The traditional high-fee advisor is a thing of the past.
It's time for a modern approach to wealth
management. We offer a low-fee, personalized
service for investing & planning.
This is personal
Pure Portfolios is a fiduciary. Placing client interests
first isn’t a question; it is our standard.
If you’re tired of large profit-seeking investment managers, banks, brokers, and traditional financial advisors who don't prioritize you, you have come to the right place.
What we offer
We believe a well-rounded partnership doesn't start and end with portfolio management. Our financial plans are a collaborative reflection of your life’s work.
Investing
We use the latest technology to create a personalized strategy that will help manage risk, mitigate human bias, and boost tax-efficiency. We call it evidence-based investing.
Planning
Money is emotional, but your planning decisions shouldn’t be. From estate planning to stock options, Social Security, health care, employer benefits, tax planning, and more, we will help you make data-backed money decisions.
What are Pure Portfolios’ fees?
We believe the “all-in” cost of investment management
is too high. We are here to shake things up.
Management Fee 0.65%
Average ETF Expense 0.10%
All-In Cost of Investing 0.75%
* for qualified investors with $1M, custom portfolios with individual stocks and bonds are available starting at 0.80%
Our aim is to provide low-fee advice, delivered by humans. We do this by in-sourcing the investment management. We do not allocate client assets to expensive third-party managers, mutual funds, or hedge funds.
We believe an advisor’s fee structure should encourage transparency and accountability. For qualified investors, we align our management fees with investment performance, creating a clear line between our compensation and a client’s investment outcome.
Approaching retirement
Chuck and Abigail didn't know how they were invested or how much risk they were taking. Not understanding their investments heading into retirement made them uncomfortable.
Retired
Rocky and Diane didn't know the most tax-efficient way to take money out of their portfolios. They needed help deciding when to take Social Security.
Wealth building
As Elliot moves his way up the corporate ladder, he wants to better understand his stock option compensation. He is looking to break away from a traditional, high-cost Wall Street advisor and receive less conflicted advice.
Cut through the B.S.
Unfiltered commentary. Simple language.
Actionable steps.
From the latest market trends to planning tips, our weekly newsletter includes podcasts, writings, and educational videos that provide a clear-cut, unbiased outlook to help you make better money decisions.
About Pure Portfolios
Tired of your conflicted, high-cost advisor? There is a better way.
We created an offering that fills the gap between the cookie-cutter service of a robo-advisor and the high-cost traditional advisor. If you want advice but don’t want to pay a premium, you’ve come to the right place.
Client experiences
This isn't a hobby. We obsess about client outcomes
Lisa Lisalinnenkohl28/01/2023I was referred to Pure Portfolios by a good friend. Boy was she right! What a find! Toby and Erin have been such a pleasure to work with. Onboarding was effortless. They took their time getting to know me and my financial situation. They came back with concrete yet personalized recommendations that fit me. They listened! I have a whole new way of looking at my finances and investments! I feel like they have my back. Oh and their Sunday podcasts and newsletters are interesting and full of very useful information! So excited to be working with Toby and Erin!Arlene Gallagher19/12/2022Toby is my financial adviser and he is doing a great job. Julie is the best always helpful and knowledgeable. I would recommend Pure Portfolios for all your financial investments, thank you so much for always helping me and doing what is best for my accounts. Merry Christmas!Ryan Harris17/08/2022I look forward to reading the Pure blog every Sunday, it is always insightful, has great market information and investment advice. The content is always relevant to the current market conditions and I learn something new from the blog each week. If you haven't subscribed to Pure Portfolio's blog yet, you are missing out, it is a must read.Eric Stauffer21/04/2022The Pure blog is one of the only sites I read every week. The analysis is data-driven, which helps to remove the emotions out of the constant chaos you see on TV. Highly recommended for anyone that wants to tune out the noise and get real info. If you like drama, watch CNBC.Lisa Gollihar12/04/2022We just had a video meeting with Nik and Erin at Pure Portfolios. They truly have a heart to help people be successful in saving for their retirement years. Their office is always responsive in a timely way, and are always glad to discuss any individual concerns. Other advisors only meet once every 1-2 years but Nik is in contact with us on a quarterly basis and also in between times. He posts helpful commentary in a blog every week, and has started having podcasts to go over topics of interest to investors. They are transparent about fees and help clients assess their risk tolerance and financial goals when setting up accounts. There are no secrets and no hidden surprises. They value each client and it shows. I highly recommend giving them a call.Nathan Holstein06/08/2020Great honest team! Nik does an amazing job to understand our financial goals before laying out an investment roadmap. If you are looking for someone to help manage your money and set you up for the future, I recommend getting in contact with Nik!Sheryl Westfall Dawson04/10/2019I've known both Nik and David for a long time. Both are experienced professionals who will keep your best interests in mind.Patrick James13/09/2019I am a retired Family Medicine physician and my wife is an RN. Today we had a meeting to review our 'financials' with Nik and David. If you really think you know and understand this very complex world of IRAs', 401Ks, 403Bs, ETFs, mutual funds, asset allocation, etc etc_think again! If you truly want to access a team of super professionals, A+++, friendly, forthright, uber smart,(Nik writes a financial blog)_down to earth, helpful, hopeful, and genuinely caring individuals with super good fees_ do yourself a Favor and call Nik or David and get the ball rolling. You will be very glad you did. I recommend PP as the TOP in the financial advisors' world- PJvictoria leary18/06/2019I find that Nik and David explain things so I can understand, which I really appreciate. I’m a little phobic about financial matters, yet I really enjoy talking with them. I’m so glad my friends recommended them to me!Adam Erickson10/06/2019My wife and I have been working with Pure Portfolios since late 2016 and its been one of the best financial decisions we've made. Nik and his team are incredibly accommodating, make time for any and all questions we have not just in the beginning, but regularly for checkins and anything else we need. Pure set out to disrupt the industry and my experience is they are doing just that in a positive way!
Explore the next steps
Simplify your finances and solidify a plan that gets you where
you want to go.
Step 1
Investing
Consolidate your investments with a portfolio that mirrors the way you feel about risk
Step 2
Planning
Construct a financial plan that can withstand life's surprises
Step 3
Taxes
Everyone must pay taxes, but no one says you have to leave a tip. We ensure your portfolio and financial plan are tax efficient
Sunday Coffee Reads
Let’s Freak Out About the Election (Seriously)
We have penned blog after blog how elections are a non-event in the grand scheme of your investment portfolio. We...
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Pure Portfolios’ September 2024 Market Commentary
In Pure Portfolios’ September Commentary, Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, covers the Fed pivot & future S&P 500 returns, softening...
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What’s NOT Going to Change in 10 years?
“When you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a...
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This Market Signal is Flashing Red
“If the average investor allocation to equities is abnormally high, then prices are probably abnormally high–the market’s probably expensive.” –...
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Pure Portfolios’ August 2024 Market Commentary
In Pure Portfolios’ August Commentary, Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, covers rate cuts & future returns, the quiet comeback of...
