One study estimates the average cost of raising a child to the age of 17 for a middle-income family is about $310,605. As a point of comparison, the median home price in the U.S. was $417,700 at the end of 2023.

New retirees sometimes worry that they are spending too much, too soon. Should they scale back? Are they at risk of outliving their money? This concern may be legitimate. Some households…

Anyone who has gone through the process of mapping out their retirement knows there can be a lot to keep in mind.

A retired couple age 65 can expect to need about $315,000 saved to cover healthcare expenses in retirement. With healthcare expenses in the spotlight, it’s incumbent upon us to make sure our retirement strategy anticipates these costs.

In my last strategy piece, I warned people about the extreme momentum in Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI). People buying in March 2024 due to “fear of missing out” (FOMO) have a low probability of having a successful investment.

How do you picture your future? Some see retirement as a time to start a new career. Others see it as a time to travel. Still others plan to spend more time with family and friends. With that in mind, here are some things to consider.

As we navigate through volatile markets and evolving economic conditions as well as geopolitical events, understanding the benefits of portfolio diversification can make a significant difference in achieving your financial goals.

Chatham Wealth Management is an intimate, boutique, family-owned firm located in Chatham, New Jersey, where every client is treated as a person, not a portfolio.

Cash has had a great run, but the juicy yields we’ve gotten used to on everything from CDs to money market funds won’t stick around much longer. Whether they cut rates in September or early next year we believe cuts are coming relatively soon.

Last October, investors were selling at the lows and piling into US Treasury bills. While they were earning 5% safely on their money, the stock market quietly surprised everyone by rising more than +25% over that same period.

Required Minimum Distributions, also known as RMDs, are the IRA’s way to tax the deferred savings built up in retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401Ks. In the eyes of the IRS, these accounts are to be used during a saver’s lifespan rather than to be passed along to the next generation while maintaining their tax-deferral.

Momentum trading is the opposite of "buy low and sell high"; momentum traders "buy high and sell higher" (hopefully). I have in the past sounded the alarm when momentum stocks/momentum investing have become the primary driver of the stock market with prior writings such as "Nachos Para Machos" and I do so again.

Approaching retirement is an exciting time for most people. Spending time thinking how you will live out your “golden years” is something that we all look forward to.

You’ve worked hard for many years to accumulate and grow your wealth. Now is the time that you depend on that wealth to get through retirement, which could last 30 years or more!

Ideally, you want your portfolio to start producing enough dividend and interest income to fill the gap between income from social security and any possible pensions you may have and what your expenses will be during retirement.

The stock market and economy continue to show greater strength than predicted. Back in late August of 23, John Lui our CIO wrote “As the US economy, corporate profits and inflation trends improve, the S&P 500 will continue to rise, which will force the sell siders to move to the middle of the boat (neutral) or right side of the boat (bullish) and again revising upward their S&P 500 target prices”. John’s call was very prescient as the market has risen spectacularly since early October and now the sell siders have moved to the middle and right side of the boat. In fact, this morning (April 1 – both Goldman Sachs and HSBC have raised their price targets for the S&P 500 again) (Bloomberg).

A recession has not occurred as our economy is just not that interest rate sensitive coming out of the pandemic…

A New year, a new financial you!! As we are still early in the new year, now would be a good time to make some financial planning resolutions.

How quickly things change! As I write this update, we are within a hair of the all-time highs for the S&P 500.

Earnings have bottomed while inflation/interest rates have peaked: The bullish case for the stock market …

After experiencing an extended ultra-low interest rate environment from the 2008 Financial crisis through early last year, interest rates have now moved significantly higher. Here's something to consider..

It was almost four years in the making; but the big transition to Charles Schwab from the TD Ameritrade platform was completed over Labor Day weekend (Charles Schwab purchased TD Ameritrade in 2019).