Featured Articles

The Generosity of America

Feb 22nd, 2010 | By Charles L. Stanley CFP® ChFC AIF® | Category: Featured Articles

The following article by Adam Meyerson is taken from the Hillsdale College newsletter, Imprimus. The article is available as a pdf file, The Generosity of America.
Adam Meyerson has been president of The Philanthropy Roundtable since 2001. From 1993 to 2001, he was vice president for educational affairs at the Heritage Foundation. He served as editor-in-chief [...]



Managing Inflation Risk

Jan 15th, 2010 | By Charles L. Stanley CFP® ChFC AIF® | Category: Featured Articles

As the stock market has improved, more investors have shifted their concern from weathering the financial crisis to anticipating the inflationary effects of rising federal spending and debt. Many folks are asking how they can prepare for potentially higher inflation. This article explores two basic ways to address inflation uncertainty and highlights asset groups that [...]



Conversion Conundrum

Jan 11th, 2010 | By Charles L. Stanley CFP® ChFC AIF® | Category: Featured Articles

by Bob Veres
All of a sudden, it seems like everybody in the financial planning world is talking about Roth IRAs and Roth conversions.  In fact, an article in Financial Planning magazine–one of the trade magazines in our world–recently proclaimed 2010 “The Year of the Roth.”
What’s the big deal?  Roth IRAs are interesting to professionals for [...]



Active vs Passive: Moving Beyond the Debate

Dec 14th, 2009 | By Charles L. Stanley CFP® ChFC AIF® | Category: Featured Articles

The first two columns in this series by Brad Steiman offered answers to frequently asked questions about active vs. passive investing, and explored a general set of ideas around market efficiency. The main purpose has been to help build a framework for educating clients on the debate.
There are other good reasons to approach the topic [...]



Active vs Passive: Real World Issues

Nov 24th, 2009 | By Charles L. Stanley CFP® ChFC AIF® | Category: Featured Articles

In his previous column, Brad addressed questions related to the theoretical aspects of market efficiency and active manager performance. In this second of his three-column series on active vs. passive investing, he explores the challenges of implementing these strategies in the real world.
The previous column in this series focused on some theoretical aspects of market [...]



Active vs Passive: Man or the Market?

Oct 29th, 2009 | By Charles L. Stanley CFP® ChFC AIF® | Category: Featured Articles

Bradley G. Steiman is Director, Head of Canadian Financial Advisor Services  and Vice President for Dimensional Fund Advisors Canada ULC. This is the first of a three part interview series on the age old debate of Active vs Passive investment strategies.
Q: If an active manager can gather information and gain insight or knowledge through [...]



What to Expect From a Financial Advisor

Aug 11th, 2009 | By Charles L. Stanley CFP® ChFC AIF® | Category: Featured Articles

There are probably as many perceptions of what a financial Advisor is, or should be, as there are people who hire them. Let me take a little time and a few pixels to comment about this.
For those who value an Advisor for their ability to deliver positive investment returns year after year, irrespective of the [...]



Inflation, Living Standards, and Returns

Aug 6th, 2009 | By Charles L. Stanley CFP® ChFC AIF® | Category: Featured Articles

James L. Davis, Vice President, Dimensional Fund Advisors
Investors are concerned about inflation, and rightly so. Average annual inflation in the US between 1929 and 2008 was nearly 3.3%. A dollar at the end of 2008 had about the same purchasing power as eight cents did at the beginning of 1929. Protecting the purchasing power of [...]



The Risk Premium is Counter Cyclical

Aug 4th, 2009 | By Charles L. Stanley CFP® ChFC AIF® | Category: Featured Articles

Sir John Templeton is quoted as saying, “The best time to invest is when there is blood in the streets.” Of course, he was speaking metaphorically. His statement is very applicable to our circumstances today.
Many would say we are in the trough of this recession. The trough doesn’t mean the “bottom of the market”, but [...]



Keeping Control of the Family Business via Private Equity Partnering

Jul 23rd, 2009 | By Charles L. Stanley CFP® ChFC AIF® | Category: Featured Articles

A Private Equity (PE) investment firm can purchase the interests of retiring, inactive or disgruntled family shareholders and allow remaining family members to retain control.
There are well over 100 different tools, techniques, strategies, tactics and combinations thereof that enable successful business owners to manage their wealth in accord with their values and goals. Discovering the [...]