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Rate Cuts and Stock Returns
“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.” – James A....
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Characteristics of a Bull Market
“Bull markets ignore bad news, and any good news is reason for a further rally.” – Colm O’Shea, professor at...
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Market Correction Reflection
“The purpose of volatility is to make people make stupid decisions.” – Jared Dillion, The Daily Dirt Nap Yen carry...
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Pure Portfolios’ July 2024 Market Commentary
Last month, we highlighted the historical gap between U.S. large cap stocks and smaller companies. July saw a massive reversal...
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What Should Retirees Pay Attention To?
“The information you consume each day is the soil from which your future thoughts are grown.” – James Clear, Atomic...
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Picking Individual Stocks is Hard
“Owning individual stocks invites infinitely more behavioral hurdles than a simpler strategy. It’s easier to ignore index funds and ETFs....
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Unprecedented Uncertainty
“It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.” – Charlie Munger, Co-founder of...
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Pure Portfolios’ June 2024 Market Commentary
In Pure Portfolios’ June 2024 Market Commentary, Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, covers U.S. large cap extremes relative to small...
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Tale of Two Markets
“What you see is not what others see. We inhabit parallel worlds of perception, bounded by our interest and experience....
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Probable Probabilities
“The biggest risk is always what no one sees coming, because if no one sees it coming, no one’s prepared...
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The Longest Drawdown in Recent History
“Bonds as an asset class will always be needed, not just by insurance companies and pension funds, but aging boomers.”...
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Pure Portfolios’ May 2024 Market Commentary
In Pure Portfolios’ May 2024 Market Commentary, Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, covers retailers reducing prices, gold’s sneaky good run,...
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To Convert or Not Convert? Roth is the Question
Just as diversification is important in investing, it’s equally important in retirement planning. By diversifying your assets across different types...
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Principled Investing
“The dead outnumber the living fourteen to one, and we ignore the accumulated experience of such a huge majority of mankind...
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The Benchmark Fallacy
“The highest form of wealth is the ability to wake up every morning and say: ‘I can do whatever I...
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Understanding Safe Withdrawal Rates
One of the key considerations in retirement planning is determining a safe withdrawal rate – the pace at which you...
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Pure Portfolios’ April 2024 Market Commentary
In Pure Portfolios’ April 2024 Market Commentary, Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, unpacks intra-year S&P 500 drawdowns, stubborn inflation, the...
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Rush to Riches
“Slow success builds character. Fast success builds ego.” Ratan Tata, former chair of Tata Group A young golfer approaches her...
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Markets After Major Geopolitical Events
“The world changes. This is the biggest problem in markets.” – Bill Miller, former chairmen of Legg Mason Capital Management...
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Hot Themes and Future Returns
“I didn’t learn anything. I already knew I wasn’t supposed to do that.” – Stanley Drunkenmiller, after losing $3 billion...
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Can the Market Predict the Next President?
“If you mix your politics with your investment decisions, you’re making a big mistake.” – Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway It...
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Pure Portfolios’ March 2024 Market Commentary
In Pure Portfolios’ March 2024 Market Commentary, Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, unpacks high yield credit spreads, elevated U.S. stock...
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Estimating Future Equity Returns
“We deceive ourselves when we believe that past stock market return patterns provide the bounds by which we can predict...
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The Resilience of the U.S. Economy
Let’s go back to summer of 2022. It wasn’t a matter of if a recession was coming, rather a matter...
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Why Not Go All-In on the S&P 500?
“I might just put my money in the S&P 500 and call it good. “ – anonymous prospective client The...
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Pure Portfolios’ February 2024 Market Commentary
In Pure Portfolios’ February 2024 Market Commentary, Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, unpacks the struggles of rate sensitive assets, why...
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The Most Valuable Financial Advisor Task
“Investors are always searching for good ideas, when what they need are good habits.” – Jason Zweig, Wall Street Journal...
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Is There Such a Thing as “Safe” Stocks?
“People want to believe that this time is different, that there’s something new under the sun, and through their own...
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How High Interest Rates Impact Financial Decisions
“Invest in preparedness, not prediction.” – Morgan Housel, Collaborative Fund Financial planning is important because it helps clients understand where...
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Pure Portfolios’ January 2024 Market Commentary
In Pure Portfolios’ January 2024 Market Commentary, Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, covers January performance and what it could mean...
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Bitcoin: Understanding the Digital Asset
“You can’t stop things like Bitcoin. It will be everywhere, and the world will have to re-adjust. World governments will...
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Cash is Not a Long-term Investment
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” – Robert Arnott, founder of Research Affiliates Cash is comfortable. It’s also...
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How to Create a Realistic Budget
“The budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations.” – Jacob Lew...
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The Why in Diversify
“Diversification means always have to say you’re sorry.” – Brian Portnoy, founder of Shaping Wealth “Why do we own these...
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December 2023 Market Commentary
In Pure Portfolios’ December 2023 Market Commentary, Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, covers the market climbing the wall of worry,...
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Pure Portfolios’ 2023 Client Letter
There’s an old parenting quip, “the days are long, but the years are short.” The saying can be attributed to...
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Pure Portfolios’ 2023 Reading List
“In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time — none, zero. You’d...
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Tis the Season for Wall Street Forecasting VII
“The need for certainty is the greatest disease the mind faces.” – Morgan Housel, from his new book, “Same as...
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This is Why We Invest: Long-Term View on Markets
“Pessimists sound smart. Optimists make money.” It’s easy to get sucked into what could go wrong. In the digital age,...
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November 2023 Market Commentary
In Pure Portfolios’ November 2023 Market Commentary, Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, covers the ‘Three Headed Monster’; the 10-year Treasury...
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Latte with Nik: If I Didn’t See It, I Wouldn’t Believe It
“The stock market is the story of cycles and of the human behavior that is responsible for overreactions in both...
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Wall Street is Bearish: That’s a Good Thing
“The best way to tell when a trend is going to reverse is when it fills up with a-holes.” –...
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October 2023 Market Commentary
“The era of optimism dies in a crisis, but in the dying it gives birth to an era of pessimism.”...
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The Fed Could be in the Bottom of the 9th
“We believe we are in a new era for fixed income in which bonds offer significantly more value.” – Vanguard...
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The Recession that Never Came
“It’s the economy, stupid.” – James Carville, political analyst Go back to any point in 2022. You’re likely to find...
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The Investor Mindset: Fixed vs. Growth
“Self-control is a key to investing success, but so is fending off self-delusion.” – Jason Zweig, Wall Street Journal &...
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When Safe Assets Become Risky
“There is no such thing as a riskless hedge against inflation.” – Edgar Fiedler, economist and former U.S. Assistant Secretary...
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September 2023 Market Commentary
“If I depended on economic forecasts, I don’t think we’d make any money.” – Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway In Pure...
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Starting Yield and Future Bond Returns
“Remember how excited people were about bonds when rates were under 1%? You see how bearish people are about bonds...
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Hot 2024 Presidential Election Talk
“If you mix your politics with your investment decisions, you’re making a big mistake.” – Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Benjamin...
