As we settle into the week ahead, we find ourselves thinking about our daily routine, which has been upended by the current shelter-in-place situation. We share our perspective on the disorienting task of creating and working from the home office.
The unprecedented reaction to the current global health threat has thrown the community and the financial markets off balance. In this update, we look at how this affects our investment approach and long-term strategy.
Q4 2019 Market Commentary
Is the stock market 'super-saturated'? What happens next? We explore how current policy conditions create risk, and, counterintuitively, how feelings of concern about market, social, and environmental risks can pave the way to a stronger economy and future growth.
North Berkeley is excited to announce the addition of two new advisors to our team! Joining us are lead advisor, Sarah Green, CFP® and associate advisor, Jena Regan, CFP®.
For our Q3 mid-quarter commentary, partners Kate Campbell King, CFP® and Brian Kozel, CFP® sat down to discuss the current state of the financial markets and the firm's approach to managing client portfolios.
Your time is valuable, and your life choices are worth determining on your own. It is important to understand the "costs" of work so you can better balance the financial "net" you get with your personal satisfaction in the job.
What is your personal legacy? We believe that it is comprised of both financial assets and your personal history, vision and values. Join us for an informative seminar on how to plan your legacy.
Q2 2018 Market Commentary
Trade tensions have proven quite real over the last three months and continue to dominate headlines. Market price volatility continues apace as well, affected by concerns not only about trade but also rising interest rates and energy prices.
Q1 2018 Market Commentary
Like the ebb and flow of the tide, we saw markets rush upward in January only to see them retreat back in February and March. We have also seen a few historically large single-day declines, only to see a big rebound a few days later. The primary reason given for this volatility has been broad concern about tariffs and a looming trade war with China.
We have an almost incomprehensible amount of information at our fingertips. Making use of that information is another thing entirely. In personal finance, like many other aspects of life, asking the right question is the essential element in decision making.
Faith and hope can take many forms. Belief in “big data" makes it easy to think that if you have enough hard data, the truth will emerge. We see this regularly when people expect there to be a simple, technical answer to how much money they need to retire.
Q3 2017 Market Commentary
Investing, like many aspects of our lives in 2017, has become global. The world has shrunk in ways that Ferdinand Magellan could never have imagined.
Q2 2017 Market Commentary
Since the Trump presidency began, we have watched the words out of Washington, DC with anxiety and rapt attention as well. There the gridlock is of a different sort. Both the House and Senate will (likely) be in recess for the month of August, but political infighting has prevented Republican lawmakers from moving forward with any sort of legislative agenda...
Join us for a discussion on our new carbon conscious portfolios and the benefits and challenges of building investment strategies that are divested from fossil fuel extraction without sacrificing return performance or proper diversification.
Join us for a unique and interactive discussion of personal, estate and tax planning with a complex client case study. We strive to create an integrated experience for the clients we share with other professionals. Every case is different, and yet every case yields insights that apply to other situations. This case highlights the process of selecting estate planning strategies for a client with significant net worth ($35M), challenges encountered putting elements of the plan into place, as well as positive and negative outcomes.
Q1 2017 Market Commentary
The world feels in flux. Changes at the helm of political ships at home and abroad appear to be steering in precarious directions. But, simultaneously, we’re observing a positive and growing tidal shift at various investment conferences that is bringing ESG investing to the foreground.
Q4 2016 Market Commentary
As we write to you on the eve of the 45th President of the United States taking the Oath of Office, many in this country are looking ahead with bewilderment or trepidation that the incoming President will actually keep his campaign promises. The President's supporters, however, are counting on his promise to return this country to some sort of golden era – the "good ole days".
Q3 2016 Market Commentary
Conventional wisdom tells us that, as investors, we should be focused on the long term. But what does that mean exactly: five years, ten years, longer? The answer generally is – it depends. Since "it depends" is about as satisfying of an answer as a parent saying "because I said so" we have decided to look at three underlying questions about being a long-term investor.
Q2 2016 Market Commentary
Following the referendum -- commonly referred to as ‘Brexit’ -- the global stock markets fell by roughly 5% over two dramatic days, and then recovered all of those losses as cooler heads prevailed over the next 3 days. In our view this brings two things into focus:
Q1 2016 Market Commentary
Decade after decade over the last hundred years we experienced what is now often referred to as a "normalized interest rate environment" offering a real return (beyond inflation) with very little risk of principal. You may have taken for granted at the time that cash in a money market “should” earn 3% – or even 4% to 5% – because in the thirty years leading up to the mid-2000’s, it generally did.