Skip to main content

Schmolke Investment Team

Blog

Scams

February 2, 2024
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/scam-artists-are-masquerading-as-financial-advisors--finra-warns-76108.html?section=43&utm_source=CFPN+Everyone&utm_campaign=0b987694af-FAN_Top+Stories_John+Hancock+2%2F7_012024+GTG&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-d243892a4b-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D Scams. This world is full of them. There are people out there who have no moral qualms about taking from others who have worked and giving nothing in return. They profit from people’s good nature or from
View More

America is Doing Fine

January 19, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEIuG4p0Jnc Here comes another one. Please hit that link and watch the video. As he says at the end, we, as Americans, need a sense of perspective. I firmly believe we are in better shape now as a country than we ever have been. Do we have problems? Yes we do. We have infighting, mainly because of political polarization. That has a deeper meaning though that many people don’t take into account.If we are able to fight about petty things, then things are
View More

The World is not that Bad

January 11, 2024
https://time.com/6550576/13-ways-the-world-got-better-in-2023/ You most likely won’t see many positive things coming out of the media this year, what with the presidential election and all the negative ads that will be generated against each of the candidates. This is something I was happy to see and feel like it needs to be seen by everyone. The world IS NOT THAT BAD. Are there bad things? Yes. Do we have problems? Yes. We also have problem solvers, we have good people out there. Bad
View More

Changes

January 3, 2024
Change. Many people are scared of it. Even so, it is something that is inevitable in life. This is the first official business day of the New Year (at least in my industry), so what better time to think about what the New Year is going to bring. In my business, and I will keep this short because it’s boring, the Federal Reserve has indicated that they are going to lower the Federal Funds rate (we call it the interest rate) at least three times over the year. When the Fed does this, that is
View More

Nuclear Fusion

December 14, 2022
I am not even going to begin to act like I understand the science behind this. I am a finance guy, not a nuclear physicist. But his breakthrough will be huge not only for markets and even countries, but the entirety of humanity. If and when nuclear fusion is realized as a power source, coal and oil will go by the wayside. Even the clean energy we use to a lesser degree now will probably be used marginally, like it is now, but not in the amount people have been predicting. 
View More

The Taboo Subject of Pay

November 3, 2022
Pay. Let’s talk about pay for a minute. To an employee, it is the most important aspect of a job. To the employer it is as well, just not for the same reason. It is also a taboo subject to speak about. So much so that some employers have policies against talking about it and will threaten disciplinary action against anyone they find speaking about it. But why shouldn’t we talk about pay? I mean it is the REASON we go to work. We need to make money to participate in society. So should
View More

Video: The Happy Secret to Better Work

October 24, 2022
     
View More

Tax Changes for 2023

October 21, 2022
At least I get to deliver some marginally good news today. The IRS is going to be raising the  Standard Deduction on Americans' personal income taxes as well as the thresholds for the different tax brackets. They are calling it an inflation adjustment. 
View More

Making Friends as an Adult

October 13, 2022
Today we are going to get away from the financial news. The doom and gloom you read and watch there is relevant, but it's not good for anyone's mental health. Sometimes it's nice to see things that are informative and not telling you the that the world has gone to the dogs.  I want to talk about something that has been a topic of a few conversations I have had recently, and that is making friends as an adult. Making friends is hard. Even as kid it is relatively hard, partic
View More

Guest Article: Is The Market Crashing?

January 26, 2022
The article below in a nutshell: This is normal market activity, the Fed is talking (seriously, this time) of raising interest rates to combat inflation.  When rates rise, usually the equities (stock) market will take a temporary hit.Market swings of 10-15% in any given year are totally normal and when we are talking about the DJIA being at ~35,000, 10-15% of that is a drop of 3,500 to 5,250. If you have any questions or concerns about your investments or financial situation, call us, we wo
View More

Christmas & Supply Chain Woes

October 15, 2021
 It seems like there is a shortage of everything these days and no one knows how to fix this. There are a lot of reasons one can come up with to try to ascertain why that is. The first, most obvious reason, is COVID. The economy was shut down last year and people were out of work for a while (some still are even now, more on that later). There are governments in the world (and this country) that are still making COVID related mandates which further hurt economies. There are still dozens of
View More