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Past Performance and Investment Decisions
“My investment plan was built with the assumption that I would experience a number of both bull and bear markets...
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August 2023 Market Commentary
“You should follow price. Quit trying to be an expert, follow prices and follow trend.” – Jerry Parker, Chesapeake Capital...
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The Big Short’s, Big Short
“Everything I do in investing is just very different.” – Michael Burry, famous investor featured in “The Big Short” Michael...
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The Plight of the Dividend Investor
“If company management can’t think of anything else to do with their money, they should pay dividends. If they have...
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Is the Market Detached from Reality?
“Wealth isn’t primarily determined by investment performance, but by investor behavior.” – Nick Murray, finance author & speaker The U.S....
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The Loneliest Trade
“If it’s obvious, it’s obviously wrong.” – Stanley Druckenmiller, former founder of Duquesne Capital Most investors know about the sterling...
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July 2023 Market Commentary
“One lesson I learned is to make fewer decisions. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing.” – Lou Simpson,...
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The Retirement Propaganda War
“I’ve found that investors who rely on crystal balls frequently wind up with crushed glass.” – Martin Zweig, famous investor...
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Juicy Money Market Yields Won’t Last
“The Fed’s ability to raise and lower short-term interest rates is its primary control over the economy.” – Alex Berenson,...
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Hey Retirees, the 4% Rule is Back
“At the end of the day, it’s not a normal condition to have interest rates at zero.” – Lloyd Blankfein,...
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June 2023 Market Commentary
“The idea that a bell rings to signal when to get in or out of the market is simply not...
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When a Bear Becomes a Bull
“When investors get negative on the market and put 50% in cash, many times it’s just about when the market...
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Can AI Pick Investments?
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence,...
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Mega Cap Fueled Rally
“The market is being driven by the performance of only 7 stocks!” – Everyone Yes, it’s true. The S&P 500’s...
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May 2023 Market Commentary
“Timing crashes is impossible. If you require a forecast for your investment thesis to do well, then you’re doing it...
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How Much Cash is Too Much?
“You make most of your money in a bear market, you just don’t realize it at the time.” – Shelby...
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Falling Inflation and Stock Returns
“The complaints about how sticky inflation has been nearly matches the claims that it was transitory back in 2021.” –...
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The U.S. Debt Ceiling
“I think it’s ridiculous – it’s always resolved, not that it’s a 100% chance, but I think it gets resolved.”...
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Market Expectations are Everything
“The past wasn’t as good as you remember. The present isn’t as bad as you think. The future will be...
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April 2023 Market Commentary
“If you want to call it a bear market, it looks as savage as a koala. If you want to...
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The Demise of King Dollar
“People talk about this concept like foreign countries can just choose not to do business with the U.S. Dollar. Sure,...
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Back to Back Calendar Year Losses for Stocks
“In my experience, most people who are lucky enough to sell something before it goes down get so busy patting...
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The Market is Quietly Stacking Up Wins
“It’s just that most people see what they want to see. We pride ourselves on living in reality.” – J.C....
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March 2023 Market Commentary
“History provides crucial insight regarding market crisis; they are inevitable, painful, and ultimately surmountable.” – Shelby M.C. Davis, philanthropist and...
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Bond Returns Following Difficult Years
“It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein Bonds could use...
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Not a Typical Bank Failure
“This isn’t just one stupid bank making bad decisions. This is a real economic problem where the clients at Silicon...
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The Biggest Heist No One is Talking About
“Banks do not create money for the public good. They are businesses owned by shareholders. Their purpose is to make...
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February 2023 Market Commentary
“The main purpose of the stock market is to make fools of as many people as possible.” – Bernard Baruch,...
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Retirees: More is the Enemy of Enough
“Don’t risk what you have and need for what you don’t have and don’t need.” – Warren Buffett There’s a...
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Assets That Could Hold Up During a Recession
“Fear, greed and hope have destroyed more portfolio value than any recession or depression we have ever been through.” –...
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Six Investing Lessons from 2022
“I have civilized my own subjects; I have conquered other nations; yet I have not been able to civilize or...
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January 2023 Market Commentary
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” – Robert Arnott, Research Affiliates Pure Portfolios’ Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans,...
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U.S. Debt Ceiling Fiasco: Big Risk or Big Nothing?
“Playing political football with a vote to raise the nation’s debt ceiling has become as predictable as a Twitter rant...
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The Perception of Risk
Quick question, which below stock market graph would you deem more risky? Graph A or B? Graph A Source: Koyfin,...
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Investment Themes by Decade
“Owning US tech was the trade of the last decade. Look forwards not backwards. That trade is over. What will...
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December 2022 Market Commentary
“With every investment we become richer or wiser, never both.” – Bill Duhamel, investor Pure Portfolios’ Chief Investment Officer,...
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Santa Claus Rally, Fact or Fiction?
“The real rally could come not from Santa Claus, but from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who will decide how...
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Pure Portfolios’ 2022 Reading List
“Reading a book isn’t a race – the better the book, the slower it should be absorbed.” – Naval Ravikant,...
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Tis the Season for Wall Street Forecasting Pt. VI
“There are two kinds of forecasters: those who don’t know, and those who don’t know they don’t know.” – John...
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November 2022 Market Commentary
“As crisis is comprised of danger and opportunity, those who sense change in the early stages will tend to have...
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Top 5 Pure Portfolios’ Blogs: Turkey Edition
“Thanksgiving is a joyous invitation to shower the world with love and gratitude.” – Amy Leigh Mercree We take a...
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Avoiding the Extremes
“You should obsess over risks that do permanent damage & care little about risks that do temporary harm, but the...
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Mid-Terms and Markets
“Historically, investors overestimate the impact of political parties, Presidents, and legislation. Even if one was to correctly forecast a political...
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When the Fed Pivots
“History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” – Mark Twain There have been 85 cycles where the Fed...
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October 2022 Market Commentary
“If everyone is thinking alike, somebody isn’t thinking.” – General Patton Pure Portfolios’ Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, talks...
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Silver Linings in a Dismal Year
“It’s not just good news that causes bear markets to end, but better-than-expected news that is simply less bad.” –...
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Surprised by Surprises
“The correct lesson to learn from surprises is that the world is surprising.” – Morgan Housel, The Collaborative Fund Unprecedented....
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Year of the 180
“Most investors tend to project near-term trends – both favorable and adverse indefinitely into the future.” – Seth Klarman, famous...
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September 2022 Market Commentary
“My first boss told us, what’s obvious is obviously wrong. It’s already reflected in security prices. The world changes. And...
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The Market Could Be Wrong About Inflation
“I don’t mind going back to daylight savings time. With inflation, the hour will be the only thing I’ve saved...
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Fighting the Urge to Throw in the Towel
“If a topic makes someone feel emotional, they will rarely be interested in the data. This is why emotions can...
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Where to Find Investment Income
“Big banks, highly leveraged casinos, do whatever they can to keep the cost of their gambling as cheap as possible.”...
