Sharing our financial challenges and insecurities can bring relief and ideas on how to take control of our financial futures. Many of us were taught as children and young adults not to talk about money. “It’s vulgar,” our parents would say, or “That’s rude to ask someone what they make or how much their house costs.” Instead we ruminate in private about these things, slyly looking up our friends’ houses on Zillow Read More
Active vs. Passive Investment Management
Active Investment Management or Passive Investment Management? That is THE question. Among investment professionals, anyway. While these two investment approaches can spark heated debate, few investors can effectively describe the difference. But understanding the difference between Active and Passive investing is consequential to your investment portfolio. Active Investing Summarized Let’s start with active Read More
Fortune Tellers Everywhere
Why We Shouldn’t Try to Predict Stock Prices A friend mentioned the other day that in November 2019, she chatted up a fortune teller who made a spectacular prediction: by the 2020 general election, the US would suffer the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. No visions of a dark, handsome stranger for her. The financial industry has always employed economists and investment strategists in the role Read More
Communicating the Unthinkable
A number of years ago I received a mobile call at work from a number I couldn’t recognize. This is how I remember it: “Am I speaking to Maya Tussing?” “Yes.” “This is Fire Battalion Chief Joe Schmoe and I want to tell you first the good news. No one was hurt.” So if that’s the good news, what’s the bad news? I thought about that conversation as I watched markets close to record highs Thursday with the S&P 500 Read More
What is Asset Allocation?
With most markets taking a nose dive, it’s enough to make you run for the hills. Yet you’ve heard a lot of investment professionals tell you to “Stay the course.” But what does “stay the course” actually mean? It refers to maintaining the investment strategy that you put into action before the market crash, assuming it’s the right fit for your circumstances. When someone refers to an investment strategy, they are Read More
What are Asset Classes?
In Lesson One of Asset Allocation, we learned that when investment professionals say “Stay the course”, they mean investors should maintain their investment strategy, which typically refers to the portfolio’s asset allocation or the percentage amounts allotted to certain investment categories in your portfolio. In March 2020 most asset classes lost significant value, some almost 30% and others less than a percentage Read More
What are Your Nonprofit Endowment’s Asset Allocation Tolerance and Timing?
There are two important strategies that drive how and when you rebalance your portfolio. First, the percentage tolerance around your asset class weights and second, the timing of your rebalances. We recommend employing both of these strategies to your portfolio rebalancing in order to establish discipline around what could be an emotional process. Tolerance refers to the amount of drift you’re willing to accept when Read More
Checklist for Surviving a Broken Economy
We asked Brit Summerill, Partner with NOW CFO what lessons CFOs learned from the last recession. Here are a few things organizations need to do to start protecting themselves. Cash Flow Forecasting 13-week projection of the company’s available cash. Operational cost forecasting by week for the quarter—inventory, fixed costs, variable costs, payroll, etc. Establish Break-Even Point What is the minimum revenue Read More
This Is How Your Work, Spending And Life Changes From This Point Forward
As published by ForbesBY Chris Carosa, Senior ContributorMar 26, 2020,11:07am EDTAmerica has not seen this kind of massive national mobilization since World War II. You might have thought that particular America was long past, but today’s events prove we can still be a united nation. As the old saying goes, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”And America is one tough nation.Look at the many Read More
FORTUNE: What is a 401(k)? And why do you need one?
As published by Fortune/Careers/Retirement PlansBY SARAH FIELDINGMarch 24, 2020 1:00 AM ESTNot that you need more things to be stressed about right now, but does hearing the term “401(k)” leave you sweating? It can seem daunting, but a 401(k) is just an account designed to help you save money for retirement. Yes, it’s truly as simple as that.Employees across generations need to be thinking about retirement funds Read More
