By: Matt Garrott The S&P 500 Total Return Index rose 8% in the third quarter, bringing returns to almost 15% on the year. Taxable bonds saw a 2% increase while municipal bonds rebounded 2.5% as supply and demand dynamics normalized. As usual, pessimistic headlines were more noise than signal. The S&P 500 has [...]
By: Matt Garrott It’s officially Pumpkin Spice Season and it recently came to my attention that pumpkin spice is actually a mix of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and allspice. This mélange doesn’t smell like the inside of a pumpkin at all, thankfully. Is there a lesson for investors on how a mix of [...]
By: Matt Garrott The S&P 500 jumped almost 11% this quarter while US bonds gained roughly 1%. Diversification returned with gusto as developed international stocks were up almost 20%, emerging markets stocks popped 15.5%, and international bonds saw a 7% return. The US Dollar has declined 11% year-to-date, bolstering already strong international returns. [...]
By: Matt Garrott The S&P 500 was down slightly in April at -0.76%. Bonds rose 0.39%. If you haven’t been paying attention to the news, congratulations, it was a quiet month. Don’t read the rest of this commentary. To borrow a zombie apocalypse movie trope, if you’re reading this, it’s already too late. [...]
By: Matt Garrott When markets are sharply up or sharply down, attention seems to focus on the one asset class that is doing the best. There is a temptation to abandon the diversified financial plan (which will never beat the best performing asset class, by definition) and load up on what everyone is [...]
By: Matt Garrott What Happened in 2024 The S&P 500 gained 25% including dividends in 2024, its second 25%+ calendar year in a row. The S&P 500 is up 72% from the bottom of the bear market in 2022. Returns haven’t been without setbacks, though. We’ve seen a regional bank crisis, war, and [...]
Index funds are a useful tool for many investors when it comes to portfolio construction. However, not all index funds serve the same purpose. At Fairway, we guide clients in selecting index funds based on their unique financial goals. Director of Investment Research Matthew Garrott was featured in a Financial Advisor Magazine article detailing the [...]
By: Matt Garrott Markets hate uncertainty and with the U.S. Presidential election decided, one source of uncertainty has been removed. Instead of being barraged with political ads on TV and radio, we are back to hearing about the latest cure for moderate to severe restless elbow, its side effects, and a warning not [...]
By: Matt Garrott By: Dan Shomper Asset allocation may account for the majority of an investment portfolio’s returns, and we are big believers in indexing in certain asset classes, but that doesn’t mean that money manager selection is an afterthought. There are too many options available to simply throw a dart [...]
By: Matt Garrott I started writing this commentary before the election, but held onto it since it will live most of its useful life (about 30 days until our next commentary) post-election. Not that I was going to make any predictions, but I expected to garner a few examples for my main point: [...]