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August 2022 Video Commentary
Pure Portfolios’ Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, talks the Fed’s Jackson Hole meeting, yield curve, strength of the U.S. dollar,...
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Intra-Year Market Declines
“The last leg of a bull market always ends in hysteria; the last leg of a bear market always ends...
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Calling Market Inflection Points
“You make most of your money in a bear market, you just don’t realize it at the time.” – Shelby...
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The Biggest Risk to Retirees Revisited
“The most important part of a plan is planning on your plan not going according to plan.” – Morgan Housel,...
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July 2022 Market Commentary
“It would be silly to expect every bear market to turn into the Great Depression. It would be equally wrong...
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Signs of a Market Bottom
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” – Mark Twain I post my blog every week on LinkedIn. Last...
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Which Asset Class Has it Right?
“Majority opinion can give any market movement considerable momentum that keeps it going in the same direction. Majority opinion is...
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Recession Obsession
“When y’all think they going to announce that we going into a recession?” – Cardi B, famous hip hop artist...
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June 2022 Market Commentary
Pure Portfolios’ Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, talks bear markets, bond yields, prospects of a recession, and much more. ...
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Bear Market Blues, How Much Worse Can it Get?
“The last leg of a bull market always ends in hysteria; the last leg of a bear market always ends...
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Just How Bad is Inflation?
The inflation report on 6/10/22 caused shockwaves across financial markets. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) print surprised on the upside,...
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Sniffing Around for Investment Opportunities
“Cash shouldn’t be looked at as a burden or drag on your portfolio. It should be viewed as a weapon...
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May 2022 Market Commentary
Pure Portfolios’ Chief Investment Officer, Nik Schuurmans, talks factor performance, global markets, the Fed’s balancing act, and cracks in U.S....
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Investment Royalty to Punching Bag
“Cathie Wood’s stubborn reluctance to accept reality is starting to look less and less like an investment advisor and more...
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Fighting the Market-Timing Urge
“If a topic makes someone feel emotional, they will rarely be interested in the data. This is why emotions can...
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Market Sell-Off: The Good & Bad
“Everything feels unprecedented when you haven’t engaged with history.” – Kelly Hayes, author The daily flow of negative headlines, market...
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Sell in May and Enjoy the Day?
“In real-time, every crisis feels like the worst thing ever. In hindsight, every crisis is an obvious buying opportunity.” –...
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April 2022 Market Commentary
Trying to make sense of the economy and markets? We’ve got your back. Pure Portfolios’ Chief Investment Officer talks...
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What Does Peak Inflation Look Like?
“Every administration thought they had power to end inflation but they really didn’t. I think now you can see that...
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Does it Still Make Sense to Own Bonds?
White-hot inflation. Rising interest rates. Tanking bond prices. The popular consensus is that investors should abandon their bond allocation. It’s...
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March 2022 Market Commentary
“The main purpose of the stock market is to make fools of as many people as possible.” – Bernard Baruch,...
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What’s the Bullish Case for Stocks?
“Tell someone that everything will be ok and they’ll shrug you off. Tell someone they’re in danger and they’ll hang...
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Mitigating Damage without Playing the Market Oracle
“Imagine thinking you could predict when you would sprain your ankle or get in a car crash. Instead, develop the...
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What Are the Odds of a U.S. Recession?
“Being scared of everything is a symptom of being addicted to comfort.” – Orange Book, @orangebook on Twitter Post World...
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February 2022 Market Commentary
What the heck is going on in financial markets? In the below month-end video recap, Pure Portfolios President & CIO...
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Checking Up on Pandemic Darlings
“What a year this week has been.” – unknown A handful of stocks couldn’t miss. The pandemic changed the way...
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How to Solve the Inflation Problem
“Anyway you calculate it, inflation is WAY above the Fed’s target because of high demand.” Cullen Roche, Discipline Funds The...
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Waiting for the “All-Clear” Investment Signal
“If you want to make the wrong decision, ask everyone.” – Naval Ravikant, author and investor I want to wait...
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How High Can Bond Yields Go?
“It’s not a normal condition to have interest rates at zero.” – Lloyd Blankfein, former Goldman Sachs CEO The Fed...
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What Goes Up, Must Come Down
“All past market declines look like opportunities, all future market declines look like risks.” – Morgan Housel, author and investor...
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Throw Away the Old Playbook
“Much of the confusion about the current state of the economy has its origin in people trying to apply classic...
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Managing Market Volatility
“Volatility gets you in the gut. There’s no question that when prices are jumping around, you feel different from when...
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Pure Portfolios’ 2022 Client Letter
2022 was the year of the opposite. Every market trend and economic reality we’ve known to be true the last...
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How Does this Bull Market Stack Up?
“Everyone is a genius in a bull market.” Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks. There’s no shortage...
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Pure Portfolios’ 2021 Client Letter
2021 marks the five-year anniversary of Pure Portfolios (see The Story of Pure Portfolios). We are grateful for the client...
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Pure Portfolios’ Best of 2021
“A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought — they must be...
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Tis the Season for Wall Street Forecasting Pt. V
“I am skeptical about stock market forecasting by anybody, and particularly by bankers.” Benjamin Graham, famous investor Historical evidence shows...
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Sniffing All-Time Highs and Nobody is Happy
“We locked down the economy for 18 months, spent ~$14 trillion, and now my margarita costs 30% more.” – Cullen...
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What is the Right Stock Allocation for Retirees?
“The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.” – Abe Lemons, college basketball coach It’s a...
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How to Reduce Capital Gains in your Portfolio
“A fine is a tax for doing something wrong. A tax is a fine for doing something right.” Anonymous You...
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Not All Indexing is Good
“When trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the managers who reap...
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Worried About Inflation? You Might Own These Assets
“Inflation sparks heated debates because everyone spends their money differently so there’s no single inflation rate — your inflation may...
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When Was the Last Time you Changed your Mind?
“If I were tasked with building the ultimate human investor, being able to change one’s mind would be the number...
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How Does a Fed Taper Affect Market Volatility?
“Our discussions of the economy may sometimes ring in the ears of the public with more certainty than is appropriate.”...
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Is There Ever a Good Reason to Panic Sell?
“Far more money has been lost by investors trying to anticipate corrections, than lost in the corrections themselves.” Peter Lynch,...
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Is a Roth Conversion Right for You?
To convert or not to convert? Too often investors want to convert to a Roth IRA without fully understanding the...
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Is Market Volatility Still Elevated?
“Volatility gets you in the gut. There’s no question that when prices are jumping around, you feel different from when...
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Can Stocks Get Cheaper and Go Higher?
“History shows us, over and over, that bull markets can go well beyond rational valuation levels as long as the...
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Why are ETFs Tax-Efficient?
“Those of you who make investments outside of any retirement accounts are absolutely crazy if you are using actively managed...
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An Investor’s Two Most Powerful Weapons
“It might make sense to hedge some of your equity risk.” – Toby Weber, Pure Portfolios “I’m 72 years old....
