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Far Above Cayuga’s Waters
by David Wismer of Flexible Plan Investments, 6/10/14
Graduation season is in a bit of a hiatus, with most colleges now having completed their commencement ceremonies and high school commencements are in full swing.

Another kind of “Birdland?”
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 6/4/14
The market bulls have been maintaining their vigil. Stocks have soared over 100% since 2009, but now the bear looms above them.

Where’s Molly?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 5/28/14
It was after midnight. While the sky was clear and the stars were sparkling, there was no moonlight as the moon was new. I walked briskly down the street, but after a long day of sales presentations and meetings, inside I was tired and dragging. On each side of me dark houses loomed. There were no street lights.

Break Away or Break Down?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 5/13/14
After multiple weeks of travel, my family threw a trip-postponed birthday party for me Friday night, but it was really just an excuse to have a family get-together. My 92-year-old mom, brother, sister, niece and nephew were there. My wife set up the party of mostly hamburgers, ice cream and cake, with plenty of birthday cards being given.

Running Backwards to Catch Up
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 4/15/14
Did you ever try to run backwards? I find walking backwards difficult enough. Running in reverse can send you tumbling.

Is This an Andy Hardy Kind of Market?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 4/8/14
With Mickey Rooney?s death over the weekend (at age 93, after accumulating show business credits spanning 10 decades), I got to thinking about the Andy Hardy movie series that propelled Mickey at the ripe old age of 16 into stardom. In the 50?s the TV screen was awash with black and white classics of the 30?s and 40?s. Like the Great Depression generation, many of the baby boomers binged on Andy Hardy movies long before Walking Dead, Breaking Bad or House of Cards.

Investing is Hard
by David Wismer of Flexible Plan Investments, 4/1/14
Or better put, successful investing is hard. So says author, speaker, and CIO Robert Seawright of Madison Avenue Securities in a recent series of ?Investment Belief? columns on his award-winning blog, Above the Market.

A Slip and Fall?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 3/25/14
Despite last week?s vernal equinox, signaling the first day of spring on Thursday, another arctic blast is hitting the Midwest yet again this week, and cabin fever has become an epidemic. So many of my friends and family are singing the same refrain; ?When will this winter be over??

Where's the Plane?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 3/18/14
In another example of life duplicating the media, it seems like most people here and abroad have been consumed by watching a real life episode of Lost for the last week. The question of what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has quickly soared to the opening spot on all of the network news shows, much as Lost and its Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 climbed quickly to the top of the ratings. At CNN it appears that the network of late can report on nothing else!

How Can You Find an Expert Whose Decisions You Can Trust?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 3/11/14
Recently a family member visited the doctor to determine if she needed her gall bladder removed. Since she?d been having some pain, we assumed the answer would be ?yes.? But, of course, we wanted an expert opinion, so we went to a surgeon that has done more than 6,000 removals.

Watch and Wait
by David Wismer of Flexible Plan Investments, 3/6/14
Vladimir Putin?s and Russia?s military action in the Crimea, formally a part of the Ukraine, made it hard to focus on much else Monday. Aside from the obvious and important humanitarian concerns, the military threat carries immense global risk and potentially significant economic consequences.

Investors at the Car Wash?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 2/19/14
It?s been a rough winter, but here in Detroit (and I suspect in your town, too, if it?s been hit by the near constant winter storms this year) you can be assured of one thing ? when the snow stops and the clouds part and sunshine floods the sparkling, newly fallen snow in the fields, while the streets, in contrast, get grayer, then black as soot as the traffic returns ? then, I will bet you, the lines will grow long at your neighborhood carwash.

Coasting?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 2/12/14
This year in the stock market I feel that most investors (and commentators) are focusing on walking the daily, hourly and, perhaps, even second to second ups and downs of the major market indexes. They?re measuring their progress each day, like using the foot-long ruler to measure a coastline. As with most things in life, with the stock market it is often better to get a broader perspective ? see the forest not just the trees. When you do that, it?s apparent that last week was a probable turning point, or at least a notable one.

It Looks Messy Even From a Distance...
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 2/4/14
Im traveling outside the country but I am never far from the latest financial market update. I saw todays market move and with the sluggish start to the New Year in stocks, I thought Id drop you all a line with my thoughts.

