When the prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney predicted late last year that “hundreds of billions of dollars” of municipal bond defaults would occur in 2011, it rattled the nearly $3 trillion market. Read More…
Dutra points out that Ginnie Mae’s offer an explicit guarantee; government-backed bonds provide ‘ballast’ for bolder bets. Read More…
When Standard & Poor’s famously downgraded U.S. debt in August, Moody’s and Fitch, the two other big ratings agencies, steadfastly declined to go that far with the sacred cow of investments and kept their triple-A ratings in place. But what do Moody’s and Fitch think? I had that question in the back of my mind when Jeremy Fletcher proposed taking notes last Monday at the Fitch conference that came here to the Bay area. Fletcher (whose office is next door to ours in Mill Valley) manages portfolios — mostly bonds — for Asset Dedication LLC, whose clients consist of investors using RIAs and other financial advisory firms. Read more…
Volatile markets make the need for secure retirement plans more evident. But, traditional approaches may be putting your clients at risk. Read More…
Can bond markets really support a client in retirement? Are volatile stock markets worth the risk? Charles Farrell, of Northstar Investment Advisors, and Stephen Huxley and Brent Burns, of Asset Dedication LLC, debate the merits of dividend investing in retirement. Read More…
The gold bugs have been having an absolute field days – for months. But just because gold is going up doesn’t mean they’re necessarily right, or wrong. Here are some thoughts served cold about the precious metal that can help an advisor to think about it constructively as a potential investment. Read More…