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Why Trend Following Could Make Sense for Retirees
“To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous.” – Michael W. Covel, American...
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The Untold Story of Pure Portfolios
August 2021 marks the five-year anniversary of Pure Portfolios. This is the untold story of how we launched. The Build-Up...
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Taking Cues from the Market
“In the end, how your investment behaves is much less important than how you behave.” – Benjamin Graham, famous investor...
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Intoxicated with Pessimism
“Optimism sounds like a sales pitch. Pessimism sounds like someone is trying to help you.” – Morgan Housel, The Collaborative...
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Avoiding Stupidity is Underrated
“All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.” – Charlie Munger, Berkshire...
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It’s Been Too Easy
“Expectation is the root of all heartache.” – William Shakespeare Under promise, over deliver. The universal mental shortcut for managing...
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Retirement Simplicity is Beautiful
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius, Chinese philosopher My morning inbox routine, delete,...
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Not So Obvious
“Hindsight is 20/20.” – Richard Armour, American comedian What was unclear 12-18 months ago, looks clear as day now. I...
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Predicting Irrational Beasts
“We are emotional, irrational beasts who are emotional and irrational in predictable, pattern-filled ways.” – Chris Voss, author of Never...
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Internal vs. External Focus
“Do not let what’s out of your control interfere with all the things you can control.” – John Wooden, legendary...
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The Difference Between Amateur and Professional Investors
“Amateurs believe that the world should work the way they want it to. Professionals realize that they have to work...
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What the Treasury Market is Saying About Inflation
“Inflation is when you pay $15 for a $10 haircut you used to get for $5 when you had hair.”...
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Shrinking Life Cycle of an S&P 500 Company
“I’d rather be partly great than entirely useless.” – Neal Shusterman, American author & writer. Let’s face it, it’s fun...
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The Best Predictor of Stock Returns is Amazingly Simple
“The price of equity is determined in the same way that the price of everything is determined – via forces...
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The Biggest Risk to New Retirees
“Consider two degenerate gamblers flipping a quarter for $100 per flip. One of the gamblers has heads and the other...
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What’s in a Bear Market?
“I’m an optimist, both as a person and an investor. It’s a big mistake to be pessimistic as long as...
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Higher Capital Gains Tax and Stock Returns
“You watch…taxes are going to go up and the market will tank.” – I’ve been told this 5x in the...
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No Such Thing as Passive Investing
“This is the single worst time to be a passive investor since they started passive investments. The S&P 500 index...
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Spectacular Implosion
“How did you go bankrupt?” “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” – Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises. It takes talent...
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The Identity Leak
“Keep your identity small.” – Paul Graham, famous investor. I was an average high school basketball player. Good enough to...
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Not Buying What the Fed is Selling
The Fed was on autopilot. Its forward guidance made clear that market participants could set their watches to four interest...
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The New Age Investor
“Behind the recent surge in retail investing is a younger, often new-to-investing, and aggressive cohort not afraid to employ leverage.”...
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Beating the Bubble Horse
“I’m just waiting for the bubble to pop.” – Anonymous potential client Have you ever met the type that thinks...
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Perspective on Rising Bond Yields
“Bonds are dead.” – Warren Buffett via CNBC The recent uptick in yields has the reignited the “bonds will get...
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Bitcoin, What Of It?
“The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work. The central bank must...
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Investing at All-Time Highs
In the early years of the smartphone, it was quite common to carry a personal cell and a work cell....
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Is the 4% Rule Dead?
Mental shortcuts or heuristics are used to make quick decisions, either because of time constraints or to simplify a complex...
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Is Inflation Coming?
The health and wellness gurus will tell you that they meditate for two hours, exercise, and eat egg whites all...
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Monte Carlo Analysis: Worthless or Worthwhile?
“Oh, Monte Carlo, I’ve done that. It’s worthless!” “This simulation is the greatest thing ever!” “I don’t know what I’m...
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Is Your Portfolio Drunk or Sober?
“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.” – George S. Patton Let’s say I’m invited over to...
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The Blue Wave and Stock Returns
““We are beginning to see trends that people tend to fear what they are exposed to in the media. Many...
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Getting a Fat Pitch and Not Swinging
“Amateurs think the world should work the way they want it to. Professionals realize that they have to work with...
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What is Your “Enough?”
“Mo money, mo problems.” – Notorious B.I.G Unless your name is Jeff Bezos, most of us will never be the...
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Investing in a 0% World
“Zero rates aren’t a new normal; they’re just normal in Japan.” – Verdad Capital That didn’t last long. After four...
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Good from Far, but Far from Good
“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead...
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Scratching Your Degenerate Itch
“Bad bets sometimes pay off.” – Marty Rubin, Canadian Author There’s been a stir in financial media about Robinhood traders...
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Investing Cash in a Runaway Market
“Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections, than has been lost...
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The Brilliance of “I Don’t Know”
“We cherish not only answering every question, but also being quick-witted. The answer has to be produced in the shortest...
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I Keep Coming Back to One Question
“We have to practice defensive investing, since many of the outcomes are likely to go against us. It’s more important...
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Mitigating Damage without Placing a Trade
“We will all feel pain in the next recession or stock market drop, but what can we do now to...
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Does Your ESG Approach Pass the Smell Test?
I was perusing my LinkedIn feed when a particular post caught my eye. For the record, I have no clue...
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Municipal Magic
“You can take advantage of pockets of opportunity in what people don’t want.” – Jeff Gundlach, DoubleLine CEO We’ve been...
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Waking up After a Yearlong Coma
“Every once in a while, the market does something so stupid it takes your breath away.” – Jim Cramer The...
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The Plight of an All-Equity Investor
“The stock market is the story of cycles and of the human behaviour that is responsible for overreactions in both...
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What’s Your Silver Lining?
The days blend together. I feel like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day. I’m working at my makeshift office...
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Bear Market Rally or Did We Hit Bottom?
“A cycle like this does not end with a mere month-long correction. A real bear market is only over when...
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Bear Market Assessment: What We Got Right & Wrong
Lawrence Hamtil runs a wealth management firm in Overland, KS. He posted the above self-assessment on Twitter on his portfolio...
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Some Things Will Never be the Same
“Sometimes it’s the bad things that happen to us that become the catalyst for the good things to happen to...
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Where Do We Go From Here?
“There’s clearly an indication that a systematic government-led approach using all tactics and all elements available seems to be able...
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Bear Market Blind Spots
“History reminds us the event that often derails financial markets is seldom the one investors saw coming.” – Pure Portfolios...
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The Market is Talking. Are You Listening?
“It’s OK to not have an opinion on topics you don’t know anything about. And I don’t know anything about...
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What’s Your Process for Making Portfolio Changes?
“To get something done a committee should consist of no more than three people, two of whom are absent.” –...
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Are Low Yields a Good Reason to Shun Bonds?
“I don’t get why anyone would buy a 10-year bond yielding 1.5%” – Former Colleague Low bond yields are the...
