January 23, 2013 In spite of all the volatility, 2012 turned out to be a very good year. If you were too pessimistic or too cautious, you missed a good market rally. If you are a long time reader of this report, you probably remember us stating time and again that markets climb a wall...Read More
November 30, 2012 “Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax the man behind the tree.”~Senator Russell Long ____________________________________________________________________________ Turn on the TV, Radio or surf the Internet for news and you will likely hear the pundits and politicians talking about The Fiscal Cliff and the urgency for our government to act before the end of...Read More
Today many people are concerned about where they can go to find unbiased investment advice. Investment advice that is truly unbiased can help individuals and families plan for their future, achieve their goals and live the life they’ve always wanted. If you are like most people, you assume that someone who provides investment advice to you...Read More
On Friday, June 1, 2012 we had an all day investment strategies meeting. The purpose of this semi-annual meeting is to discuss our current portfolio strategy and evaluate it against the current state of the global economy…Easier said than done. It gives everyone a chance to express their views and have those views vetted or...Read More
2011 Review and Outlook By Ronald W. Rogé, MS, CFP® Steven M. Rogé, CMFC® As we wrote this time last year we cautioned of an increased volatility in risky investment assets. We saw increased risk with sovereign debt in Europe and its effect on global economies. Well, the market honed in on this issue starting...Read More
An integral part of our planning for clients is our continuous monitoring of new thresholds that affect retirement plan contributions, Social Security taxation and Medicare premiums. Listed below are the figures for 2012. There have been a few changes in pension plan contributions for the 2012 tax year due to cost of living adjustments (COLA)...Read More
Medicare Primer for the “New Boomers”, by Rosanne Roge, CFP®, CSA®, RFGSM Well, the Baby Boomers are beginning to enter the Medicare program and the momentum will be building rapidly. This is the crowd born between 1946 and 1964. As of 2011, that would make us between 47 and 65 years old. Currently, there are...Read More
At a recent Investment Management Committee meeting we were discussing the importance that gold plays in our portfolios. Over the past year, many clients have asked if we had exposure to gold. To their surprise, we let them know that we have always maintained exposure to gold in our portfolios via investments in several mutual...Read More
Portfolio Strategy We just completed a series of Investment Committee (IM) meetings to review our portfolio strategy. We started with a view of the world’s investable capital and how it is distributed. The purpose of this exercise is to become more informed on the changes to the relative size of the various markets and to...Read More
