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BlackRock Checks-In on European Risk & The Week in Review

Posted by WrapManager's Investment Policy Committee

September 27, 2018

BlackRock Checks-In on European Risk & The Week in Review

A Check-in on European Risk

Fears of a fiscal showdown between Italy’s new government and the European Union (EU) have roiled Italian assets this year – and renewed concerns about EU cohesion. How worried are we? We see a limited risk of near-term flare-ups but are skeptical about the Italian government’s commitment to fiscal discipline and Europe’s ability to cope with the next downturn. We see better risk-return tradeoffs in non-EU assets.

Italian assets have taken a hit this year. The selloff was sparked by fears that Italy’s populist government would breach the EU’s key budget deficit limit of 3% of gross domestic product (GDP), as the two major parties in the new governing coalition had vowed to cut taxes and boost welfare spending in their campaign. Italian 10-year government bond yields spiked after the March election, while local stocks fell. See the chart above. Italian assets have recouped some losses recently, only after Rome repeatedly assured it would respect EU rules in its soon-to-be released budget. We see scope for a further recovery in Italian asset prices, but do not see them returning to pre-election levels anytime soon. Why? A number of structural factors are weighing down both Italian and European assets. This helps explain why European stocks have underperformed other global developed markets in 2018.

BlackRock's Budget Base Case

Lord Abbett Shares Reminders on October Deadlines for Retirement Planning

September 20, 2018

If you miss or ignore any of these important, applicable dates, you could hurt your retirement finances. As summer comes to an end, don’t forget that October ushers in some critical deadlines—some of which carry penalties. To learn more about these deadlines and the dates to put on your calendar, read on. Also note that while this is not IRA-specific, October 15 is generally the last day to file an individual income tax return that’s on extension. October 1—Simple IRA Establishment This is the last date in which an employer can establish a SIMPLE IRA plan, effective for 2018. Those plans established after October 1 would not be effective until January 1, 2019, at the earliest. Notably, an exception applies for a newly established business. If you’re a new employer that started your business after October 1, you can establish a SIMPLE IRA plan for the plan year by the end of the same calendar year as soon as administratively feasible after your business came into existence. [+] Read More

4 Ways the New Tax Law Can Reduce Your 2018 Taxable Income

September 19, 2018

A recent survey from the American Institute of CPAs found that 63% of individuals who either have $250,000 in investable assets and/or $200,000 in household income were likely to tweak 2018 financial planning strategies as a result of the new tax law. Most of the respondents indicated that ‘tweaking’ their financial plans would be in an effort to reduce taxable income, and the 2018 Tax Cut and Jobs Act offers a few new methods to do just that.¹ Here are four: Lump Your Charitable Contributions Together – in the new tax law, the charitable giving deduction has remained in place for taxpayers who itemize. The thing is, however, that many taxpayers are expected to take the standard deduction in 2018 instead of itemizing, since it has jumped to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples. One method to get over the standard deduction, however, would be what many CPAs call “bunching,” or making a few years’ worth of charitable donations in a single year. That way, you could itemize your deductions in one year, and perhaps take the standard deduction the next. [+] Read More

Investing When the Market is at an All-Time High

September 18, 2018

Should You Be Concerned About the Height of the Market? US equity markets have been trading at or near all-time highs recently as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both reached new highs multiple times in August.1 This news has led some skeptics to believe that a US stock market at a record high level could be a cause for concern. Does reaching an all-time high mean that the market is more likely to decline in the near future? After all, reaching an all-time high means we could be at the peak of the market and we could now be poised for a sell-off. Before we get too caught up in the hype though, let’s take a look back at what market highs have shown historically. Looking at the month-by-month returns of the S&P 500 (including dividends) from 1900 through July 2018, 276 of all months in this time period ended at all-time highs as compared to the monthly close of all previous months.2 Interestingly enough, of these 275 months ending at all-time highs prior to July 2018, 258 of them, or 93.8%, were followed by at least one new month-end all-time high at some point in the next year. 98.2% of all-time highs were followed by at least one new all-time high within the next 5 years and 99.3% of all-time highs were followed by at least one new all-time high within the next 10 years. [+] Read More

How Should You Handle Roth IRA, HSA, and 401k Savings? – Doug’s Quiz Corner

September 14, 2018

Saving for Retirement and Potential Health Care Costs Your friend Jody has recently started a new job and she has several options for saving for her retirement and future health care costs. Jody’s new employer offers a 401(k) with a match of up to 3% of her salary. They also offer a Health Savings Account (HSA) option. Jody lives in a state that does not tax withdrawals from HSAs for qualified medical expenses and contributions to HSAs may be deducted from taxable income for state income tax purposes. In addition, Jody also has a Roth IRA which she is using to save for her retirement. Jody is in very good health and would prefer to have a health plan that limited her upfront health care costs while allowing her to save for future expenses. She is comfortable with a high deductible plan. She is financially secure and doesn’t plan on touching the money in her Roth IRA until retirement. Assume Jody meets the eligibility requirements to participate in her employers 401(k) program, enroll in a Health Saving Account, and simultaneously has enough to contribute to a Roth IRA. [+] Read More