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How to Tell if your 401(k) Plan is Hot Garbage
We are conditioned to sock away money for retirement ASAP. You should save at least 10% of your income. By...
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Random $#%&
“No matter how sophisticated our choices, how good we are at dominating the odds, randomness will have the last word.”...
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The Amazing Run of U.S. Tech Stocks
Friend: “I need to buy more QQQ.” Later that day, while on a call… “Tech stocks make me nervous. I...
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Do You Have an Information Filter?
“Thirty years ago the best investors had the biggest funnels of information. Today the best investors have the best filters...
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Want Dividend Yield? Here’s Where to Look…
“As far as dividend yields go, the UK, Italy, Spain, and Singapore all offer dividend yields north of 4%, while...
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What Does the SECURE Act Mean for You?
On December 20th, 2019, President Trump signed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act). The SECURE...
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Pure Portfolios 2020 Client Letter
It seems like yesterday that we left the corporate suits behind to launch Pure Portfolios. We are forever grateful to...
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Pure Portfolios’ Best of 2019
“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead...
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Tis the Season for Wall Street Forecasting Pt. III
“Those who have knowledge, don’t predict. Those who predict, don’t have knowledge.” – Lao Tzu The annual charade of Wall...
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Did Investors Experience a Golden Decade?
If 2000-2009 was the “lost decade” for U.S. equity markets, 2010-2019 might be dubbed the blissful Goldilocks decade. But just...
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It’s Time to Dump the Broken Risk Questionnaire
What would you do if your investment lost 20%? A) Buy more B) Sell C) Do nothing You’ve probably seen...
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Portfolio Lay-Ups for Year-End
“Some taxpayers close their eyes, some stop their ears, some shut their mouths, but all pay through the nose.” –...
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What to Make of the “Election Uncertainty” Talk?
“To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it.” – Henry Kissinger I can’t go...
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What’s Your Different Kind of Wealth?
“That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.” – Henry David Thoreau Most people associate wealth with large bank accounts,...
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“I’ll Just Buy Amazon Stock”
I was sipping on a watered-down passion fruit iced tea waiting for my 1 o’clock to arrive. I had never...
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Your Wealth Manager Just Posted Record Profit Margins
“Your margin is my opportunity.” – Jeff Bezos, Amazon It was a dreary fall evening. It must have been a...
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Can High Dividend Stocks Replace Paltry Bond Income?
“We should target high dividend payers because bond yields are offering nothing.” – Random investors everywhere. U.S. bond yields have...
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What is the Impact of Retiring in a High-Income Tax State?
Much goes into crafting a detailed retirement plan. We account for income, expenses, unexpected healthcare events, annual home maintenance, travel,...
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Could the 2020 Election Derail the Stock Market?
Everywhere we turn people are convinced the presidential election adds a layer of uncertainty to the financial markets. Depending on...
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Predicting the Next Recession
If we tracked the most commonly asked client question over the past six months, a variation of “when is the...
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Are you Paying for Services NOT Rendered?
You have a huge landscaping project in front of you. While you’ve done some basic lawn care in the past,...
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Should I Just Buy the S&P 500 in Retirement?
We were sitting outside on a beautiful late summer Portland day. I was having a spirited conversation with a retired...
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Is Anyone Bullish on the Stock Market?
We shared a laugh about how easy it was to come up with a list of potential landmines for the...
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Should you Act on Big Down Market Days?
“Well, that escalated quickly.” – Ron Burgundy, Anchorman It should be obvious by now that presidential tweets are untradable, unpredictable,...
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Simple Doesn’t Sell
“Complexity gives a comforting impression of control, while simplicity is hard to distinguish from cluelessness.” – Morgan Housel, The Collaborative...
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Is Your Wealth Manager Overweight Equities?
“Pay attention to what they do, not what they say.” – Anonymous I was perusing a research note from another...
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How Common are 5+% Pullbacks?
A client asked me what our crystal ball was saying after the turmoil this week. It’s impossible to know what...
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How I’m Personally Invested
I give people advice about what to do with their money. Therefore, you have a right to know how I...
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All-Time High Retirement
The year was 2007. Bob had been with the same company for 30 years. He had diligently saved throughout his...
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Fool Me Once, Fool Me A Billion Times
“You don’t have to be the biggest to beat the biggest.” – Ross Perot Raymond owns a small independent advisory...
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The Fed’s About-Face
Just a year ago, the consensus was for the Federal Reserve to methodically increase interest rates to “normal” levels. As...
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The Most Interesting Charts in the World
Our inbox is bursting with mid-year reviews, commentary, and predictions for the rest of the year. The blitz of content...
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The Unspoken Costs of a Doomsdayer
My Uncle Joe is absolutely convinced the market is going to crash. He’ll seek me out at family gatherings and...
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Fee Schedule Trickery
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Albert Einstein The further removed we get from the...
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Should You Only Own U.S. Stocks?
Many U.S. based investors believe so. In the investment universe, “Home Bias” is a term used to describe the tendency...
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Citywire Q&A with Nik Schuurmans
Pure Portfolios was recently featured in Citywire’s RIA “My Model Portfolio” series that ran in May’s print version and is...
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So Much for Rising Rates
The cycle ended with hardly a peep, but it looks like the Fed is done increasing rates. Source: YCharts The...
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Better Decisions with Sound Financial Planning
I used to have a healthy disdain for financial planning. I viewed it as data entry; type numbers into a...
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Does your Portfolio Make the Grade?
“I already have a financial advisor managing my money.” That’s a good thing, right? Depends on the advisor. It can...
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Millennial Advice from a Millennial
The millennial generation is defined to those born between 1981-1996. In other words, if you’re between 22-37, you’re a millennial...
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Stability Breeds Instability
“Trump will fire off a tweet and tank the economy.” “The yield curve inversion all but guarantees a recession is...
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Do You Need a Trust?
People set up Trusts to minimize estate taxes, avoid probate, and seamlessly transfer assets to their heirs. Simply put, a...
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The One-Page Challenge
According to a 2018 Cerulli study, 42% of investors either believe their financial advice is free or they have no...
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Calling it off with 5-2 Offsuit
You’re mentally exhausted. It’s getting late and you’re on the tail end of a 12-hour marathon poker session. You’re down...
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Mr. Bond and Mr. Market
Mr. Bond has been in a dark place. He’s back on the bottle, hasn’t showered in days, and has been...
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Ultimate Transparency
Free from pretense or deceit Easily detected or seen through Readily understood Characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially...
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What I’ve Learned Over My 15 Year Career
We started every day the same. Our team of “financial planners” gathered in a vast conference room with a sprawling...
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BBB Rated Movie
“U.S. corporate debt has climbed to roughly 46% of gross domestic product, the highest on record” – Rachel Louise Ensign,...
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How to Punt Stacks of Cash to Uncle Sam
“The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare,...
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Let’s Talk Stock Buybacks
“I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don’t know the other side’s argument better than...
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Trend is Your Friend, An Alternative to Buy & Hold
“We’ve extended the analysis to every asset class where we could get our hands on the numbers and investigated the...
