Insights

Gifts without the Guilt – Tips for Avoiding Financial Stress at the Holidays

Pop quiz: Can you name more than three gifts you got for the holidays last year? A sweater, an Apple watch, a popcorn tin … and, ummmm? Most of us would be hard-pressed to answer this question, even by late January.

What we remember, of course, are the moments with family and friends – the relationships that are renewed in the holiday time of slowing down. Material gifts are fine for the moment, but they are usually forgotten even before they have the chance to break and wear out. Read more

What Can We Expect from The Markets in 2019?

The markets have been extremely volatile this year, with over 60 days that the market has moved more than 1%. In October, the market gave up 8%, and November was also a volatile month. As December came around, there was an announced trade truce with Trump and Xi, so the markets were up almost 2% on Monday (12/3), and up over 4% the week before.

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A Blog From A Dog – Lucky Doesn’t Know What To Do with His RMDs

Published by Taylor Financial Group

Dear Humans,

I don’t know if you know this, but I recently celebrated my 11th birthday! It was an event filled with leftover Thanksgiving turkey and extra treats. However, with great age comes great responsibility (or something like that), and my newest responsibility is figuring out what I’m going to do with my required minimum distributions (RMDs).

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Weekly Market Commentary December 3, 2018

Last week provided investors clarity on their two biggest concerns: interest rates and trade. Federal Reserve communication indicated rate increases will likely slow in 2019, and over the weekend, the U.S. and China announced an agreement to delay an increase in tariffs from 10% to 25% on a wide range of U.S. goods. In exchange, the Chinese will buy more U.S. goods, and both sides will seek an agreement in the next quarter. Read more

Three Things to Know About Emerging Markets

Published by Taylor Financial Group

Emerging markets have been in the news quite a bit lately, with all kinds of speculation surrounding its volatility. Last week, our team sat in on a call with Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), which featured portfolio manager Katherine Bordlemay giving great insight regarding Goldman’s emerging markets outlook heading into next year. Read more

The Cat Column – Working Longer Makes a BIG Impact

Published by Taylor Financial Group (And Oliver the Cat)

Dear Humans,

So I know what you’re thinking, “Oliver, you are a cat. You don’t work at all. Who are you to tell us that we should consider working longer?” Well, I am here to tell you that I am not just a cat, I am a hardworking individual. In fact, I probably work more than you do, because my work never ends. At the Taylor Financial Group office, I work full time as a Quality Control Specialist, inspecting, testing, and sampling materials (i.e. chairs, couches, mattresses, laps, etc.), for defects and any deviations from specifications (every object must be tested for its strength by gravity).

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A Post Thanksgiving Message: Three Things That Make Us Happy

Published by Taylor Financial Group

While managing our busy lives, the most important, and sometimes simplest of things, are easily forgotten. Unfortunately, an individual’s happiness is one of those simple things that is often overlooked. And now that Thanksgiving is behind us, most of us will move into our hectic Holiday planning.

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The 4 Pitfalls of No Plan

There are some things in life you just can’t plan for: an unexpected illness, job loss, death of spouse, disability…While these major events can impact your life, having an effective game plan can help ensure that it doesn’t ruin your financial well-being. Read more

Weekly Market Commentary November 26, 2018

Global stocks continued to decline as economic weakness and the possibility of further rate increases by the Federal Reserve worried investors. After rallying in late October and early November, global stocks were trading near the levels reached during the October decline. Read more

Why Worry About Algorithmic Trading?

Published by Taylor Financial Group

Algorithms and rule-based systematic trading systems have gone from representing nearly 30% of the market to now dominating up to 90% of market trades on any given day. How a computer algorithm views stocks is perhaps one of the most important factors driving a stock price today, but few people have any clue how it works, what algorithms think about their stocks, and why a stock may be moving up or down in price.

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