The Master’s Minute

2022 was certainly an interesting year in the markets, with the US Federal Reserve playing an outsized role in the headlines with their efforts to rein in stubborn inflation by embarking on the most aggressive interest rate-hiking campaign in over thirty years. When interest rates rise, bond prices fall. As a result, the rapid rise in rates during 2022 resulted in the worst bond market returns in recorded market history…. Read More

Many of us believe that no single issue has recently interrupted the financial markets more than rapidly rising interest rates! In the past 13 months, the Federal Reserve has raised rates a staggering nine times, totaling almost 5% in cumulative increases. This has created turmoil for both bonds & stocks, as well as both challenges and opportunities in lending & saving. Today’s blog post will focus on the lending &… Read More

Garry: So Lyle, today we’re talking about the different approaches we can take to investing. And we’ve seen all sorts of things. We’ve seen all sorts of different ways to approach investing. But right now, we’re thinking about it in 3 different categories. Lyle: Yeah, what we typically see is somebody doesn’t know what they’re doing, they just go out and they buy everything. They buy the entire market, and… Read More

One of the basic truths we all learn early in life is that our actions carry consequences. What often takes longer to learn is that some consequences are intended, and some are unintended. In the financial world, our complex tax code provides many examples of how actions taken in one area can have unintended consequences in other areas. Here are two examples I came across recently: I was a participant… Read More

We have received questions over the past few weeks about the recent bank failures that are dominating the financial news headlines. In this week’s Master’s Minute, I will summarize the questions that we have been receiving and provide our response to these topics. • Are the recent banking issues a wider spread problem that could lead to significant economic challenges? This is what everyone is trying to determine, and currently,… Read More

Read several financial publications and you will find multiple strongly opinionated articles regarding annuities, some positive, many negative. Annuities may be one of the most misunderstood financial products and are not all created equal. In today’s blog post, I hope to shed some light on the annuity subject. But, before I do so, it will be helpful to remind you of our philosophy at Master’s, regarding all financial products. We… Read More

As we conclude our series, Values Drive Decisions, we focus on our final core value: Conscientiousness. Financial planning is rarely a discipline of perfection. In dealing with numbers, you would assume that most decisions we help our clients make are 1+1=2 equations, however generally the opposite is true. Much of what we do involves weighing facts against the unique, personal situation of each client. That being said, this business is… Read More

I was recently working on a project to load some old doors and shelving into the back of our SUV to drop off at the refuse center. The individual helping me said, “we’re not going to fit all of this in here.” My response was, “yes, we will!” I am convinced that our attitude toward obstacles in our life is the key determining factor of our ability to overcome what… Read More

Today’s blog will focus on our next Master’s Core Value – Empathy. You will see this value highlighted on our website, as follows: “Empathetic – Giving generously of our time and attention to fully understand and appreciate the perspective of another.” This is another value that we deem essential in creating long-lasting and meaningful relationships with you, our clients, and friends. Internally, we sometimes describe our actions driven by Empathy… Read More