Posts Tagged ‘Harvey Rowen’
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
| September 20, 2011
To Our Valued Clients,
We finished trimming equity allocations last week, as we said we would do in our previous e-mails.
It was a good week for equities, mostly because of positive news out of Europe, but the outlook is still cloudy-at best.
Vivian and I went to a PIMCO conference last week. They are still on the “bumpy road to a new normal” theme, and the new normal is not positive. Their current forecast for the next 3-5 years:
- –One or more members of the European Union will default or restructure their debt, causing dislocations across the financial markets;
- –The United States will deal with its debt problem through a combination of austerity (driven by Congressional Republicans) and inflation (driven by the Fed). Neither is good for the stock and bond markets;
- –The Emerging Countries (led by China, and including India and Brazil), will continue to grow, but at slower rates as they try to contain inflation in their economies.
While PIMCO is not necessarily right, (more…) |
Tags: asset management, economic outlook, equity allocations, Harvey Rowen, Investments, market performance, Portfolio Management, Portfolio Managers, Starmont, Stock Market, Stocks, Vivian Groman, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Client Communications | No Comments »
Monday, September 12th, 2011
September 5, 2011
To Our Valued Clients and Friends,
Welcome back.
Labor Day marks the end of the summer season (even though Autumn does not officially begin until September 23rd). Kids go back to school, or off to college. The baseball season enters its final days, and the football season kicks in. Everyone comes back from vacation, and the pace of life picks up. The weather turns cooler (except that I am predicting a very hot Indian summer here in the Bay Area); swim suits get put away and sweaters and jackets begin to appear.
It has been a full summer for the Starmont community. People got married; people got divorced. Babies were born and others were conceived and are cooking for delivery in other seasons. No one in the Starmont community died, but we have had deaths in the past and expect them in the future. People went away—on trips across the United States; to Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. People stayed home and had staycations. Body and soul were nourished and made ready for whatever is to come.
During the summer the global economy slowed and the U.S. debt rating was lowered from AAA to AA+ for the first time in history. (more…)
Tags: asset management, Congress, Harvey Rowen, market performance, Portfolio Management, Starmont, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Client Communications, The Market | No Comments »
Friday, August 19th, 2011
July 27, 2011
To Our Valued Clients,
With a week to go until the United States government runs out of cash, there is still no resolution concerning the debt ceiling.
I said in an earlier communication (all of which you can find on the Starmont website, www.starmont.com) that Congress would resolve this on August 1, which is this coming Monday. I’m sticking to that, notwithstanding the seeming lack of progress to date.
As things go unresolved, however, some Clients are getting anxious and have decided to hedge themselves against the possibility that the debt ceiling will not be raised. For those Clients we are raising some cash by making sales in their IRA accounts (no capital gains taxes) to raise up to $250,000 per IRA account. We are holding the cash at the Charles Schwab Bank, and $250,000 is the FDIC limit for IRA accounts.
The cash can be used in various ways, depending on what happens with the debt ceiling legislation:
(more…)
Tags: Debt Ceiling, economic outlook, Harvey Rowen, market performance, Starmont, Stock Market
Posted in Blog, Client Communications | No Comments »
Friday, August 19th, 2011
August 4, 2011
To Our Valued Clients,
Global equity markets were pretty ugly today. But since you have a diversified portfolio and bonds are holding their own, and since many of you raised cash in advance of the debt ceiling vote, you did not do nearly as badly as the Dow being down 500 points today would lead you to believe.
Indeed, if you have a portfolio that is 20% in domestic stocks, 12.5% in developed international stocks, 12.5% in emerging markets stocks, 45% in bonds and 10% in cash, your portfolio is down around 2.4% for the day. Not a great day, but not down the 5% represented by the Dow decline.
Why the sell off?
(more…)
Tags: Debt Ceiling, economic outlook, equity allocations, Harvey Rowen, market performance, Starmont, Stock Market
Posted in Blog, Client Communications, The Market | No Comments »
Friday, August 19th, 2011
August 8, 2011
To Our Valued Clients
Another terrible day in the equity markets, with domestic stock market indexes down 5.5%-6.5%, and international stock market indexes down 7.5-8.5%. Bonds are holding their own, and US Treasury bonds actually are going up (even though they have been downgraded).
If you have a portfolio with 50% allocated to stock, your portfolio was down around 3-4% today.
But it really wasn’t the downgrade of the United States debt that was at the root of the decline today. While that action by S&P (the company that graded bonds backed by subprime loans as AA in 2006 and 2007) was the spark, the fire was caused by two factors:
1. The United States economy is weakening and on the verge of another recession; and
2. The United States government is not willing to do anything about it—which Standard & Poor’s commented upon when they issued their downgrade.
