President Obama Seeks New Rules for Brokers
The White House has called upon the Department of Labor to hold financial brokers and professionals to a higher Fiduciary Standard. The Fiduciary Standard is a simple yet important concept. Simply put, when advisors act as fiduciaries, they are placing …
Q4 2014 Newsletter
Q4 2014 Newsletter from Financial Synergies Asset Management, Inc
Q3 2014 Newsletter
Q3 2014 Newsletter from Financial Synergies Asset Management, Inc
Taken Your Temperature Lately?
When our 28-year-old daughter, Caitlin, was just four months old, my wife and I noticed she was running a fever. We had been parents for exactly four months and began to get nervous about it. We had no parents handy …
Q2 2014 Newsletter
Our 2nd quarter newsletter, featuring updates on the current state of the market, a mid-year recap of our portfolio, Schwab’s new technological advances with eSignature from DocuSign®, and understanding behavioral bias in investing.
Where Should the Market Be?
Last week the Dow Jones (^DJI) topped the 17,000 mark with a gain of about 3.25% for the year. The markets have been on a tear for over three years with no significant downturn since the long forgotten technical correction …
Hindsight is 20/20
In last week’s blog, Heath pointed out the tendency of people to base investment decisions on irrelevant facts or reference points. In the field of behavioral finance, this is known as anchoring. Heath provided a great example of anchoring: basing …
Test Your Own Behavioral Bias
People are fascinating to me. You’d think that over thousands of years, the human brain would have evolved to become capable of making unbiased decisions as a means for survival. But based on James Montier’s book “Behavioral Investing” our brains …
Disruptive Innovation & 3D Printing
Mike Minter and I are attending a conference this week in Chicago hosted by Envestnet Tamarac, the software provider of our rebalancing, reporting, and contact management programs. Our primary goal in attending the conference is to learn new ways to …
Q1 2014 Newsletter
Our 1st quarter newsletter features articles by the whole team. Q1 2014 Newsletter from Financial Synergies Asset Management, Inc
Russia Annexes Crimea: Should Investors Respond?
A prerequisite for investing is optimism about the future. After all, if you don’t believe that things will be better tomorrow than they are today, there would be no reason to squirrel away your money. It can be difficult at …
Washington, the Economy, and Your Money
On April 1st, 2014, Financial Synergies will welcome Greg Valliere, Chief Political Strategist for the Potomac Research Group, to a special client event at Willie G’s in Houston. With over 30 years of experience covering Washington, Greg focuses on the …
The Market Takes a Breather in January
After a year like 2013 stocks deserve a little breather, and that’s exactly what they got in January. Stocks (S&P 500) ended the month down -3.5%, while bonds (Barclays Aggregate Bond Index) posted a 1.5% gain. Last year stocks were …
Our 4th Quarter 2013 Newsletter
Q4 2013 Newsletter from Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors, Inc.
Investment Decisions at “Ludicrous Speed”
Riding in the elevator this morning, a fellow passenger commented on how quickly the year had flown by for her. Every year about this time, I find myself having that conversation regularly. I’m sure you do as well. Indeed, each …
