cash Archives - Innovative Advisory Group

Your Emergency Fund – Understanding the Importance of Cash

Financial Planning / By Kirk Chisholm / 01/29/2018

“Never spend your money before you have it.” -Thomas Jefferson

Have you ever lost your job? Has your car ever required an expensive fix? Have you or a family member ever need funds for a hospital visit?

Now imagine that you didn’t have access to cash to pay for that emergency. What would you do?

The mass issuance of credit cards has allowed people to neglect the need for an emergency fund. This is a mistake. An emergency fund is not only about preparing for the rainy day that you will need the funds. It is also about reducing risk, providing you options, and helping you sleep better at night knowing that your financial emergencies do not have to be debilitating.

According to Go Banking Rates, 71% of Americans have less than $1,000 saved in their savings account. Although some age groups vary by a small margin, 70%+ of them (including seniors) have less than $1,000. If their income is cut off for even a few weeks, how are they going to survive?

Inflation Monitor – January 2016

Inflation Monitor / By Kirk Chisholm / 01/20/2016

Inflation Monitor Summary – Composite Ranking

* The Inflation Equilibrium is a quick summary for the whole data series of the inflation monitor. If you don’t like statistics, this is the chart for you.

Inflation Monitor – January 2016 – Introduction

Happy New Year. I hope you enjoyed your holidays with lots of eggnog and holiday cheer.

2016 has started with a bang… or rather a thud. The US equity markets have had their worst start to the new year ever. I guess you could say that the thud has not happened yet since the US stock markets are still falling. The Chinese stock markets have gotten all the blame, but I think the drop in equities is overdue.

In week one, S&P 500 (-6%), NASDAQ (-7.3%), and Dow (-6.2%). Gold surprised to the upside +3.1%.

End of week two, S&P 500 (-8%), NASDAQ (-10.4%), and Dow (-8.2%). Gold is still up 1.8%.

If you have been following this Inflation Monitor for the past year you will know my thoughts on the markets. We saw strong deflationary data last year. Not surprisingly, no one noticed. The fact that it took the equity markets this long to react to this data is really the only surprise I see.

If you have not read my 2015 recap, then now is a good time to read it. Last year the S&P 500 ended with a performance of -0.7%, which is surprising since many blue chip companies were down between -10% & -20% for the year. If you did nothing but look at the index, you would have missed the large dislocation of the index performance and the performance of the underlying stocks.

The risk you should consider this year is contagion. This is the risk of assets selling off because other assets are selling off, having very little to do with underlying fundamentals. For example, if the high yield bond market continues to sell off or worse yet, crashes, then the investment grade corporate bond market may also sell off. This in turn could lead to a sell off in equities and other assets. The spread of this contagion is not knowable, but you should be aware of this risk.

The Stock Market Crash 2015 – 9 Stock Market Tips to Help You Sleep at Night

Wall Street Wisdom / By Kirk Chisholm / 08/27/2015

“We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful”
-Warren Buffett

Stock Market Crash 2015 – Should you be scared?

2015 has been an interesting year for stock investors. 2015 started out with the S&P 500 opening at 2058.9. From there the index has fluctuated between +3.8% and -4.1%. When investors are accustomed to getting 6 years in a row of positive gains, it is hard to imagine what a down year looks like. In the past week the S&P 500 is down about 10% as of this writing. Should you be scared?

Maybe. But it really depends on what you are invested in and how it is structured. If this recent 10% drop is causing you to lose sleep, then you need help.

Here are 9 tips for helping you bring your portfolio to your sleeping point.

cash