Are you really worse off after the recent drop in stocks?

Sharp increases or decreases in the stock market may have a lower impact on your financial plan than you think. Sometimes when you lose in one aspect of your plan, you gain in another. That’s the “Even Steven” concept.

The day after posting Market Corrections: Separating Fact from Fiction, I was tickled to see this great article by Robert Shiller about how popular narratives, however unfounded, influence stock prices.  

Some additional thoughts on the January market swoon and on Alan Blinder's WSJ article -- The Markets are Scaring Themselves

What it Says About the Way Our Economy is Changing

Great article by Michael Porter of Harvard Business School about the importance of GE's decision to relocate its headquarters to Boston, not just because of what GE brings, but because of why it is coming.

GE's transformation over the last decade reflects how manufacturing is changing, the good things that portends for our economy and our competitiveness in global markets, but also the disruption it brings. Increasingly, the have and have not's will align along those who embrace change, and those stuck in old ways of thinking.

This has powerful implications going forward for our human capital -- one of our most valuable assets. 

 The best advice is too boring for TV, and not profitable enough on Wall Street.

Given recent weakness in the stock market, and financial media’s tendency to magnify every normal wiggle, this is as good a time as any to revisit some long term perspectives, and some of the do’s and don’ts of a market correction.

Dean Karlan's ImpactMatters hopes to help prospective donors give smarter, better and more often.

Surprisingly, fundraisers may get more money by asking for a tentative pledge rather than a definite one.

By James Andreoni and Marta Serra-Garcia

Researchers have been studying how taxes lead people to donate - or not. Here are the subtle and surprising results.

by Andrew Blackman

Patience will be a virtue in 2016. You find out who's been swimming naked when the tide goes out.

Your investment portfolio has been planned carefully within your financial and behavioral ability to accept risk. But the same can't be said for all investors, many of whom got too greedy in the last few years' bull market. They'll be forced to run for cover when the tide shifts. If you play it cool, you can benefit from their errors.

Since the Federal Reserve recently raised short term interest rates by .25%, there has been a lot of discussion on the impact that will have on the Domestic and International markets. Open this article and examine 7 charts that explains the decision making process of the Federal Reserve that brought the first rate hike since 2006.

 Charitable giving can be a win-win for your charities and you.

Large donors can make a real difference to a minor nonprofit, but also create real headaches.

By Anna Prior

There are a growing number of investment options that make it simple and cost effective to give financial gifts to kids. Quite a few of these options are aimed at tech-savvy investors. 

Take full advantage of the diversification and return of foreign stocks.  

Employment Data, the Truth behind the Headlines
Terror attacks and the Market 

November ended with slight declines for the month in target risk portfolios, but with healthy gains for the latest three month period, marking a recovery from the late summer and early fall correction.  

By Michelle Singletary, Washington Post

James Bond usually gets roughed up pretty good as he goes about his missions, but invariably comes out golden in the end. And like 007’s infamous martini, global stocks markets were shaken in August and September, only to recover vigorously in October as the S&P had its best month since 2011 with an 8.4% return.

TWM News

Nice job, Mr. Gentile. Congrats to TWM’s Jordan Gentile who just passed his Series 65, the Uniform Investment Adviser Examination! His business card now reads Assistant Financial Adviser and, among his many duties, he will be serving as client account manager for our Legacy and Growth accounts.

The absence of significant inflation, driven by gas prices which are substantially lower than a year ago, means bad news in 2016 for those who receive Social Security benefits - there will be no cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA.  In an unintended consequence, Medicare premiums could also rise for many. 

Commodities and Emerging Markets have performed poorly in the last few years. Should you sell low?

While it would be fun to hold a Portfolio in which all of the asset classes were going up at the same time, it would be a nightmare if they were all moving down at once.

To protect against epic losses, investors seek uncorrelated returns — asset classes that behave dissimilarly so that a portfolio’s ingredients don’t all move in the same direction at the same time.

But diversified portfolios should be built with the knowledge that including uncorrelated assets means always having to endure pain in part of the portfolio. That part will be going down or remaining flat, since it tends to move differently from the uncorrelated part that is going up.