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Stocks rose slightly during the third quarter of 2026, with the Morningstar Global Markets gaining 1.2%. There were two big themes this quarter – AI and interest rates. We suspect these are going to remain the big themes over the next few quarters as well. Interest rates surged this quarter on concerns about higher inflation ... Read more
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently wrote a blog post where he argued that advancements in AI were moving too quickly for safety protocols to keep up. He argued that development of these frontier models, the most cutting edge AI models, must be “paced” to avoid the potential danger of AI doing something destructive. This blog ... Read more
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh announced a 0.25% interest rate hike at the September 2026 FOMC meeting, marking a shift from talk to action in the fight against inflation. Warsh has spent the prior two Fed meetings saying the Fed was committed to price stability, but had refrained from actually hiking rates. However, recent economic ... Read more
The U.S. bond market faces a number of challenges for the remainder of 2026 and into 2027, which is leaving some investors in bonds worried about whether their money is at risk. I spent many years as a bond portfolio manager earlier in my career, and I do think the bond market faces some real ... Read more
It is entirely natural to feel protective over the nest egg you spent decades building. When you are living on a fixed income, seeing a sudden increase in your monthly health insurance costs can feel like a setback. However, making decisions purely out of fear of a Medicare surcharge can accidentally cost you far more ... Read more
What is investment management? If a firm is offering investment management as one of their services, how does that differ from other kinds of investment advice? Unfortunately, the financial industry doesn’t make it easy to make these distinctions. Terms like financial advisor, portfolio manager, financial planner, investment manager, etc., are often used by different firms ... Read more
For those looking to buy a new house, the last few years have been extremely frustrating. Home prices have just kept rising across most of the U.S., while mortgage rates have stayed stubbornly high. This combination has resulted in housing affordability well below anytime between 2007 and 2022. According to a recent CNBC survey, housing ... Read more
Saving for a child’s future is one of the most meaningful steps you can take on your family’s financial journey. When new savings tools emerge, it’s completely natural to wonder how they fit into your overall roadmap and values. We’re here to help you unpack the details so you can make confident, informed decisions for ... Read more
The so-called “60/40 portfolio” has been around as a rule-of-thumb for decades. As the name implies, the 60/40 portfolio is typically comprised of 60% broadly diversified stocks and 40% in bonds. Exactly when and how 60/40 became such a financial industry staple is not entirely clear. However, the idea probably gained popularity with Harry Markowitz’s ... Read more
The Federal Reserve made no changes to its interest rate target at their July meeting, but change could be coming. Not only is inflation running well above the Fed’s target, but it is clear some members of the Fed’s committee are ready to hike now. Here is why we think rate hikes could be imminent ... Read more
Artificial Intelligence is likely to substantially change many parts of our lives. Investing is no exception. However, we would argue that AI can be helpful, but also harmful to making quality investment decisions. Because of some key limitations to generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, we would be very careful using AI alone ... Read more
Global stocks had the best quarter since 2020, with the Morningstar Global Markets index gaining 14.7%. The apparent cease fire in Iran caused oil prices to plunge, which helped boost stocks. In addition, U.S. companies posted exceptionally strong earnings during 2Q, especially companies related to the AI infrastructure trade. U.S. bonds ended the quarter with ... Read more