Articles

Overcoming Fear of Market Loss

By Brendan Roath, EA, CFP® and Rod Roath, CPA, CFP®
Posted by Money Matters, Inc. on March 1, 2022

Fear of investment loss is part of being human. In fact, psychologist Dr. Daniel Kahneman was awarded the Nobel Prize for research that shows – People feel more pain from losing money than enjoyment from gains.

With the market down 8% this year, the natural urge to sell investments now is tempting. In this post, we present fact-based reasons to suppress the thought of selling while the stock market is down.

Posted March 3, 2022

Three-Headed Monster: Political Turmoil, Interest Rates, Inflation

By Brendan Roath, EA, CFP® and Rod Roath, CPA, CFP®
Money Matters, Inc.

The three-headed monster remains after Halloween. For investors, the monster’s three heads represent political uncertainty, interest rate increases, and inflation fears.  Let’s talk above each one.

Posted November 2, 2021

2021 Hopes and Expectations

By Brendan Roath, EA, CFP® and Rod Roath, CPA, CFP®
Money Matters, Inc.

The economy never gives us exactly what we expected. This year was supposed to be a break-out year. Our sky high expectations included heavy travel and entertainment spending, robust consumer spending from stimulus checks, and millions spent to repair road and bridges. Instead, today's reality is reduced travel and entertainment due to the Delta variant, consumers used stimulus checks to reduce debt, and Congressional infrastructure legislation is still pending.

Posted September 28, 2021

10 Reasons to Consider Long-Term Care Insurance

by Brendan Roath, CFP®, EA and Rod Roath, CPA, CFP®
Money Matters, Inc.

#1 - Minnesota’s 2020 average annual costs of care are shown below (Source: Genworth 2020 Cost of Care Survey).

  • Full-time homemaker services ($70,356), full-time home health aide ($75,504), adult day care ($23,754)
  • Assisted living facility ($51,390), nursing home facility-semi-private room ($132,313), private room ($144,303)

Posted September 14, 2021

September Effect

by Brendan Roath, EA, CFP® and Rod Roath, CPA, CFP®
Money Matters, Inc.

Like many stock market axioms, “September Effect” is part truth and part myth. Translated, it means September brings higher volatility and weaker returns.  Some factual basis exists for the claim. September is the only calendar month with a negative average return in the Dow Jones Industrial Index over the last 100 years. However, some believe bad things will happen and stock market returns will drop every September. Will the September Effect reoccur this month? We look at both “Yes” and “No” answers.

Posted September 12, 2021