Nuveen Sees Economic Growth Picking Up, Believes It Should Help Stock Prices

September 13, 2018

Trade issues may continue to cause trouble but shouldn’t derail the bull market or end the economic expansion. Investor sentiment was mixed last week. Negatives included concerns about market liquidity, sparked by the rising value of the U.S. dollar and fears of contagion from some emerging markets. Ongoing trade issues also posed a general concern, particularly fears surrounding a potential new round of U.S./Chinese tariffs. On the positive side, investors focused on strong U.S. economic data that pointed to accelerating growth. The negatives won in the end, as the S&P 500 Index fell 1% for the week, after rising during eight of the nine previous trading weeks. Liquidity Concerns Appear Overstated Some investors are growing more concerned about shrinking liquidity as the Federal Reserve raises rates and shrinks its balance sheet, the value of the dollar climbs and select emerging markets such as Turkey and Argentina experience currency crises. Of all of these factors, we are most concerned about the rising dollar. The increase is not overly problematic by itself, but we would be more worried if interest rates were higher and rising more quickly and/or if economic growth were decelerating. On balance, we recognize that market liquidity is growing more constrained and the current economic cycle and equity bull market are in their later stages. But we believe such concerns are overwrought. The global banking system remains healthy and global monetary policy is still relatively easy, which suggests that a liquidity squeeze isn’t in the cards. [+] Read More

Investing Isn’t Always About Retirement Planning

September 5, 2018

When we talk about saving and investing for the future, the conversation usually steers quickly towards retirement planning – IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions, Roth IRAs, and so on. After all, retirement is when all of your careful saving, well-intentioned investing, and hard work pays off. It’s when you’re finally supposed to be able to live the good life. But investing isn’t always about retirement planning. Nor should it be. While it’s true that many people share the same goal of retiring with financial security, there are myriad of other life goals that require careful saving, planning, and investment returns. J.P. Morgan Asset Management created a graphic that effectively illustrates this point: [+] Read More

Should You Invest Your Entire Investment Portfolio in a Single Management Strategy?

September 4, 2018

We’ve all heard the term “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. Of course, this concept can be easily applied to investing. Many sophisticated investors understand that investing in only one stock, or only one asset class, or only one anything is risky. However, the question of whether or not you should invest in just one money manager is rarely directly addressed. A key objective of diversified investing is to build a portfolio that is spread across multiple asset classes in an effort to lower the overall volatility of the portfolio. If you invest your entire portfolio in one single stock it’s clear that your entire portfolio will be tied to the fortunes, and therefore risk of that one company. Adding additional investments to the portfolio can lower the overall volatility and risk of the portfolio, especially if you are adding additional holdings with low correlations to one another. In other words, if your portfolio zigs, you want to add something that zags to get the most effective diversification benefit. To take this further, if your portfolio is made up entirely of one large cap telecom stock, adding a second and third large cap telecom stock may give you little in the way diversification benefit if each of these companies have similar factors that drive their returns. Ideally, a portfolio will be well diversified among different sectors. That way, if one sector is performing poorly, this poor performance may be offset by other sectors with stronger performance. Likewise, geographical diversification is important to help mitigate the impact of a poorly performing market. [+] Read More

Nuveen Sees Investors Looking Past Risks to Bid Stocks to New Highs

August 30, 2018

We see threats to equities, but we don't believe this bull market is over. Last week featured multiple negative political headlines for President Donald Trump that questioned the stability of his administration. The news was also dominated by signs of increased trade tensions between the U.S. and China, as well as statements from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that interest rate hikes were likely to continue. Despite the noise, however, investors continued moving money into stocks, causing the current bull market to become the longest in history and the S&P 500 Index to reach new record highs by the end of last week. It is natural to ask what risks will likely cause the bull market to end, as equity prices again reach new highs and the roller coaster action that has dominated markets since February appears to be over (at least for now). Rising protectionism appears to be the biggest theat. From a rational perspective, we think this risk should fade since trade restrictions are ultimately a lose-lose proposition. And the United States appears more willing to negotiate than President Trump’s tough rhetoric would indicate. Trade uncertainty remains a wildcard, but we still believe that an all-out trade war is unlikely. [+] Read More

How to Successfully Roll Over Your 401(k)

August 29, 2018

When a person leaves a job to retire or to join another employer, there are often decisions about what to do with your 401(k). Should you leave it where it is, and just not mess with it? Should you roll it over to your new employer’s plan? Should you roll it into an IRA? Those three questions, in fact, present three distinct options for an investor to potentially choose from. In this post, we’ll examine each option, detail the pros and cons, and in the process, hope to provide you a road map for how to successfully manage your 401(k). After all, there’s no reason for an investor to not do something with their 401(k) because it just seems too hard to move without incurring penalties. Our biggest suggestion though is that – unless it’s absolutely necessary – you resist the temptation to cash out. Cashing out of a 401(k) and taking it as a distribution means potentially incurring a sizable tax burden, and if you are under the age of 59 ½ your distribution will also be subject to an early distribution penalty of 10% unless an exemption (such as medical costs) exists. [+] Read More