Fun Facts Newsletters |
Berno Financial Fun Facts is our monthly newsletter to keep our clients, prospective clients and friends informed and connected to the latest financial happenings.
Please contact us if you have any questions or comments about the Fun Facts newsletter.
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July 2010 Fun Facts News
CHEER UP! Investing is a contrarian process and the best time to be buying and holding is when everyone else wants to sell. Consumer confidence, as measured by the Conference Board, fell about 15% in June driven by worries over jobs and the economy. Psychology plays a major factor in short-term stock market performance and right now it is no secret that investor sentiment is negative.
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June 2010 Fun Facts News
Stock market volatility returned with a vengeance in May, including what has been coined as the “flash crash” on Thursday, May 6th. Fears of economic problems in Greece rippling across Europe and affecting the U.S. economic recovery resurrected questions of a “V” shaped vs. “W” shaped U.S. recovery.
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May 2010 Fun Facts News
During April many companies reported quarterly profits for the three months ending March 31, 2010. The results were overwhelmingly strong. With about two-thirds of the companies in the S&P 500 Index having reported their results as of April 30, 2010, 78% beat analysts’ estimates. Furthermore, they beat them by an impressive 16.3% on average, according to The Wall Street Journal. This trend of relative outperformance of actual earnings vs. estimated earnings is on track to be the highest since 1994. More specifically, excluding financials, earnings growth was up 35% in the first quarter, up from 18% growth in the fourth quarter of 2009.
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April 2010 Fun Facts News
March was a very positive month for all stock market asset classes and generated a strong first quarter. International stocks have lagged the US, but small company stocks and REIT’s performed extremely well, supporting our “multi-asset class” strategy.
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March 2010 Fun Facts News
Investing for income, especially during retirement, is a common objective of many investors. Common stocks are typically considered for principal growth, but the dividend income they pay can provide a stable and growing source of cash.
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February 2010 Fun Facts News
Given that the groundhog saw his shadow and we should therefore expect 6 more weeks of winter, it may be a good time to talk about RISK. Risk is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional subject. Financially speaking, risk has 4 primary aspects:
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January 2010 Fun Facts News
We had a GREAT 2009! Before we elaborate on 2009, let’s start by reviewing our motto for 2009. Quoting from “Fun Facts To Know and Tell” dated January 2009:
“Here is our motto for 2009: Let’s look forward, not back! Calendar year 2008 was clearly one for the record books and one that we want to put behind us. As we begin 2009 it is a great time to be a patient, diversified long-term investor.”
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December 2009 Fun Facts News
In the Spirit of the Holiday Season,
Here Is A List of Early New Year’s Resolutions and Fun Things To Do in 2010!
1. Remember, cash flow (income versus expenses) is the key to long-term financial success.
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November 2009 Fun Facts News
We are pleased to announce the launching of our new website! Please check it out at www.bernofinmgt.com. There are still a few pages with the famous “under construction, check back soon” notation and some editing to be done. It is a work in progress.
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October 2009 Fun Facts News
The following is a recent excerpt from the Financial Times in an article titled, “The legacy of Lehman Brothers.”
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September 2009 Fun Facts News
August was another very strong month for the stock market and, most importantly, our broadly diversified strategy fared very well again with most asset classes outperforming US Large Cap stocks as measured by the S&P 500. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT’s) were particularly strong, up about 13.5% after lagging badly early in the year and now up over 10% for the year thru 8/31. Year-to-date gains for most stock asset classes range from +15% to +33%.
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August 2009 Fun Facts News
July 2009 will go down in history as one of the best July stock market rallies and, more importantly, our broadly diversified multi-asset class strategy performed extremely well. All major stock asset classes, except real estate, performed better for both the month of July and year-to-date than US large company stocks as measured by the S&P 500. For the year-do-date thru July 31, the S&P 500 is up about 11% but international emerging markets are up about 55%, international value style stocks are up about 25%, international stocks up about 18% and the DFA US Small Cap Value and Micro Cap funds are up about 15%. So much for the old saying, “Sell in May and go away.”
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July 2009 Fun Facts News
June was relatively flat for most stock market asset classes but capped off a very strong second quarter.
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June 2009 Fun Facts News
This is the time of year when school children celebrate the end of school and beginning of summer vacation. It is a time of sleeping in, more leisurely schedules and no homework. It is a time for children to experience some “academic peace of mind.” Life is good! They are beginning to create the experiences that will become the basis for that famous “what I did on my summer vacation” essay that they will have to write when they return to school in the fall. (Do they still make them write that essay? Didn’t you?)
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May 2009 Fun Facts News
News Flash! Stocks are volatile! (Just in case you didn’t know that before). While most people think about volatility in the context of losses or downside, stocks are volatile in periods of gains as well. The broad US stock market was UP about 10% for the MONTH of April (simplistically speaking, over 120% on an annualized basis, but don’t expect that) but even that gain left the broad US stock market with a 2% to 3% loss year to date.
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April 2009 Fun Facts News
Halleluiah! Finally a positive monthly return for the stock market! Not only was it positive in absolute returns, it was a good relative month for our investment strategy with almost every asset class except large international and real estate outperforming the core US large company stocks. Therefore, our investment strategy provided superior relative returns in March. One month does not a trend make, but let’s be hopeful!
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March 2009 Fun Facts News
Time horizon is such a critical concept to understand and accept in investment management. Technology is improving our standard of living tremendously but it is also making us an “instant” society. We want 24/7 information and answers right now. We want to know. We want it to happen now.
As one journalist recently wrote, “We may not know better these days, but we do know more.” I’m not sure we do know more, but ....
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February 2009 Fun Facts News
Remember our motto for 2009: Let’s look forward, not back! January 2009 recorded the worst monthly loss for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index of any January in the history of either stock market index. The primary culprit was the deepening banking crisis, which is global in nature and drove international stocks to bigger losses than US stocks for the month. (read more...) |
January 2009 Fun Facts News
Happy New Year! Here is our motto for 2009: Let’s look forward, not back! Calendar year 2008 was clearly one for the record books and one that we want to put behind us. As we begin 2009 it is a great time to be a patient, diversified long-term investor. (read more...) |