As we approach the New Year, it’s a good time to take a closer look at the more impactful themes and stories we think investors should consider when preparing their 2014 investment strategies. Here are five that we believe could impact the market and investor portfolios moving forward. Be sure to discuss these with your Financial Advisor to see if your investment portfolio is prepared. 1) How the Janet Yellen Federal Reserve Could Affect Your Portfolio If Janet Yellen gains Senate approval in the coming days to become the next Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair, she’ll take over on February 1.1 Investors are almost certain to watch her closely from day 1, searching for any kinds of policy-setting signals she might give. We believe the key factors to watch are how and when she intends to pare back the quantitative easing programs, better known as QE. Based on Yellen’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, her letters to lawmakers, and her track record, she appears in favor of continuing stimulus measures. This could mean an extension of the current quantitative easing programs with the Fed also holding their benchmark interest rate close to zero throughout all of 2014, which could be a positive for the economy and for portfolios.1 On the other hand, if market participants believe the Fed to be paring back those programs prematurely, it could be a negative event for the markets. Investors should speak with their financial advisor to find out if their portfolios are positioned with these monetary policy outcomes in mind. [+] Read More

Hiring a money manager is one of the more important decisions an investor can make, and it’s also a challenging one. To make matters a bit easier, we’ve outlined nine steps an investor should take to get the research and due diligence process started. [+] Read More

International money manager WHV Investment Management believes the fundamentals of iron ore remain robust, and their latest report explains why. "Conventional wisdom says one should invest in what China buys and avoid anything that China can produce on its own. Iron ore, one of the favored natural resources in the WHV International Equity strategy, provides an illustration of why this has worked. To fuel its continued growth, China has a seemingly insatiable demand for the high quality product of the big three iron ore miners. The companies, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale, are focused on meeting this demand while growing profits through a combination of declining costs and increasing volumes. Both the demand and supply trends may be subject to interruptions. However, we believe that the stage is set for compelling long term returns on the WHV International Equity iron ore investments." Download WHV Investments' Full Commentary Here Get Free Research Reports on WHV Investments [+] Read More

In our previous post titled “Maximize Social Security with the File and Suspend Strategy,” we showed you a strategy that married couples might use to increase their social security retirement benefits. Not too many retirees are aware that strategies like this exist to increase social security income1, and it goes to show that with the right type of planning, people can get more out of retirement than they might think. There is another strategy known as the Restricted Application for Spousal Benefits that married couples also may use to increase the size of their social security checks. This method allows for one spouse to start collecting spousal benefits, while simultaneously having their retirement benefits grow through the accumulation of delayed retirement credits. Below we’ll explain how this works. [+] Read More

When developing a comprehensive financial plan, there are numerous factors to consider, such as when to start taking social security benefits. What about your spouse? How should I allocate my portfolio to ensure my long-term goals are met? What money managers should I hire? And the list goes on. As part of that plan, some people might consider purchasing long-term care insurance to protect their assets in the event they need extensive medical care later in life. Many don’t realize, however, that there could be tax incentives associated with long-term care insurance. The IRS outlines all of the itemized deductions available long-term care insurance premiums that are considered a medical expense1. In order for all or part of long-term care insurance premiums to be tax deductible, however, a few conditions must be met. [+] Read More

In our previous post on Social Security retirement benefits, we looked at a few factors that might determine when someone should start receiving Social Security benefits. One of those factors centered on a spouse’s age and potential benefit, which we’ll examine a bit more closely in this piece. For the questions and scenarios below, we’ll assume the full retirement age is 66. You can determine what your full retirement age is using the Social Security Administration’s table here. What is a Social Security Spousal Benefit? A spousal benefit is equal to 50% of your spouse’s Social Security retirement benefit, as calculated at their full retirement age. If your social security retirement benefit based on your earnings record is greater than the spousal benefit, you will get paid the higher amount when filing for Social Security. [+] Read More

Investopedia defines diversification1 as “a risk management technique that mixes a wide variety of investments within a portfolio,” which “contends that a portfolio of different kinds of investments will, on average, yield higher returns and pose a lower risk than any individual investment found within the portfolio.” The goal of diversifying a portfolio is to “smooth out unsystematic risk events in a portfolio so that the positive performance of some investments will neutralize the negative performance of others. Therefore, the benefits of diversification will hold only if the securities in the portfolio are not perfectly correlated." Step 1: Diversifying Your Portfolio Across Asset Classes and Categories A glance at the chart below illustrates how this works. As you can see, different categories of assets may produce higher returns in some periods, but lackluster in others, and the best performing areas change hands regularly over time. (Click the chart for a larger version.) [+] Read More

Chief Equity Strategist Bob Doll reviews his weekly top themes and the big picture for the U.S. stock market. [+] Read More

Chief Equity Strategist at Nuveen, Bob Doll, offers his mid-year outlook for the economy and stock market. [+] Read More