Posts by Matt Hargreaves
What Can Investors do to Hedge Inflation?
If you missed part 1 on the current inflation environment, here is a quick summary: Inflation is at 40-year highs in the United States. However, sustained periods of elevated inflation in the U.S. are rare. Over the past 100 years, U.S. inflation has stayed below 5% the vast majority of the time. In the aftermath…
Read MoreMarket Update: February 25, 2022
It has been a rough start to the year for risk assets with the S&P 500 off 11%+ and U.S. growth stocks down even more. Both the Fed’s hawkish pivot and the Russia/Ukraine conflict have weighed on risk assets. We haven’t seen a 10% correction in the S&P 500 since March 2020, and we only…
Read MoreMarket Update: February 15th, 2022
Market Update The U.S. economy continued to grow at a fast pace. 4th quarter 2021 data showed that the U.S. economy grew 5.7% for all 2021, the most significant increase since 1984 (1). 2021′s strong growth created a lot of good outcomes, including a record 6.4 million jobs and higher wages to workers. But it…
Read More2021 4th Quarter Investment Commentary
• The S&P 500 Index gained 11% on the quarter and over 28% on the year, buoyed by strong corporate earnings growth. • The U.S. economic recovery remained on firmed footing despite inflation, COVID-19 and supply chain disruptions. Going forward, extreme fiscal and monetary support will likely be withdrawn in favor of the private…
Read MoreShould I be Worried about Inflation?
Rising inflation has been a growing concern over the last few months for many investors. U.S. consumer prices, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) were up 6.9% for the year ending November 2021, the largest annual increase since 1982 (1). Policymakers (e.g., the Federal Reserve) pay closer attention to Core inflation, which is…
Read MoreChanges Coming in Early 2022 to Your Financial Portal
We are excited to announce that early next year, we will be upgrading your financial portal to provide a more consolidated and seamless experience. Here’s what you can expect: A New, Modern Interface: How we interact with the many screens around us is always evolving and improving. Our new interface takes advantage of the latest…
Read MoreCapital Gains FAQs
Capital Gains – FAQs What is a capital gain? A capital gain is the profit when you sell a capital asset, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds or property. The profit is your gain over the original price you paid and you must pay tax on that gain. For example, if a stock is bought…
Read More2021 3rd Quarter Commentary
The S&P 500 finished the 3rd quarter flat, after suffering its first 5% correction since 2020. The economic recovery continued but increased concerns about the Delta variant, labor shortages and supply chain issues slowed growth. Corporate earnings were very strong and finished the quarter at higher levels than before the pandemic began. Higher corporate taxes…
Read MoreWelcome Gunnar Harrison!
All of us at Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors want to welcome and introduce our newest member of the team, Gunnar! Gunnar started working at Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors in August 2021. He graduated from Central Washington University in 2019 in Business with a specialization in personal financial planning. Here are some other fun…
Read MoreInvestment Question of the Month: What are some of the differences between ETFs and mutual funds?
Mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) are arguably more similar than different. Both investment funds are registered with the SEC under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (40 Act), and most of the rules under the 40 Act apply to both. Both structures offer investors a way to pool their money in a fund…
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