At Woodstock, 85% of our assets under management are in portfolios for which the benchmark is an 80% equity and 20% intermediate bond portfolio. We concentrate our attention on high-quality US equities. The process we go through with every client to assess their comfort with their asset allocation strategy partially involves determining their cash needs over the next twelve to twenty-four months. Does the client have enough liquid resources (cash or cash equivalents) to avoid selling stocks in a down market, if not desired for other reasons? On an individual client basis, it is making sure that liquidity is adequate to avoid making a bad long-term investment decision.

Understanding how safely or precariously one is perched financially is helpful in determining whether to remain calm or panic in a crisis. For those working Americans who expect to receive social security payments at retirement, it is calming to understand the magnitude of the commitment that you are making and will make to yourself under government direction. One example is a husband and wife, both age 45, expecting to receive $2,000 per month at retirement. An insurance company would have to set aside approximately $770,000 to provide the couple with that benefit, as the present value of those delayed payments. You will provide that funding over your working life. It is a substantial achievement.

One of the great desktop admonitions is “eschew obfuscation”.  We interpret that to be a message both to cut needless or unhelpful complexity and to keep it simple.  In that spirit, a recent address caught our eye.  As described in a December 2019 address by the director of the division of investment management at the SEC[1], the regulatory battlefield includes, as general categories, let alone specific sub-groups: finalized rulings, proposed rulings, exemptive orders, and outreach initiatives. 

The S&P 500 Index returned 31.5% in 2019, its best year since 2013, whereas the FTSE All-World Index returned 27.2%, its best year since 2009. The market began 2019 beset by concerns the Fed was tightening monetary policy too aggressively, anticipating additional rate hikes. As the Fed leaned towards incrementally easier policy throughout the year, ultimately cutting interest rates three times, the market went on to make new highs. All eleven sectors of the S&P 500 generated double digit returns, and almost every asset class did well.

Tax Cuts and Growth 

Although the day that all a taxpayer’s owed taxes have to be paid in is still April 15th every year, the “tax season” doesn’t end until the extension deadline around October 15th.  The calendar year end brings the start of a new tax season although actually filing returns won’t start until February 1st.  What state is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in? 

While airplanes themselves and the flight systems that the airlines use to ferry us around the country and around the world are some of the most complicated systems humans have devised, perhaps there are lessons we can learn in dealing with other less complicated systems from their travails.  One commentator on Boeing’s maneuvering control system failure simply states that manufacturers and regulators need to recognize that “many current pilots are simply not up to the standard necessary to operate current systems”.[1]