BFSG Blog

Financial Resources & News

Monthly Market Update (November): 3 Things You Need to Know

Christmas came early this year for the markets. The idea that falling inflation could mean that the end to the rate hiking cycle is not far off gave both stocks and bonds a boost. Here are 3 things you need to know: The October consumer price index (CPI) showed prices rose 7.7% from a year ago and 0.4% from the prior month, according to the Labor Department, both below expectations. Prices of...

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Herding Bias: Don’t be a sheep

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” – Charles MacKay What is Herding Bias? In behavioral finance, herding bias refers to investors' tendency to follow and copy what other investors are doing.  When markets are volatile, it could lead to behavior that is not fully rational such as...

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Monthly Market Update (October): 3 Things You Need to Know

Although this year has felt spooky, the U.S. stock market rallied in October after enduring several straight months of losses, leading to optimism that the end of the bear market may be in sight. Here are 3 things you need to know: The S&P 500 ended the month up 8%. Ten of the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 rose during the month, with energy stocks leading the way higher.Gilts (a UK...

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How to Ignore the “Noise” When Investing: Recency Bias

How much "noise" is the media pushing out to us every day? And even more important, how often does this seemingly important "breaking news" that might impact markets today, actually have a long-lasting impact a long-term results? Find out more here and learn about recency bias, just one of the many biases and habits that lead to poor investing decisions. BFSG Shorts: Recency Bias Disclosure:...

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Great Expectations – Q3 2022 GDP

By:  Thomas Steffanci, PhD, Senior Portfolio Manager The Q3 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 2.6% was in line with the consensus. But it was anything but normal. The increase was entirely driven by a large increase in the trade balance. Net exports surged 2.8% due to a 1.6% increase in exports of energy commodities and military hardware, and a 1.2% decrease in imports. Inventory...

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It’s Your Money Financial & Estate Literacy – “Investment World” Replay

BFSG’s CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, Michael Allbee, CFP® and Paul Horn, CFP®, CPWA®, were invited to be guest speakers for the “It’s Your Money!” workshop series. For the “Investment World” session, Mike and Paul focused on how the investment world gets compensated. Learn the differences between brokers versus advisors, what does the word “fiduciary” mean, how to find an advisor,...

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Avoid Making Poor Investing Decisions: Anchoring Bias

Behavioral investing has quickly become one of the most important topics for individual investors, whether talking about their retirement accounts or brokerage accounts alike. This video discusses anchoring bias, just one of the many biases and habits that lead to poor investing decisions. BFSG Shorts: Anchoring Bias Disclosure: BFSG does not make any representations or warranties as to the...

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Monthly Market Update (September): 3 Things You Need to Know

We wrapped up September and boy was it one to remember but for all the wrong reasons. With fears of central bank over-tightening, the S&P 500 index dipped to a new 2022 low. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield surpassed 3.8%, marking the quickest re-rating in daily yields since 2009. A 60/40 balanced portfolio of U.S. stocks and U.S. bonds is now down -20.2% year-to-date through September 30th,...

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How to Become Financially Literate

By:  Henry VanBuskirk, CFP®, Wealth Manager New parents in any country all share a common goal – to have their kids be better off than they were.  In America, we colloquially call it ‘The American Dream’. In some respects, the dream is alive and well. In others (budgeting, debt management, and financial literacy in general) it looks more like ‘The American Nightmare’. My goal today is not to...

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Monthly Market Update (August): 3 Things You Need to Know

The S&P 500 index experienced its worst August in seven years as traders weighed the prospect of more aggressive action from the Federal Reserve (the Fed) on interest rates to rein in inflation — even if that means some pain for households and businesses.  Here are 3 things you need to know: The unemployment rate in August backed up to 3.7% (from 3.5%) driven by a huge increase in the...

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Catch the Replays of BFSG’s Summer Webinar Series

We concluded our Summer Webinar Series in August of 2022. We had a great turnout and thank you to our clients and friends that joined us live. The educational series covered great topics such as planning for loved ones, retirement plan basics, behavioral investing, Social Security and Medicare. We hope you learned something new to help you achieve your retirement goals. For those that were...

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Monthly Market Update (July): 3 Things You Need to Know

Investors bought the dip in July on hopes the Federal Reserve is about to change course and relax policy before inflation has even peaked. Here are 3 things you need to know: July was the best month for the S&P 500 since November 2020, when the first vaccine trial results were reported.High yield corporate bonds returned +5.9% in July (total return), the strongest monthly performance since...

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BFSG Investor’s Forum & Luncheon

We are grateful to our clients who joined us at BFSG Investors’ Forum & Luncheon in Newport Beach at Balboa Bay Resort for in-depth discussions on geopolitics & globalization with Matt Gertken of BCA Research, innovations in medicine with Dr. Jeffrey Golden of Cedars-Sinai, and how blockchain works and the basics of cryptocurrencies with BFSG’s own Steven Yamshon, PhD, and team. Check...

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Monthly Market Update (June): 3 Things You Need to Know

The first half of the year was difficult for investors as the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) began an aggressive tightening cycle to fight inflation sitting at 40-year highs and risk-off sentiment pervaded. Here are 3 things you need to know: The S&P 500 index dropped 20.6%, marking its worst first half of a year since 1970.Bonds, as measured by the U.S. Aggregate Index, had their worst first...

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Set the Bear Trap: The Well-Worn Bearish Narrative

By:  Thomas Steffanci, PhD, Senior Portfolio Manager Some say it is a chaotic and frustrating time to be an investor. Rising employment and wages and resilient consumer spending are offset by rising inflation driven mostly by volatile commodity markets and supply chain disruptions. Higher corporate earnings estimates are being met by declining price-earnings multiples. And the Russia-Ukraine...

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