If Rip Van Investor had fallen asleep at the start of the 20th century, and woke up with a yawn 100 years later at midnight, December, 1999, he would have been startled to see that his investment in the S&P 500 had gained more than 10% a year, on average, during his 100-year nap.   He [...]

When all is right in the world, investors have to make a choice between the steady income gained from purchasing bonds, or forfeit this steady income for the growth potential of stocks.  Since the 1950′s, this has been true, but recently, as stock prices have leveled out and Treasury rates have dropped, the U.S.markets have given us something that experienced investors haven’t [...]

Amazingly, the inevitability of Greek sovereign default has really been known for more than a year now but European political leaders have not publically acknowledged that they have received the memo.  We have lost count of the short-term fixes they have tried over the past 12 months.  Obviously none of them have provided lasting reprieve.  [...]

With inflation continuing to rise in today’s economy, how do we best plan clients’ portfolios to combat this issue? There is no surefire way to beat the inflation problem, but there are several strategies which can help defend against the current economic situation. With CPI currently running upwards at 3% and rising, there definitely needs [...]

The U.S. just recently finally came to terms on the debt deal, but there is another large dilemma to face: the free-falling stock market and growing concerns that have ensued and further curb the already slow economy. Signs of further slow growth have been building. Unemployment remains high, consumer spending is low, and lending is [...]

One of the advantages of Timothy Financial is our hourly model where clients can call in any time any where with any question and this week is no exception. As the market does cartwheels and somersaults, we’re here to help you navigate the circus.  Mark Berg even gave an example to the Wall Street Journal and [...]

Those of you who watched the LinkedIn initial public offering may have experienced a strange sense of deja vu.  The social media company was offered to the public at $45 a share, and an unexpected buying frenzy took the price up 171% on the first day of trading, before the company settled back to just over [...]

As an investor, you probably noticed, among the screaming headlines and constant media coverage, that the Standard & Poors bond rating division has threatened to downgrade the credit rating of U.S. Treasury bonds. The U.S. markets dropped 1% almost immediately after the news broke, and the S&P 500 index of large cap stocks finished the [...]

Suddenly, in the past few weeks, the markets have looked a lot scarier to a lot of nonprofessional investors.  Why?  The answer probably has something to do with human psychology.  An Australian company called FinaMetrica has been giving lay consumers a scientifically-designed risk profile questionnaire for the past 12 years, helping financial advisors evaluate whether [...]

There are a number of stories in the consumer press in recent weeks taking one side or another of this “debate.”  Some argue that the so-called “Armageddon” scenario is no longer a realistic probability – and therefore it is now “safe” to pile back into equities – while others say the 50%+ rally from the [...]