Posts Tagged ‘Investments’
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
Last month Starmont’s Harvey Rowen was interviewed by Servcorp and highlighted in their monthly newsletter! Servcorp is the company Starmont leases their San Francisco office from at 555 California Street. This office has made it much easier for our Clients to meet with us and through Servcorp Starmont has access to offices in Irvine, CA and New York allowing for convenient places for us to meet with Clients on both coasts.
Here is the interview…Harvey shares his personal history as well as his perspective on the advice business – Read on and Enjoy!
| Client Spotlight |
| This month, our feature client is Harvey Rowen. He is the CEO andFounder of Starmont Asset Management. One of the things I most admire about Mr. Rowen is his dedication to his clients. Being an Asset Management company, the economy has been rough on his industry, but he constantly strives to keep all his clients financially secure and happy. Mr. Rowen is currently a full-time Executive Suite client at our 555 California Street center, and working with him has not only been an exciting experience, but he is also someone I can look up to. I asked him some questions so we could get to know him a little better:
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Born, Chicago, Ill. (more…) |
Tags: asset management, Harvey Rowen, Investments, Portfolio Management, Starmont, Stock Market, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Starmont In The News | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
| January 3, 2012
To Our Valued Clients and Friends,
Happy New Year!
May 2012 be a year of peace, happiness, prosperity, and a lot less stress!Starmont spent the last week of December reviewing taxable accounts, and seeking to “harvest losses” by selling positions in those accounts that had losses, so as to offset taxable gains in those accounts. In some cases we were able to eliminate all taxable gains; in most cases we were able to eliminate some but not all of the taxable gains, and in some cases we had no losses in the taxable account to harvest. The end of December is the one time of the year that those of us at Starmont wish we had more losses in our Clients’ taxable accounts.You will be receiving confirmations from Charles Schwab, or e-mail notices from Schwab letting you know that confirmations are available to you on-line, reflecting the sales. We will be e-mailing to Starmont Clients, and to your CPAs, the final Gain/Loss report for all taxable accounts prior to the January 15th due date for final estimated income tax payments for 2011.The sales left large amounts of cash in taxable accounts. (more…) |
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Tags: asset management, Harvey Rowen, Investments, market performance, Starmont, Taxes, Wealth Management
Posted in Asset Allocation, Blog, Client Communications | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
November 28, 2011
To Our Valued Clients
As the attached chart shows, in the past 115 years there have been four secular bull (up) markets in the United States, and four secular bear (down) markets, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA).
A secular bull market is a long term upward trending market, where each successive high point is higher than the previous one.
Conversely a secular bear market is a long term downward trending market, where the trend does not rise above the previous high.
According to the attached chart, the four secular bull markets lasted 43 years in total, while the four secular bear markets lasted 72 years. Yet the cumulative return for the secular bull markets was 1,601.06%, while the cumulative return for the longer lasting secular bear markets was 4.05% (through December 2010). For that reason the DJIA over that period of time has gone from about 50 to over 10,000.
(more…)
Tags: asset management, equity allocations, Harvey Rowen, Investments, market performance, Portfolio Management, Starmont, Stock Market, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Client Communications | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
October 25, 2011
To Our Valued Clients
Here are your Third Quarter Reports.
The Quarter to Forget, an October to Remember (so far)
As we told you in our October 7th e-mail, the third quarter produced the worst results for stocks and bonds since the market meltdown in the Fall of 2008, wiping out 2011 gains and putting returns solidly in the red as of September 30th.
The good news is that October has been a very strong month and returns for 2011 have returned to the black, or are close to it, as I write this in the last week of October. If this week is decent, your Schwab October statements will bring a smile to your face and some joy to your heart.
Europe and Congress: Full of Promise but Resolution Still Elusive
Just as fear of a European meltdown and some troubling economic data about the pace of GDP growth and unemployment caused the terrible third quarter, the belief that European leaders now are serious about solving that problem and some solid U.S. earnings reports and resultant low p/e ratios, have caused the October rally.
In order for the rally to continue (more…)
Tags: asset management, Debt Ceiling, economic outlook, Economy, Harvey Rowen, Investments, market performance, Portfolio Management, Starmont, Stock Market, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Client Communications | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Find Out What’s Driving Your Investment Performance – Has Fear Replaced Reason?
We are experiencing unprecedented volatility in the financial markets. As you watch your investment performance, your stomach may be queasy from what feels like a never-ending rollercoaster ride! And the volatility continues with no apparent reprieve.
Many seasoned market analysts would say that this cycle of volatility is largely driven by headlines and will most certainly end. These analysts think that fundamentals (reasonable analysis), and presumably more predictable times, will once again prevail over the financial markets. Others disagree and claim the market has shifted from what has historically driven performance to what is being called the “new normal,” a normal that most of us will not necessarily like.
Please join us for a discussion with Starmont’s Harvey Rowen and Steve Cassriel, Vice President at Dodge and Cox Funds, a firm which has been investing on behalf of investors like you for over 80 years. Steve will talk about the role of fundamental investing-why and when he thinks fundamentals will prevail and value based investing will once again drive the markets.
See more details below…
WHEN
Conference Call – through your phone or PC with slides
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
12:30 PM TO 1:30 PM (Pacific)
RSVP
To register and receive webinar call-in instructions email Suzanne Monaco at smonaco@starmont.com
(more…)
Tags: asset management, economic outlook, equity allocations, Harvey Rowen, Investments, market performance, Portfolio Managers, Starmont, Stock Market
Posted in Blog, Events | No Comments »
Monday, October 10th, 2011
October 7, 2011
To Our Valued Clients,
The last few years have been very volatile. In reporting to you on where we are today, I thought that it might be helpful to review where we have been over this wild ride, how Starmont has been able to preserve and grow your assets during this time, and what we plan to do going forward.
How We Got To Where We Are
In 2007 Starmont became concerned with the write downs US banks were taking on the mortgage backed bonds they carried on their books. Our concern was that those write downs could lead to failed banks and to a serious disruption in our country’s financial system and markets.
In December 2007 we started to sell down the equity funds held in our Clients’ portfolios. We continued selling through June 2008. We invested the proceeds of the sales primarily in bond funds.
In September 2008 Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America, and the U.S. government “invested” $80 billion in AIG.
The result was a panic in the financial markets, (more…)
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Tags: asset management, economic outlook, equity allocations, financial planning, Harvey Rowen, Investments, market performance, Portfolio Management, Starmont, Stock Market, Wealth Management
Posted in Blog, Client Communications | No Comments »
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 »
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 | 1 Comment »
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