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First Quarter 2012 Recap
(April 11th, 2012)
As disappointing an investment year as 2011 was, who
would have guessed that the first quarter of this
year would turn out to be the best quarter in US -
and probably global - equity markets in 14 years. The
MSCI All World Index Index (which includes the US and
is a reasonably close proxy for the equity portion of
most client portfolios) was up 11.56% for the
quarter, and those returns were reflected in client
portfolios to the degree of each client's equity
exposure.
Since early March 2009, the S&P 500 stock index
has more than doubled, going from 683 at its low to
1408 as of this March's market closer,
essentially rendering the ups and downs little more
than background noise. Since last summer's swoon,
the index is up nearly 30 percent.
Greece
After 44.6 million (literally 44.6 million - you can
Google it yourself) articles, blog posts, and news
stories referencing a Greek debt default in the last
three years alone, and what I'm sure have been
countless hours of hand-wringing over what a Greek
debt default might mean for global markets, Greece -
for all intents and purposes - did default on its
sovereign debt on March 9th. Of course, it wasn't
called a default, but rather a "debt
restructuring," with holders of Greek bonds
getting 26 cents on the dollar, but regardless of
what you call it, make no mistake: it WAS a default.
And yet the sun still rose the next morning, business
went on, people continued to buy and sell the things
they wanted and needed, and the Dow Jones Industrial
Average closed at 12,922 just three trading days
before . . . continue reading
My business is
helping clients have a greater sense of clarity and
confidence about their most important financial
concerns, the largest concern for most being achieving
and enjoying a comfortable retirement. I do this
through careful planning and an ongoing relationship
focused on the important decisions each client has to
make throughout his or her lifetime.