(more…)
Tags: Debt Ceiling, economic outlook, equity allocations, Harvey Rowen, market performance, Starmont
Posted in Blog, Client Communications | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
To Our Valued Clients,
We sent to you a week ago an e-mail that included a discussion of what is going on with the debt ceiling legislation under a heading that read, “July Could Be A Volatile Month-Buckle Up.” If you didn’t have a chance to read it, here is a link: http://www.starmont.com/2011/07/market-and-debt-ceiling-update/
Where Are We Now?
The date at which the United States Treasury runs out of cash and could start defaulting on the payment of principal and interest on Treasury bills, notes and bonds is only 15 days away.
No resolution is in sight from the White House and Congress, although there are numerous plans being floated in Washington.
Stock and bond markets have been rather blasé about this until today, when the Dow closed down around 100 points. As the drop dead date of August 2nd gets closer with no resolution, we expect increased volatility in the markets.
Ask just about anyone in the investments business why there has been little interest in this topic and they will say, “It’s all a bunch of political posturing, and by August 2nd they will have raised the debt ceiling.”
Maybe. But maybe not.
And the consequences of Maybe Not could be severe.
We are only speculating, since the United States has never defaulted on its debt in its over 200 year history as a country. But here is what could happen:
(more…)
Tags: asset management, Bonds, Congress, Debt Ceiling, economic outlook, Harvey Rowen, Investments, market performance, Portfolio Management, Starmont, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Client Communications, The Market | No Comments »
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Starmont’s Harvey Rowen and Christine Benz of Morningstar, were quoted by the Associated Press regarding the Debt Ceiling, Congress and Client portfolios.
Click here to see Mark Jewel’s July 14, 2011 article, “7 tips for rebalancing your fund portfolio now” on MSN.Money.com
Tags: asset management, Congress, Debt Ceiling, economic outlook, equity allocations, Harvey Rowen, Investments, Portfolio Management, Starmont, Stock Market, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Starmont In The News, The Market | No Comments »
Monday, July 11th, 2011
To Our Valued Clients and Friends
June started out badly, but rallied at the end of the month and closed only moderately down for the month. (Markets were down for the month, but are up for the year. See below).
The major U.S. stock indexes were down from 1% to 2.5% for the month. The EAFE index (Developed International Markets) was down 1.2%, and the iShares EEM (Emerging International Markets) was down 0.94%. For the year through June 30th, all major domestic and international stock indexes are up, from 8.6% for the DJIA and Russell 2000 (domestic small cap) Growth; to 0.91% for the iShares EEM.
Domestic and international bond indexes were negative for the month, with the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index down 0.45% and the Barclays Capital Global Treasury Ex-US Index down 0.01%. For the year through June 30th these indexes are positive.
Commodities and REITs, both domestic and international, were negative in June, and the commodity index has gone negative for the year.
All Starmont Client portfolios are positive for 2011 through June 30th—with the amount dependent on how their assets are allocated among the various asset groups. So far in 2011 the higher the allocation to equities, the better the portfolio performance. Your First Half Reports will be sent to you later in the month.
July Could Be A Volatile Month—Buckle Up!
(more…)
Tags: asset management, Bonds, Congress, economic outlook, Economy, Harvey Rowen, Interest Rates, Investments, Portfolio Management, U.S. economy, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Client Communications, The Market | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
Click on the link below to see Harvey Rowen on MarketWatch.com discuss the dangers if Congress does not pass the legislation raising the debt ceiling this month.
US Knocking At Debt’s Door
Tags: asset management, Congress, equity allocations, Harvey Rowen, Interest Rates, Investments, market performance, MarketWatch.com, Starmont, Stock Market, Stocks, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Starmont In The News, The Market | No Comments »
Monday, June 27th, 2011
By Vivian Groman, Senior Advisor, Starmont Asset Management, LLC
A typical Starmont event focuses on educating Clients about investing. Several times each year, we host intimate gatherings that feature a fund manager or investment expert in dialogue with clients over lunch or cocktails.
But on June 13, the women of Starmont rocked the house. 40 Starmont Clients and friends met at the Hyatt Embarcadero, in the lingering daylight of a lovely summer evening. We shared a glass of wine, made new friends and talked….not mutual funds but style!
We were under the spell of LA celebrity stylist, Jennifer Butler, who spent nearly two hours teaching us how to express our essence more powerfully, authentically and effectively through style and color.
Jennifer’s approach diverges significantly from the fashion advice we get in magazines or watch on TV. Instead, she teaches how to use clothing and accessories to help express our true essence. By dressing and accessorizing in this way, we appear more congruent and therefore more trustworthy, naturally beautiful and authentic.
(more…)
Tags: asset management, Harvey Rowen, Investments, Portfolio Management, Starmont, Vivian Groman, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Events | No Comments »
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