WrapManager's Wealth Management Blog

One of the many aspects of WrapManager that I love so much is the diversity of our clients from a geographic standpoint. We have clients all over the country. Given that WrapManager is headquartered in San Francisco, however, we do not have the opportunity to see a lot of our clients in person as much as we would like. Because of this WrapManager has always strived to be at the forefront from a technology standpoint, especially when it comes to services like Go to Meeting or Join Me, to allow us to bring our clients onto our computers for quarterly reviews. I commonly say that using a service like Join Me allows a client to feel like they are looking over my shoulder at my computer screen together with me. We have local clients that even prefer to utilize this technology during our quarterly reviews because it allows them to see our screen comfortable in their own home. [+] Read More

No matter what your political views on the Affordable Care Act, it is at least agreeable that the new law is changing the nature and structure of healthcare in this country – who is eligible (everyone), how it gets paid for, how insurance companies and hospitals negotiate rates, and so on. If you’re a doctor reading this article, then you know first-hand how the new law has changed the way you do business, and you might even be anticipating more changes in the future. Do one or all three of the situations below apply to you? Quality metrics put in place under the Affordable Care Act are taking up an increasing share of your time, detracting from the amount of time you can spend seeing patients (making more revenue) and attending to your personal matters (like your finances)1 [+] Read More

ClearBridge Investment's Peter Bourbeau and Margaret Vitrano provide their perspective on the second quarter discussing their large cap growth portfolios.  "As with stocks, the U.S. economy continued its slow march forward through the second quarter. Employment continued to lead the way, with payrolls increasing by an average of 221,000 per month, and the unemployment rate declining to 5.3%, its lowest level since April 2008. Consumer spending and new and existing home sales showed healthy improvement in May, while consumer confidence bounced back late in the quarter. The CEO of a major retailer we spoke with during the quarter indicated that consumers are now feeling good enough about their finances to expand purchases from basic staples to higher-priced apparel and home furnishings. Offsetting those gains were disappointing reports on GDP growth, with the final revision to first-quarter data showing that the economy contracted by 0.2% in the three months of the year, as well as industrial production. [+] Read More

The last few years have been fairly “steady as she goes” for the U.S. stock market—the bull market had gone over 1,400 calendar days without a 10% correction, which marked the third longest such streak in half a century.1 But that changed very quickly from August 18 – 25, when the market fell over 11% in just six trading days.2 The steepness of the drop and its rapid onset left many investors concerned, perhaps even wondering if this was the beginning of another prolonged downturn like 2008. If you’re considering making changes to your portfolio out of concern over the volatility, or for one of the four reasons below, we’d encourage you to take a moment to gain some perspective before making a big change. If your long-term goals have not changed, but you are considering making significant changes to your asset allocation, there is a chance emotion may be getting in the way. [+] Read More

Cambiar Investor's Q2 2015 market commentary discusses China, interest rates, and what it all means so far this year.  "The Waiting Game Financial market returns were quiet in the second quarter, seemingly waiting for some kind of definitive signal that never arrived. The S&P 500 Index, MSCI EAFE Index, and MSCI Emerging Markets Index were each essentially flat for the quarter, with relatively limited volatility. The former two had each about a 3% gain going into the last 10 days of the quarter, but surrendered their gains as Greece threatened (for the fifth time in as many years) an uncontrolled debt default and exit from the Euro system. The Greek's gamesmanship was once again cauterized by international financial agencies only after the Greeks were very bluntly threatened back with the same medicine. This suggests that European authorities are no longer concerned that a Greek Eurozone exit would be a systemically destabilizing event. [+] Read More

Back in 2013, we wrote about the differences between Medicare Parts A and B, as well as supplementary coverage options to help readers with their retirement planning. Given recent legislative changes to Medicare, we feel it’s time to revisit the topic. Discussing medical costs and coverage with your financial advisor is wise because medical costs can constitute a sizable portion of post-retirement budgets. As changes are made to programs like Medicare, it’s important to stay abreast of developments and integrate changes in to your wealth planning strategy. One of the difficult aspects of planning for the future is trying to anticipate unknowns such as medical costs. You never know if you’ll enjoy perfect health in the coming year or if you’ll find yourself at the doctor’s office frequently. Insurance like Medicare helps to temper the risk of the unknown, but you should still be prepared for out-of-pocket costs. [+] Read More

Brookmont Capital's Dividend Equity Strategy provides their Second Quarter report covering perspective on foreign markets, more assumptions on interest rates and how they positioned their portfolio in response.  “The markets struggled to move higher during the second quarter due to a conflux of bad news from foreign markets and earnings disappointments from several domestic companies. The markets took their biggest hit during the month of June as fears about Greece, China’s economy, and second quarter earnings announcements led to widespread sales activity.  The Dividend Equity Strategy was repositioned during the second quarter in anticipation of increasing risk in the equity markets. Valuations were becoming stretched based on expected earnings growth and consensus assumptions that the Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates during the second half of the year.  During the second quarter we reduced our position in mid-cap stocks by 50% and now represent only 16% of the portfolio. This is our lowest weighting in small and mid-cap stocks since early 2009. This market sector outperforms during the early stages of an economic recovery and has historically underperformed when interest rates rise and the market cycle has peaked.  [+] Read More

We recently wrote a post addressing volatility in China – in just one months’ time (mid-June to mid-July), the market there lost one third of its value.1 The wild swing in Chinese equities did not necessarily send shock waves through the global markets (which remain slightly positive on the year), but it did effectively raise eyebrows amongst investors curious if the downside volatility could be contagious. They might have a point. If you consider the ongoing Greece sovereign debt crisis, the persistent geopolitical threat posed by ISIS, concern over slowing growth rates in China, and the relative calm in the domestic equities markets (S&P 500) over the last few years, it feels like there could be an opening for increased volatility. Taking a look at the chart below, you can see that from 2012 – 2014, the market has had very few 5+% pullbacks, which draws a sharp contrast to the previous three years and to history in general. Indeed, moderate pullbacks happen frequently even in normal times. [+] Read More

Eagle Asset Management's Richard Skeppstrom provides his colorful perspective on the recent market events including Greece, China and his candid friends. “Confused situation, imperfect advice One of my closest friends reached out to me on Father’s Day to say he thinks I am a better father than stock-picker. I was touched. And then more recently, another very dear friend said he enjoyed my writing but wished I’d say something. Lovely friends. Most folks just don’t care enough to give you such thinly veiled criticisms. [+] Read More