences, and social interactions that will be the highlight for many individual investors.

The investment community has been fascinated with Warren Buffett for his colorful comments and impressive track record. He has proven to be a in a class all by himself looking for good companies at an attractive price and has never been scared to be a contrarian. Flipping through the pages of the 2014 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report, we can’t help but notice that many of the principles Buffett applies to prospective investments are now making his own company look very attractive.

The class ‘B’ shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) currently trade at $141.21 per share while the ‘A’ shares trade for an impressive $213,400 per share! Through the first four months of the year BRK.B is down -5.93% while the S&P 500 is up 1.3%. Buffett has been quoted as saying, “price is what you pay, value is what you get.” Last year (2014) the S&P 500 delivered an impressive 13% and BRK.B doubled that, rewarding investors with a 26% return for the year. Continue reading →

Is Jim Cramer’s diversification advice insane?

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Diversified Portfolio DMMDear Mr. Market:

Have you ever heard of a guy named Jim Cramer? If you’re a seasoned investor you certainly know of the television personality, best-selling author, and host of CNBC’s Mad Money show. If you’re a novice investor you may have heard of him as well due to his popularity but we would caution you to stay away. Why?

This article is not a hit piece on Jim Cramer. He is a wildly successful entertainer who adds color and talking points on the stock market but make no mistake about it…he is not your financial advisor. As a matter of fact he advises nobody professionally but by virtue of his massive media platform he commands a lot of attention, which gets construed as diligent financial advice or valid recommendations. Continue reading →

There’s no YOU in UIT (Unit Investment Trust)

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UIT CartoonDear Mr. Market:

Have you ever bought a product or service and afterwards felt like you had been taken to the cleaners? Consumers look for superior products and they also want a great deal. Imagine buying a top of the line computer only to find out that you need to buy another one every year or two and to top of it off you have to pay a commission to the salesperson each time…who would possibly want that scenario?!

It might be a very nice computer but at what point do you question your purchase and stop the sales/commission cycle? As we’ve discussed in several of our letters to Mr. Market the financial services industry is littered with products and services that do little for the individual investor but benefit companies and commission driven brokers by lining their pockets. We’ve covered annuities, life insurance products and loaded mutual funds, but today we will look at a product that is making a come back after declining in popularity over the last few years….Unit Investment Trusts or UITs.

The name itself sounds a bit intimidating but the product itself is fairly simple and easy to understand. Essentially a UIT is a fixed unmanaged portfolio with a set maturity in the future (usually one to two years). They are comprised of equities, bonds or a combination of the two with a focus on broad market, specific strategies or sometimes sector specific. At first glance they appear very similar to a mutual fund or ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) but when you pull back the covers the differences are glaring.  Continue reading →

MPG Core Tactical 60/40: March 2015 Performance Update

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 MW-BB798_sm6040_20130422180557_MDDear Mr. Market:

You don’t have to be a professional money manager to be aware that the swift decline in oil prices has been one of the most impactful financial headlines in years. As a matter of fact if you didn’t own a computer, read a newspaper, or have basic access to media, you would still know that oil has dropped like a rock. All you had to do was go to the gas station and see that it costs far less to fill up your tank today than it did last year.

What you may not have noticed, however, is the huge appreciation in the U.S. dollar. The U.S. dollar index compares the dollar with a basket of other currencies and it spiked up 50% in the first couple weeks of March. It has already risen almost 8% year to date and this has impacted the stock market in ways that many are unprepared for. With any situation like this there are silver linings and opportunities that we’ll discuss later in this article.

First let’s review where we’re currently at and what we did last month:

Here’s the current summary of the MPG Core Tactical 60/40 portfolio mix, which is updated as of this writing (April 1, 2015).

Click here to compare our portfolio against the benchmark

What adjustments did we make?

The following moves were made during the month of March:

3/13/15:  Bought 200 more shares of VO (Vanguard Mid Cap Index) @ $126.19 ~$2 worth

3/25/15:  Bought 75,000 final shares of MONIF (Monitise) @ $0.191 ~$14k worth Continue reading →

Don’t Neglect Bond Basics

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Seesaw1Dear Mr. Market:

The equity markets typically dominate the headlines but recently there has been more and more talk about the Fed and where interest rates are going. Stocks are definitely a more intriguing topic as they can move very quickly in either direction and make a dramatic impact on investor’s portfolios. Future Fed activity will have an impact on what is often the most neglected portion of a portfolio – Fixed Income or Bonds.

Most investors spend a minimal amount of time with this portion of their asset allocation. It is often the textbook definition of a ‘buy and hold’ approach and why shouldn’t it be? For the last several years investors have accepted the fact that interest rates are essentially zero and this portion of their portfolio warrants little to no attention. While this approach has been adequate investors that subscribe to this approach could find themselves with losses in what they consider their ‘sleep at night’ portion of the portfolio. When and if the Fed makes any changes to their policy investors need to be prepared to make changes to this portion of their investment portfolio.

When rates do change the behavior of bonds can be explained using something that everyone has seen on a children’s playground…a seesaw or teeter-totter. It is based on a very basic concept – when one side goes up the other will go down. When using this analogy with Fixed Income, one side would have interest rates and the other would have the principal value of the bond or fund. As rates go down the principal would go up and if rates go up the principal would decline. Fairly straightforward…isn’t it? Additionally, the further away you are from the middle of the seesaw (fulcrum point) the harder your landing will be. This playground explanation paints a simplistic explanation of how the price of bonds is affected by interest rate changes but what should you focus on when it comes to your fixed income positions? Continue reading →