
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 0.70%.
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
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

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, if something is awry in...
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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 yield, oil prices, and the...
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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 directions.” – Seth Klarman, hedge...
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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.” – Jared Dillion, author It’s a...
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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.” – Arthur Cecil Piguo, British...
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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 on the attractiveness of fixed...
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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 thousands of headlines that look...
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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 & financial author I tend to...
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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 of the Treasury for Economic...
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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 Portfolios’ September 2023 Market Commentary,...
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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 today, with yields at 4.5?”...
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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 Franklin famously stated, “Nothing is...
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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 over the years.” – Ben...
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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 In Pure Portfolios’ August 2023...
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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 Burry predicted the 2008 housing...
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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 good places to invest, that’s...
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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. equity market has come roaring...
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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 performance of big technology stocks...
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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, former Berkshire Hathaway employee In...
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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 I haven’t seen anything like...
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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, writer & author We don’t...
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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, former CEO of Goldman Sachs...
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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 credible. After fifty years in...
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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 is about to rally.” –...
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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, I think we’ll augment our...
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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 2023 performance is being propelled...
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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 wrong.” – Mark Spitznagel, hedge...
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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 Cullom Davis, famous investor Generating...
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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.” – Bespoke Investment Group On November...
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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.” – Bill Gross, Pimco co-founder...
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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 better than you anticipate.” Morgan...
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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 call it a bull market,...
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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, they can. In doing so,...
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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 themselves on the back, they...
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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. Parets, All-Star Charts, on the...
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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 investor Pure Portfolios’ Chief...
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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 a public relations makeover. The...
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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 Valley Bank were burning money...
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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 a profit.” – John Rogers,...
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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, American financier Pure Portfolios’ Chief...
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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 group of Twitter overachievers that...
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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.” – James O’Shaughnessy, Founder of O’Shaughnessy...
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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 conquer myself.” – Peter the...
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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, unpacks the first month of...
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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 from Charlie Sheen.” – Peter...
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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, Pure Portfolios The above graph...
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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 be the one to take...
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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, Nik Schuurmans, unpacks the rollercoaster...
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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 much longer to hike interest...
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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 Kenneth Balbraith, economist Hot chocolate....
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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 the most bountiful harvest.” –...
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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 break from our regular blog...
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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 opposite is more common.” –...
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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 outcome, markets seldom react in...
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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 has increased interest rates since...
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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 sticky inflation, the U.S. consumer,...
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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.” – Ben Carlson, Wealth of Common...
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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. Extraordinary. Unexpected. Once in a...
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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 investor Let’s go back to...
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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 you’re only going to pick...
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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 all year.” – Victor Borge,...
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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 be such a threat to...
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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.” – Max Keiser, American Journalist...
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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, and more. Let us know...
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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 in a panic.” – Jim...
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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 Cullom Davis, investor, businessman, former...
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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, author & investor The last...
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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 to expect that a fall...
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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 week, I wrote about what...
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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 inevitably and consistently wrong at...
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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 Forecasting the next recession has...
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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. The video is heavy on...
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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 in panic.” – Jim Rogers,...
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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, which wasn’t a good thing....
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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 waiting for an opportunity to...
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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. housing. The video is heavy...
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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 like me betting the midnight...
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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 be such a threat to...
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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 losses, and dire predictions can...
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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.” – Morgan Housel, author This isn’t...
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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 market action, the Fed’s current...
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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 same sense of overconfidence in...
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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 a tidy narrative but deserves...
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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, famous investor In the...
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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 on your every word.” Morgan...
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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 ability to absorb damage. Train...
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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 War II, the U.S. has...
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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 Nik Schuurmans, CFA offers his...
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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 we did everything overnight. Obscure...
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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 Fed will attempt to kill...
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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 and see what happens with...
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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 has charted the path forward...
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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 Watching the stock market tank...
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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 business-cycle analysis to COVID-19 macro...
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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 they’re stable.” – Peter Bernstein,...
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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 ~12 years swung the other...
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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 of investors & pundits telling...
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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 relationships we’ve built along the...
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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 earned.” – Naval Ravikant, entrepreneur...
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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, author & investor I’ve asked...
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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 Wall Street makes predictions that...
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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 Roche, author & investor. We...
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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 delicate balance every retiree faces....
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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 sold a large chunk of...
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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 outsized profits, not the clients.”...
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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 be very different than someone...
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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 one skill on the list.”...
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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.” Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chairman...
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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, famous investor. The below exchange...
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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 risks, benefits, and how a...
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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 they’re stable.” – Peter Bernstein,...
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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 outlook for future earnings is...
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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 funds rather than ETFs.” Suze...
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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. Why would I spend my...
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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 author. Most investors have heard...
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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 I was searching for a...
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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 Much had changed, but nothing...
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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 Fund Bill has financial freedom....
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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 Hathaway Let’s say you’re having...
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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 expectations. Set the bar low,...
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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, delete, delete… “Boom in Securities-Based...
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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 knew the market would come...
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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 Split the Difference. Stanley sold...
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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 UCLA basketball coach. I have...
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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 with the world as they...
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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.” – Sam Ewing, retired professional...
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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 to buy individual stocks. Maybe...
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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 of supply and demand.” Jesse...
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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 has tails for the duration...
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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 we have a viable civilization...
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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 past week. Well, that seems...
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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 is highly likely to not...
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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 to lose $8 billion dollars...
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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 get on the court, but...
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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 rate hikes in 2018. That’s...
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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.” Deutsche Bank strategists Jim Reid...
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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 everything is in a bubble?...
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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 crushed” angry mob. We can...
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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 be trusted not to debase...
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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. Eventually, we wised up at...
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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 problem. The further away a...
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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 before 6am. I check my...
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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 going to do. I’m waiting...
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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 your house for dinner. We...
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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 of the top 10 fears...
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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 the world as they find...
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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 richest person on the planet....
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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 of trying to be very...
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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 bidding up bankrupt companies to...
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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 in corrections themselves.” – Peter...
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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 amount of time with the...
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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 to ensure survival under negative...
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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 mitigate the damage?” – Pure...
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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 who Mark A. Smith is....
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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 fielding a decent number of...
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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 date is April 29th, 2019....
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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 directions.” – Seth Klarman, CEO...
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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 at the end of the...
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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 no one is interested in...
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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 positioning prior to the COVID-19...
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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 us. Life forces you into...
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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 to turn this disease around.”...
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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 2019 Year-end Commentary The past...
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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 coronaviruses. But I have a...
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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.” – Robert Copeland, U.S. Navy Admiral...
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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 new normal. It’s enough to...
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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 the time you’re 30, you...
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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.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Fooled...
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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 fear a repeat of the...
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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 of information. The market is...
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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 US markets have the lowest...
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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 Act, effective January 1, 2020,...
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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 the clients that took the...
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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 right around the corner.” “Tariffs...
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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 heard a family member, colleague,...
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