US Manufacturing Still Expanding According to New Data... BarelyBy Victor Schramm, CFS® An important indicator of the U.S. Manufacturing Sector fell at an unexpected rate this week. The ISM Markit Purchasing Managers Index (or PMI) hit a 116 week low, clocking in 50.6 compared to last month's 52.6 If that doesn't mean a whole lot [...]
By Victor Schramm, CFS®, AIF®Of Faith & Finance: How Belief Shapes Sound Investment Strategy What role should religion play in investing? As an Investment Advisor deeply involved in Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), it's a question I'm asked often. After all, what could be more mundane and worldly than finance? Is there a way to harmonize [...]
By Victor Schramm, CFS®Midwestern Farmers Facing Unintended Tariff Consequences I haven't been a fan of the so-called Trade Wars of the current administration. I've also been an analyst willing to conceded that at various key moments in the US-China trade confrontation, the United States has appeared to be "winning." One reason I've opposed the Trade Wars [...]
The Fed Says the Economy's Still Expanding The Federal Reserve publishes a "soft" data report on the state of the United States economy 8 times a year based on anecdotal evidence known as the "Beige Book." In its most recent March 6th update, the Fed concluded "Economic activity continued to expand in late January and [...]
Asia Pacific ETF's Have Very Different Portfolio Compositions The top ETF's in this sector are taking very different stances on weightings of various countries. I wrote my earliest review of this segment in 2017, and this is an update to that story for the Spring of 2019. Interestingly, the field of top competitors has become [...]
Inherited IRA's America is currently at the beginning of the greatest wealth transfer in human history. 1 Increasing numbers of young people will be inheriting Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA’s) from parents and grandparents, as the past decades have seen Americans relying more on their individual savings and investments. As anyone with an inherited IRA knows, they [...]
