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Tag: Economy

Good (successful) investor vs Poor (unsuccessful)

by Dave Conley on March 17, 2023.

Although there is no foolproof formula for investing success or failure there are traits that those who do well over the long term possess. As a financial planner with 25 years of experience, I have seen many investors succeed and others struggle. Through my experience, I have identified three primary characteristics or habits of a good investor and three characteristics or habits of poor investors.

Economic forecasts for 2023.

by Dave Conley on January 6, 2023.

Predicting the direction of the market is like predicting when you will hit the bulls-eye in a dart game. The majority of the time throughout market history, the markets have been rising. History shows that the chance of your money growing in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds is much like the odds of your next dart hitting any number on the dartboard... except the bulls-eye. If you are going to try and time the market by moving your money in and out, you have to ask yourself how confident are you that you can hit the bullseye when you do.

Are you an investor… or a gambler?

by Dave Conley on December 9, 2022.

In simple terms, speculators are trying to out-smart the markets while investors simply participate in the markets. The investment time horizon is also a very important factor as speculation tends to be over the short-term while investing is over the long-term.

Why are we surprised when things change?

by Dave Conley on October 7, 2022.

We so desperately try to nail down certainty in every area of our life but this pesky thing known as reality gets in our way. The realities of life refuse to conform to our desire for certainty. We make plans for our lives and then reality "happens" and throws a monkey wrench into our plans.

People haven’t been this negative about the economy & investing since 2010.

by Dave Conley on September 30, 2022.

Just like we do not know when we are in a recession (until after it has started), the markets begin their recovery in the midst of bad news. It is critical top your wealth to understand this fact: the markets (stocks & bonds) typically reflect where the economy is headed in 3-6 months from today. If you wait for the news to tell you the markets have recovered, the economy has turned around you probably missed out on a good portion of the initial recovery.

What are you afraid of ?

by Dave Conley on September 23, 2022.

Most of us make the same mistake with our money over and over: We buy high (when the economy and markets are up) out of greed and sell low (when the economy and markets are down) out of fear, despite knowing on an intellectual level that it is a very bad idea.

Mid-Term Elections and Market Volatility

by Randy Chalmers on September 16, 2022.

There should be no shock to you when I state that 2022 has been a tumultuous year for the stock market. Seemingly everything that could happen to negatively affect the market, has. The lingering pandemic, inflation, monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve, Russia invading Ukraine, investor panic, and the cyclical mid-term election impact….? Mid-term...

What Advice Would you Give Yourself… 20 Years Ago?

by Dave Conley on August 26, 2022.

Who do you think you’ll be in a year? 5 years? 20 years? One of the big problems with setting goals, especially financial ones, is that we’re struggle with imagining our future selves. Remember what you imagined you’d be as an adult when you were a kid. I’m guessing there are some gaps between that dream and your current reality. When we talk about financial goals, we’re often talking about long timeframes.

Why Continue to Invest in Today’s Market (or Why Start Now)?

by Randy Chalmers on August 1, 2022.

Everyone begins their investment journey at different stages in life, however, we can all agree that the sooner you start, the better your portfolio will be in 10, 20, or even 30 years. This equates to a better life in retirement. But why invest now, when the market is down so much, and there could...