Blog

Read our recap of June's economic and market activity. Highlights include:

• Trade and tariff disputes upset the market.

• The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate 0.25% increasing it to 2.00%.

ESG is short for Environmental, Social and Governance and is also known as Socially Responsible Investing.

Corporations often offer their own company stock inside their retirement plans and many employees take advantage of this opportunity. But can this be too much of a good thing? Can employees end up overweighted in their own company? Diversification is one of the best solutions for weathering the ups and downs in the stock market.

Coach Krzyzewski and I posed with my Duke 5 National Championships shirt. He said, "My goal is to make that shirt obsolete."  He is a driven leader and motivator. His talk focused on the importance of team, all of the members with a single mission and complete dedication is what makes a great team.

• S&P 500 is up 4% year-to-date, mainly driven by growth stocks.

• Since March 2009, growth stocks have dramatically outperformed value stocks.

Wiser diversification requires the use of asset classes that have low correlation both between them and with stocks.

The timing of withdrawals from a 529 plan is important when trying to qualify for financial aid. Tradition's Frani Feit explains factors to consider on NJ.com. 

Supplemental insurance coverage that pays for medical expenses not covered by Medicare is on the rise. Over 500,000 new supplemental policies were purchased in 2017, with over 13.6 million retirees carrying supplemental insurance coverage as of December 2017.

Not all advisers are the same. Some must meet the fiduciary standard and give recommendations in your best interest. Others meet the less stringent suitability standard, meaning the recommendation must be only be suitable for a client. Tradition, an SEC Registered Investment Adviser (RIA), operates as a fiduciary. We are required to put our clients first.

A measure of an economy’s efficient use of its capital assets and labor force is the capacity utilization rate. This figure is released by the Federal Reserve each month and is closely watched for indications of a tight supply of resources, which can lead to higher labor and capital costs.