Explore Our
“Off The Wall” Blog
Unique, straight-forward, unfiltered opinion on topics of concern for individuals with newfound wealth.
Get Brett Weir, I Said
The other day, I had to deal with the building Superintendent here at Monument and I asked him if he knew Brett Weir. I got a blank look. I must be getting old. The Jerky Boys still make me laugh…especially as I watch an opening day baseball game between the Pirates and the Cubs and I see Rizzo batting for the Cubs. I thought Rizzo was a tile layer…the guy who had trouble with busted kitchen ceramic tile…it was a brown, a sandalwood…I digress. We should really be talking about the 1st quarter of 2014 coming to an end with today’s closing bell.
Due to a technical difficulty, (Spencer is on vacation), I will not have the regular charts today. BUT, I can tell you that as of Friday, the Down Jones Industrial Average was flat last week and is down -1.5% for the year. The S&P 500 was off about -0.5% for the week and is positive 0.5% year-to-date. Finally, the NASDAQ was down -2.8% for the week and is now down -0.5% for the year.
It’s been an interesting quarter. We experienced a modest interruption in the bull market in late January when emerging market instabilities created the perfect excuse for some to book profits following 2013’s big rally.
In January, we saw a loss of more than 5% on the S&P 500. Most people attribute this to profit taking and institutional rebalancing. Remember, these big pensions, foundations and endowments have rules that tell them how much they need to have invested in each asset class. When equities run up over 30% in a year, you can be sure that they all ended the year with more equity exposure than they are ‘allowed’ to have…so they sell to bring the allocations back into alignment with their rules.
February was a great month and we saw the S&P 500 come roaring back almost from the first day of trading to finish up a little north of a 4% return.
March has been pretty flat…leading us to where we are today: flat.
So my very in-depth analysis brings you this riveting recap — January was a loser probably based on profit taking, February regained it all, and March has been sideways.
It does not always go our way as investors. So even though you may have a great defense…in fact a perfect defense like Michigan had in the final shot of yesterday’s game, it still may not be enough.
Of course the best way to look at it is to make sure you have people on your team like Aaron Harrison, who can drain a three-pointer at the buzzer to win the game.
Important Disclosure Information
Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Monument Wealth Management), or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this blog will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this blog serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Monument Wealth Management. To the extent that a reader has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. Monument Wealth Management is neither a law firm nor a certified public accounting firm and no portion of the blog content should be construed as legal or accounting advice. A copy of Monument Wealth Management’s current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available for review upon request.
David B. Armstrong, CFA
President & Co-Founder
Dave got into the industry when he discovered his passion for finance in his mid-20’s. He’s a combat veteran and served as an officer in the United States Marines Corps on both active duty and in the reserves, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. While serving on active duty, Dave was unable to spend money on deployments, so he became a self-taught investor. Along with a few bucks cash as a bouncer, his investing performance grew to be good....
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION
Please remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Monument Capital Management, LLC [“Monument”]), or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this blog will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this blog serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Monument. To the extent that a reader has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. No amount of prior experience or success should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if Monument is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. Monument is neither a law firm nor a certified public accounting firm and no portion of the blog content should be construed as legal or accounting advice.
A copy of the Monument’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available for review upon request or at www.monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures. Please Note: Monument does not make any representations or warranties as to the accuracy, timeliness, suitability, completeness, or relevance of any information prepared by any unaffiliated third party, whether linked to Monument’s website or blog or incorporated herein, and takes no responsibility for any such content. All such information is provided solely for convenience purposes only and all users thereof should be guided accordingly.
Historical performance results for investment indices, benchmarks, and/or categories have been provided for general informational/comparison purposes only, and generally do not reflect the deduction of transaction and/or custodial charges, the deduction of an investment management fee, nor the impact of taxes, the incurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results. It should not be assumed that your Monument account holdings correspond directly to any comparative indices or categories. Please Also Note: (1) performance results do not reflect the impact of taxes; (2) comparative benchmarks/indices may be more or less volatile than your Monument accounts; and, (3) a description of each comparative benchmark/index is available upon request.
Please Remember: If you are a Monument client, please contact Monument, in writing, if there are any changes in your personal/financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing/evaluating/revising our previous recommendations and/or services, or if you would like to impose, add, or to modify any reasonable restrictions to our investment advisory services. Unless, and until, you notify us, in writing, to the contrary, we shall continue to provide services as we do currently. Please Also Remember to advise us if you have not been receiving account statements (at least quarterly) from the account custodian.