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Mutual Fund Owners, Check Your 1099s
“It’s really hard to make an argument for mutual funds in a taxable investment account.” – Meb Faber, Cambria Funds...
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Weirdness without Parallel
One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both...
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The Best of Bogle
“I will create value for society, rather than extract it.” John C. Bogle, Founder of The Vanguard Group On April...
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The Most Dangerous Thing II
“Investing isn’t about beating others at their game. It’s about controlling yourself at your own game.” – Jason Zweig, Author...
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2018: No Place to Hide
“There’s always a bull market somewhere” – Jim Cramer, CNBC Mad Money This marks the first and last time we...
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Take the Low-Hanging Fruit
The market carnage to close out 2018 carries an important reminder. Investing is hard. Performance comes and goes. The last...
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Tis the Season for Wall St. Forecasting II
“Never make predictions, especially about the future.” – Casey Stengel, Legendary Baseball Manager. This might be my favorite topic to...
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Don’t Be Afraid of the ‘R’ Word
“Fear, greed, and hope have destroyed more portfolio value than any recession or depression we have ever been through.” –...
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Let’s Talk Yield Curve Inversion
Picture a veteran stock broker roaming the halls of a investment advisory firm. His shirt is stained with coffee. From the...
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Is the Santa Claus Rally Real?
I know a financial advisor who loves to talk about the Santa Claus rally every December. He has an outstanding...
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Planning for the Ugly
“Telling people to “ignore the noise” or “think for the long-term” does not help in the moment unless you’ve set...
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The Most Dangerous Thing
“All other creatures use their intelligence to survive. We use ours to destroy ourselves.” – Marty Rubin, Author We worry about stock...
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No Hunt for Red October
In the 1990 war thriller “The Hunt for Red October” Sean Connery plays the role of Marko Ramius, a Soviet Union...
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Being Told to “Stay the Course”
“Volatility in the up direction is not a problem, it’s only downward volatility that offers discourse.” – Coreen T. Sol,...
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Back to Back Negative Return Years for Bonds
“Bonds as an asset class will always be needed, and not just by insurance companies and pension funds, but by...
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Stock Returns in Midterm Election Years
“The real players in the global economy are consumers and producers (business). Politicians and regulators are similar to referees, which can influence short...
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The Best Question You Could Ask
“People ask me my forecast for the economy when they should be asking me what I have in my portfolio....
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Investor Anxiety: Signs You’re Invested Incorrectly
“A reasonable-level of anxiety is a sign that you take investing seriously and are on guard against complacency and overconfidence....
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Persistence of Performance
“This year’s top-performing mutual funds aren’t necessarily going to be next year’s best performers. It’s not uncommon for a fund...
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Fed Hikes and Bond Prosperity
“The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has considerable control over short-term rates. We have much less influence over long-term rates,...
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U.S. and Everyone Else
“Emerging market economies have long grappled with the challenges posed by large and volatile cross-border capital flows.” – Jerome Powell,...
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Solving the Social Security Equation
“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would...
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Fees Tied to Performance is Gaining Momentum
“The investment industry has long offered clients fees that have nothing to do with performance. That’s changing, but not nearly...
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Is Your Asset Location Costing You?
“You must pay taxes. But there’s no law that says you gotta leave a tip.” – Morgan Stanley Most investors...
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Ignoring Good Advice
“Small, seemingly insignificant steps completed consistently over time will create a radical difference.” – Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect...
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The Housing Cycle
“Housing is often found at the heart of financial crises”– Fed Chair, Jay Powell summer of 2017 We are not...
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When it’s Broken, Don’t Fix it
“The most important thing you can have is a good strategic asset allocation mix. So, what the investor needs to...
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The New S&P 500
We recently came across a do-it-yourself (DIY) investor, let’s call him Cecil. Cecil firmly proclaims he hates technology stocks and doesn’t feel...
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Q2: Risk On?
“Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections, than has been lost...
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Sucker Dividend Yields
“One thing everyone should know about dividend yield is this: it doesn’t tell you much. It doesn’t give you clues...
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“How Often Do You Look at My Portfolio?”
“I was going to be a sales person representing that I managed the portfolio. I couldn’t live with that.” –...
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Cash is a Weapon
“Hold some cash in reserve to take advantage of future opportunities.”– Seth Klarman, author of Margin of Safety. An underrated...
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Loose Bubble Talk
“I’m hard-pressed to recall when any sort of bubble was accurately identified in real-time on the cover of a major...
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Beware of the Lazy 60/40
“A traditional static indexing approach leaves an investor overweight the riskiest assets at the riskiest times and underweight those low...
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Unwinding a Variable Annuity
“Variable annuities are the cigarettes of the investment world, which has hidden its curse for decades.” – Ken Fisher, Fisher...
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Turning Safe Into Risky
“The more expensive debt becomes, the less weak corporations will be able to maintain the illusion of health.” Trevor Noren,...
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Less Obvious Mistakes
“Getting rich is one thing. Staying rich is quite another.” – Morgan Housel, The Collaborative Fund We are often asked...
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Hedge Fund Hold Up
The return of market volatility has increased the interest in alternative asset classes. A quick rundown of Barron’s You Make...
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Sell in May and Go Away
They’ve done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time.”– Brian Fantana, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron...
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Portfolio Audit
We hunt the internet for the best value. We read online reviews before making a purchase decision. We compare the...
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8 Signs Your Family Will Fight Over Your Estate
This is a guest post from our estate planning partner Everplans. In our effort to provide value beyond investment management,...
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Q1 in Pics: The Dust Settles
“The S&P 500 hasn’t seen a down quarter since Q3 2015. The S&P has also seen positive returns in 19...
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My Advisor Doesn’t Charge Me a Fee
I’ve heard a variation of the above statement five times within the last year. I’ve had enough. You know the...
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The Mystic of Rising Interest Rates
“Nobody likes high interest rates.” – Chanda Kochhar, CEO of ICICI Bank Interest rate prognostications have taken on a life...
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Decoding Your Brokerage Statement
“Your brokerage statements suck” – Barry Glassman, Glassman Wealth The way we consume information has been turned upside down with...
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Want More Yield On Cash?
The most common question we have received in the past nine years goes something like this; “How can I generate...
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Tariff Gamesmanship?
On March 1, 2018 President Trump unexpectedly announced tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. The threat of a global trade...
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Gems from Buffett’s 2017 Letter
“There are three ways to go broke: “ladies, liquor and leverage”– Warren Buffett, quoting Charlie Munger during a recent CNBC...
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Back to Normal
“If you believe markets are mean-reverting, higher returns and lower volatility today may equal the opposite in the future. We...
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International Developed: What Do You Own?
“Gold jacket, green jacket…who gives a $%&!”– Happy Gilmore We have heard them called foreign equities, global markets, international developed,...
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Warm & Fuzzy Financial Services Ads
I watch quite a bit of golf in my spare time. PGA Tour, Champions Tour, Korn Ferry, LPGA, it doesn’t...
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What’s Attractive in this Environment?
