Tom Fee and Jason discuss the personal and economic considerations of buying a second home. The goal is to own the home and not have it own you. Duration, location, and mortgage rates all play a part.

It is time to acknowledge what has been in place for some time. I am pleased to announce that Sharon Calhoun has accepted the role of CEO and Managing Director of Vector Wealth Management. -Tom

This quarter, the number of guidance announcements to date is about half of the typical amount. This lack of guidance means there are more “assumptions” being made on where earnings will land, which financial markets dislike, and can ultimately lead to an increase in volatility.

Recent stimulus plans have been designed to increase confidence through words but also through actions of adding money to the economy. M2 money stock, which is a broad measure of the money supply in the economy leaped in recent months. Leaped is possibly an understatement, a chart of M2 now looks like the left-hand side of the Eifel Tower.

The economy and financial markets rarely move in lockstep, especially in the short term. This decoupled nature has long been the case, possibly never more apparent than during the past 90 days.

There are no certainties in how the financial markets will perform in any given year. Regardless of background conditions: market valuations, presidential election years, or who won the Super Bowl, the performance of the market in any given year can vary dramatically.

By now, you may have heard of the stock market recovery taking the shape of numerous letters of the alphabet. Commonly used is the V-shaped recovery. The “V” is represented through a swift decline followed by a swift increase once the inevitable bottom is reached. There are many more shapes being discussed this time around, including; U (decline followed by a flat period before recovery), W, L, and in some cases, the square root sign √. Perhaps you have heard of others?