A&I Financial Services

Three Big Reasons to Not Overreact to Taxes Some people want to pay long term rates before they go up. After all, this is a 5/20 or 25% tax increase! However, you may not be one of those people who would benefit by selling your equities and realizing those gains this year. Talk to your...Read More

Frequently Asked Questions about Retirement Planning Some of the questions that we receive from various folks are fairly common. You may want to visit our web site and see if any of them peak your interests. Here are a few of them: Diversification Read our recent FAQ: Diversification in Investing: Fundamentals, Importance & Why You...Read More

China is Fraught with Contradictions The first of our expert opinions starts with Litman Gregory, who is one of our key research partners. In our most recent quarterly investment commentary, published last week, the analysts at Litman Gregory discuss two big recent decisions by the Chinese government. First, to take over the private education companies...Read More

Inflation is Affecting Most Countries We hear a lot of talk about inflation in the USA. But it is not just an American problem. Look at the following chart:   Source: Statista In this great chart on inflation expectations around the world, you can see the USA is not in the worst position. But, as...Read More

2nd Quarter Investment Update Please click here for the complete investment commentary from our research partners at Litman Gregory. In brief, we are watching: Inflation Covid-19 Fiscal policy, especially in the USA Good expectations for equity returns—but bumpy! It is still too early to say whether and to what extent the past two months’ inflation reports are harbingers...Read More

4 Themes of Future Growth We last talked about our forecasts in January, and then previously in 2020. We lean on our researchers at Athena Invest and Litman Gregory. We also lean on our investment managers. Among the best forward-thinkers are the men and women at Baron Funds, Artisan, Sands Capital and other “future growth”...Read More

The Death of a 40-year-old Bond Market Read this Periscope for historical perspective on bonds—but it won’t be boring! Macroeconomic Investment Strategies We lean on our research partners at Athena Invest and Litman Gregory to make our investment decisions. Athena’s patented investment process identifies 10 themes, or 10 general ways that all investment managers make...Read More

  Watch the investment commentary movie from Dr. Tom Howard at Athena Invest. Learn about what we believe is shaping the markets and how the research team at Athena is positioning their portion of our investment portfolios. Here is a summary. If you want, you can click to an area of interest. First, Dr. Howard...Read More

The Economy is As Good as it Has Ever Been These are great economic times. Some people compare them to the 1920’s. When I grew up, the roaring twenties were explained by the euphoria caused by the end of the World War. The people were happy and the boys were home and went to work....Read More

Read this Periscope to learn about the President’s proposed tax increases, including a huge increase in the long-term capital gains rate. Also, increases to the income tax rate, the step-up in tax basis, higher taxes on corporations and a gotcha for real estate investors. Second-largest Percentage Tax Increase in US History The proposed tax increases,...Read More