Stonebrook Wealth Management Blog

A few days before the official start of summer on June 21st, Wall Street’s eyes and ears were on the Federal Reserve, and as expected, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) made no changes to the fed funds rate or the pace of asset purchases.

In March 2021, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.6%, the largest one-month increase since August 2012. Over the previous 12 months, the increase was 2.6%, the highest year-over-year inflation rate since August 2018. (By contrast, inflation in 2020 was just 1.4%.)¹

While many of the taxable markets have generated negative returns this year, both the high quality and high yield municipal markets have generated positive returns (no guarantees that will continue, of course). State and local government finances are in better shape than many feared during COVID-19 shutdowns and many muni issuers are set to receive billions in federal aid.

The amount of negative yielding debt is shrinking and that’s a good sign that the global economic recovery is well underway. While negative yielding debt became prevalent in many non-U.S. countries after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/09, the amount had surged to over $18 trillion due to the accommodative monetary policies adopted immediately after the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Setting healthy financial goals is critical. Even more important is staying committed to those financial goals.

Keeping yourself committed to your goals may be difficult, especially when times may be financially tough. But by staying on track and focused on your goals, you are more likely to get the long-term outcome you seek.

Investors betting on continued acceleration in U.S. payrolls in April following March’s impressive numbers received an unwelcome reminder of just how choppy the data can be month-to-month.

Inflation is one of the primary risks to bondholders. Rising consumer prices erode the “real” value of principal and interest payments making them worth less. However, the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) reaction to increasing consumer prices could be a risk to bond prices as well.

If you're a small business owner, many of the best practices employed by individual investors are also available to you (of course!), but you also have some additional options and factors to weigh while creating your investment plans. We've outlined five key differences for your consideration:

Financial feats that were once unheard of—from investing in cryptocurrency to instantly paying someone through an online payment system—have now become commonplace in many parts of the country. But these sophisticated tasks must be built on a foundation of financial literacy.

Unlike verbal literacy, financial literacy isn't often taught in schools—which means that many people may enter adulthood without having all the tools they need to make informed and effective financial decisions.[1] Fortunately, gaining financial literacy doesn't need to be a long or complicated process.