Looking back at 2017, the resounding theme from our clients has been disbelief around the perplexing nature of the runaway U.S. equity...
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Over-Diversification
“Your portfolio is a bowl of soup of random investments, seemingly cobbled together over time.” Meb Faber, Cambria Investments We...
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Why Clients Fire their Advisor
Change is hard. Humans like patterns, routines, and familiarity. This is especially true when dealing with sensitive issues like financial...
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What Happens After a +25% Year?
I have an evening routine of perusing Twitter for market research nuggets. I email myself interesting articles to read the...
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What’s All This Volatility Talk?
“When you compare the fundamental risks that we see all around the globe with the lack of volatility in our...
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Pure Portfolios 2017 Client Letter
In the spirit of the great Warren Buffett’s annual shareholder letter, we feel it’s important to share not only our...
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Following the Herd: Short-Term Bonds
The current tightening cycle has so far been reminiscent of its mid-2000s counterpart. At the time, Federal Reserve Chair Alan...
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Tis the Season for Wall Street Forecasting
“It’s not easy to be as bad as they are. They are much worse than random chance alone would predict.” Salil...
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Introducing Everplans
“In a moment of crisis, the last thing a family should be doing is worrying or being hassled about paperwork....
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Delusional Return Expectations
“Returns expectations are simply too high. It means that many will face a shortfall when they come to realize their...
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Forget the Fed. Focus on Coordinated Global Tightening
2017 has been a great year for investors. Global equities are higher. Volatility is non-existent. Heck, even left-for-dead fixed income...
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Signs of a Market Top? Valuation
We continue our series featuring data from VR Research on “characteristics of a market top.” The summary is broken down...
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Meet the Story-Based Advisor
We recently stumbled across a tongue and cheek article that decoded real estate agent listing language. For example, describing a...
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Naked Performance
“I’ve been crushing it in the stock market this year. I’m up 45%.”– Random Dude How many times have you...
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Naked Performance
“I’ve been crushing it in the stock market this year. I’m up 45%.”– Random Dude How many times have you...
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Signs of a Market Top? Investor Sentiment
VR Research published a graphic on its Twitter account showing the characteristics of a “market top.” The summary is broken...
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Avoiding the Dividend Trap
“In a taxable account, dividends could have cost you anywhere from 0.3% to over 3.0% in returns PER YEAR since...
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Does a Robo-Advisor Make Sense for You?
“One of the challenging things in this industry now is you’ve got a lot of the old-way-to-invest type of firms coming...
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Death of the Fixed 1% Fee
“One of the biggest problems I have with the flat-fee structure is that it does implicitly incentivize a culture of...
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What Happens if the U.S. Goes to War?
“Rising overseas tensions usually don’t cause economic slumps or bear markets… but it’s not unheard of.”– Ben Levisohn, Barron’s The CFA...
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Risky Business of High Yield
With corporate leverage continuing to surge—on record pace again in 2017—the threat of the “zombie” bubble popping appears increasingly real.–...
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When Times Are Bad Pt. 2
“The stock market is a battlefield. Always remember to survive in the game first. Only those that survive the battle...
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The Age-Based Portfolio
“You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don’t understand that’s going to happen, then you’re not ready,...
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Should I Borrow Against my Portfolio?
“We were dramatically pushed to put these on all of our client accounts.”– Steven Dudash, former Wall Street broker. Traditionally...
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Should I Consolidate My Assets?
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”– Hans Hofmann. Having multiple investment...
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Hedging Equities with… Equities?
In response to the financial crisis, investment managers scrambled to find alternative strategies to soften total portfolio risk during extreme...
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Money Quotes
Over the 4th of July weekend I made it a point to unplug and reflect. I do some of my...
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Fear Sells. Don’t Buy It.
I have a close relative that is debating taking a new job. The new position would be more favorable from...
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The Bond Market Doesn’t Believe the Fed
“Just remember that 10 of the last 13 Fed hiking cycles have been miscalculations that ended in recession.”– David Rosenberg,...
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Valuation Matters, Except When It Doesn’t
“The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” John Maynard Keynes, Economist The Shiller price to earnings...
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Drive Your Managed Portfolio into the Ground
“Invert, always invert.” – Charlie Munger, the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett’s partner. Munger borrowed the idea...
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The Rise of the Call Center Advisor
“If I were a single-digit millionaire tossed out of the “paradise” of private banking, I’d walk away from that bank...
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The Danger of Mixing Politics and Investing
A dark cloud of geopolitical uncertainty hangs over the global equity markets (see our rational for investing in gold). Even...
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The Allure of Gold
“I think that the 5-year bear market in gold is over and that we’re in the beginning of a new...
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Exchange Traded Funds Are (Mostly) Good
“The flow of money into ETFs doesn’t represent some mad rush to a specific asset class or sector; it’s simply...
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What is Evidence-Based Investing?
“As Upton Sinclair said, it’s difficult to persuade even the most intelligent people to accept the evidence if they’re financially...
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Hard Ball Questions to Ask Your Advisor
A Google search for “Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor” will yield an abundance of articles ranging from exhaustive to...
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Don’t Underperform Yourself
Prolonged bull markets can lead to false confidence for do-it-yourself investors, financial advisors, and professional institutional money managers. After all,...
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Pure Q1 Recap in Pics (and a few words)
We are trying something new to convey our view of the world to our readers. We have heard feedback from...
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Advantages of Working with Independent Firms
The perception exists that investing money with large, established firms is the conservative route. The explosive growth of the independent...
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Mismanaged Bond Portfolios Are Costly
Fixed income investing used to be much easier. An investor could clip 5% return in their sleep without taking much...
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Does Dollar Cost Averaging Work?
There are two types of Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA). Automatically saving in your employer’s 401(k) is the good version. The...
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What Are You Paying for Wealth Management?
Time and again I speak with investors who have no clue what their advisor is charging them. CFA Institute published...
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Google “Bond Bubble” For a Laugh
The term “bubble” is bothersome when describing bonds. Investors are not clamoring to buy 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds with the...
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Pessimism Reigns Supreme
We talk to clients and potential investors daily. We listen to market experts and consume pages of investment research. It’s...
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Simple Beats Complex
Perception exists within wealth management that complex equals smart and simplistic equals dull. This is especially evident in the hyper-competitive...
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Bob Farrell’s 10 Rules of Investing
I have never been a big fan of rigid rules, but every now and again we revisit brilliance that transcends...
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The Future of Wealth Management
In the last 12 months, I have had many conversations about the future of wealth management. The values of Pure...
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Mutual Funds are Toxic for Building Wealth
Mutual funds will cease to exist in their current form. Low rates and compressed returns will expose archaic investment vehicles...
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Why Your Financial Advisor Hates the Fiduciary Standard
I find it deplorable we need the Department of Labor (DOL) to tell insurance agents and financial advisors to do...
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Interest Rates: Experts Stick to the Broken Clock Approach
The rising interest rate prediction has been the most incorrect forecast I can remember. For the past three years, we...
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