First Trust: S&P 500 to 5,000

September 1, 2021
The economist we follow very closely, Brian Westbury
View More

First Trust: S&P 500 to 5,000

September 1, 2021
The economist we follow very closely, Brian Westbury
View More

A Look at Cryptocurrencies

July 1, 2021
For those of you who have been unplugged from the world for the last couple of years, there has been a new entrant into the investing scene: Cryptocurrencies. Here I take a look at what they are and why people are investing in them.
View More

FIRE Movement

June 25, 2021
FIRE MovementSomething I have been recently hearing about more and more often is the FIRE movement.  Many people in my age cohort have been either getting into or working their way into this extreme saving financial plan.  FIRE is an acronym for Financial Independence, Retire Early.  It is exactly what it sounds like: Dedicating a very high percentage of income to savings/investments in order to retire from a traditional job before “retirement age”.  I put retirem
View More

2020 In Review

February 9, 2021
2020 In Review Now that 2020 is in the books, we would like to take a moment to give thanks for your business and for your trust in managing your wealth. The pandemic has caused all of us a challenging year in many regards and also for us overseeing investments, as we’ve seen the investment markets gyrate up and down during 2020. Schmolke Investment Team is highly skilled at dealing with all the market turmoil, market rotation, politics, corporate earnings, pandemics, indicators and a
View More

The Biggest Threat to America

November 10, 2020
THE BIGGEST THREAT TO AMERICA Throughout history, journalists and the media have been our first line of defense to hold business moguls, government agencies, military leaders, academics, cultural figures, and especially politicians accountable for their actions. We entrust our politicians to represent all Americans fairly and honestly. We also trust that they are honest and have integrity, but greed and power can be an aphrodisiac. No one from either political party or the media flinch
View More

A Youtube Video About What I Do.

October 16, 2020
This is a link to a YouTube video that introduces Brian and the Schmolke Investment Team.  Take a look!  Special thanks to Philip Brocato and Fred Ruggles.Link
View More

Mid Year Update

August 10, 2020
The Mid Year Update
View More

2020 Economic Coma

April 28, 2020
THE 2020 ECONOMIC COMAApril 2020 UPDATEAs the famous writer, Charles Dickens wrote in his book, The Tale of Two Cities... “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, and we are clearly in an unprecedented time. Our country has never shut down its economic engine like we recently have due to the worldwide Coronavirus epidemic. We call this the self-induced 2020 Economic Coma.Most Americans are being asked to “Shelter at Home” and to keep social distancing of 6-f
View More

The Corona Correction

March 25, 2020
The Corona Correction In over 35 years in the investment management business, this is the first time we have seen an event like this medical crisis, plus we can’t find anything in history of any similarity. So, this Coronavirus epidemic and its effect on the investment markets is truly an anomaly. Although this is the case, our experience has given us some unique tools and perspectives that we would like to share.We are certain that you all have been tied to the news/media networks to
View More

Fear is the Media's Agenda

March 5, 2020
“Fear Is The Media’s Agenda But It’s Not a Good Investment Strategy”   The investment markets run off a lot of components and influences like market indicators and trends that we’ve covered in past articles, but emotions, especially fear, are the great unknown. The recent Coronavirus outbreak has caused a lot of angst and fear in the investment markets (in our opinion), mainly due to the unknown effects this virus will have on global commerce and that there is
View More

2020 Annual Forecast

January 23, 2020
Rational Investing During Uncertain Times2020 Annual ForecastAnother year has passed, and have you noticed they seem to pass by quicker each year? In the meantime, the investment markets marched on but were somewhat deceiving during 2019. Although the markets pretty much followed the line we predicted, there was a lot of volatility. The last quarter of 2018 was down around 15% but 2019 was up substantially and performance was solid despite all the chatter.If you’ve been around us for any t
View More

2019 Mid Year Update

August 27, 2019
Schmolke Investment Team’s 2019 Mid-Year Market Outlook
View More

2019 1st Quarter Market Update

April 10, 2019
Schmolke Investment Team 1st Quarter Market Update
View More

Lessons to Teach Your Kids for Financial Literacy Month

April 3, 2019
April is Financial Literacy Month.  
View More

2019 market Predictions

January 25, 2019
2019 Market Predictions It's that time of year again to give you, our clients, the Schmolke Investment Team's thoughts on the markets and our perceived direction in the coming year, especially after what has been going on during the last quarter of 2018.
View More