Blog Investment & Financial News

August is National ‘Make-A-Will’ Month

August is National “Make A Will” month so here are the top 5 reasons to get your Will and other estate planning documents done now. 1. You Decide When you create a Will, you get to decide who gets your assets. You can even specifically exclude people from getting assets. If you pass without a…

Stock Market Concentration

Investors in the S&P 500 Index who think they are getting exposure to a diversified basket of 500 companies are not. Money deployed into the S&P 500 is increasingly a wager on the health of just a few companies – with the fundamental of the other 490 carrying less weight. The outperformance of the largest…

Employee Spotlight: Michelle Zurcher

Michelle Zurcher has been with Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors since July 2017 as our Client Service Manager out of our Yakima office. You can learn some more about Michelle below: What do you love most about your job? What I love most about my job is the opportunity to impact our client’s financial well-being. I…

Presidential Elections and the Market

From 1961 to 2023, a $10,000 initial investment in the S&P 500 would have grown to over $102,000 if invested only when a Republican was in the White House. Conversely, the same investment would have grown to more than $500,000 if invested only during Democratic presidencies. While this might suggest a strategy of investing under…

Congratulations, Chelsie!

Congratulations to Chelsie Smith and her husband, Kelly, on the birth of their son, Wyatt Jaxon Smith! Wyatt was born on April 23, 2024, and is a happy baby boy!

2024 2nd Quarter Investment Commentary

Stocks headed into the second half with impressive momentum. Historically, a strong first half tended toward above-average second-half returns. Market gains were heavily skewed towards the large-cap growth and technology companies. The S&P 500 became increasingly concentrated in, with just five companies accounting for 29% of the index. Economic growth moderated but remained resilient with…

2024 1st Quarter Investment Commentary

The S&P 500 TR Index continued its strong momentum and reached new all-time highs. Momentum often creates momentum, which leaves us optimistic about stocks currently. However, a near-term pullback wouldn’t surprise us. The U.S. economy continued to grow due to a strong labor market, healthy consumer balance sheets, and robust services activity. Due to an…

Welcome, Liz Stokes!

All of us at Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors want to welcome and introduce our newest team member, Liz Stokes. Liz is part of our awesome client services team in our Yakima office. We asked Liz to tell us a little about herself below: Share a picture of something important to you and why it is…

Company News

Congratulations to Gunnar & Ellie!

Shreds & Meds Day – April 26th

Welcome, Ellie!

Welcome, Cullen!

Welcome, Quentin Rickey!

Market Commentary

Celebrating Independence—Both National and Financial

2025 1st Quarter Investment Commentary

Market Update: March 2025

2024 4th Quarter Investment Commentary

2024 3rd Quarter Investment Commentary

Retirement Planning

2024 IRA & HSA Contribution Deadline

Social Security Benefits Increase by 2.5% for 2025

2024 Key Financial Changes

Social Security Benefit Increase of 3.2% for 2024

The 4 Changes from SECURE Act 2.0 You Should Know for 2023

Tax Planning

Changes to Washington’s Capital Gains Tax: What You Need to Know

2024 IRA & HSA Contribution Deadline

Summary of 2025 Key Financial Changes

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and Potential 2026 Tax Changes

Schwab 1099 Release Dates for 2024

Cyber Security

Stay Safe: A Reminder to Be Vigilant Against Phishing Attempts

Red Flags When Transferring Money

Cybersecurity 101 – 2022 Update

Cybersecurity 101

New Changes to Web-Portal Password Requirements