Watching the Polar Bear
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 1/29/14
With temperatures hovering around zero and wind chills in the negative teens, I cant think of any better label for Fridays stock market sell off than a "polar bear". Here in Michigan at the Detroit Zoo, one of the nations finest, we have a rather unique polar bear exhibit. Visitors to the zoo can actually walk through tunnels interspersed throughout the polar bear environment created in the exhibit. At one point you are underneath the big furry creatures as they swim about. It is a beautiful sight.

Are Stocks On Thin Ice?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 1/14/14
I love the weather! Just as it is a reliable conversation starter (everyone has an opinion on it), it provides seemingly unlimited analogies to the financial markets for me to write about. Thats because while many attempt to forecast both, the weather and the markets are moved by an endless stream of random events.

Why Resolutions Are Easy to Make...and Hard to Keep
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 12/31/13
Its that time of year again when resolutions are supposed to be made. Typically this is a January 1st task as we face a new year and everything starts over again.

Gaining Perspective
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 12/17/13
This weekend we were honored to have Steve Finn, the owner of our largest custodian, Trust Company of America, and his lovely wife, Kelly, join us for our annual Holiday Party (see more about the party in the "Whats Happening" section). On Sunday, at a post-party brunch, Kelly (who studied art at the International Academy of Art in Nice, France, and at the Brera Art Academy in Milan, Italy and has many years of patient craftsmanship with oil paint and easel) was telling us about how she goes about creating her exquisite paintings.

Is Good News Really Good Again?
by David Wismer of Flexible Plan Investments, 12/10/13
It would be hard to attribute that statement to any one media source or Wall Street analyst, since the sentiment was rampant on Friday after the release of the better-than-expected Nonfarm Payrolls Report. The seasonally adjusted gain of 203,000 jobs in November versus an expectation of around 185,000, and the resultant dip in the unemployment rate to 7.0%, generated a Friday market rally few observers anticipated.

Stormy Weather
by David Wismer of Flexible Plan Investments, 11/5/13
Young and old alike celebrated Halloween last week, albeit in soggy fashion in much of the nation.

Scare Tactics
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 10/17/13
I thought that we still had two and a half weeks until Halloween. Youd never know it from the frightening tales from Washington, D.C. Just as the government shutdown was to have been a near world-ending event, the impending debt ceiling should be named Armageddon II.

Breaking Bad?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 10/1/13
For most of the summer, the speculation was out there. How would it end? (BTW DVR users no spoiler alert necessary for this article.) Which main characters, if any, would survive? TV chat boards were filled with nervousness and lots of guesses.

Where to Draw the Line
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 9/5/13
Just before leaving on my recent road trip, I picked up a new pair of glasses. It was the first new pair in about three years. As many of you are probably aware, I wear (strong) prescription glasses, but you may not realize that the glasses are bifocals.

Surviving a Road Trip
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 8/27/13
The earnings and economic news never seem to quit. And every position, and each action be it buy, sell or hold has commentators and gurus voicing an opinion on every side of the subject. For many investors, it is impossible to sort out the right direction to be heading in, let alone whether you should be on the entrance or the exit ramp for the investments making up your portfolio.

Summer Whale Watching
by David Wismer of Flexible Plan Investments, 8/22/13
One of our familys most memorable and pleasant vacations took place years ago when we visited Cape Cod, Massachusetts for the first time. I thought of this trip in pondering some of the market news this week, where Wall Street was practicing its very own version of whale watching.

The Benefit of the Doubt
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 8/13/13
When I was practicing law (full time for twenty years of my working life), I always had to be aware of the requirements for proof. By the preponderance of the evidence in a civil case, and beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal matter were the standards.

Only a Few Light Showers, So Far
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 7/30/13
Last weeks summer storm warning for the stock market has so far yielded just a few summer showers. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 tumbled, but with stronger-than-expected earnings reports across much of the tech sector, the NASDAQ Index moved higher last week.

More Summer Storms?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 7/23/13
dont know about your part of the country but I think this summer has been the wettest in some time around Detroit. We have had soooo much rain. Our Great Lakes began the year well below their long-term average depth. After months of rain, all of the Great Lakes are now above their levels from last year, and nearby Lake Ontario has gained ten inches in height in just the last month. Ontario is 11? higher than one year ago and 5? ABOVE the century average. Yet its previous below average condition had existed for years and had been worsening quite a change!

The Bernanke Guessing Game
by David Wismer of Flexible Plan Investments, 7/17/13
There can be little doubt that US equity markets have become more dependent than ever, at least in the short-term, on the every utterance of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his fellow FOMC members.

Even My 92- Year-Old Mom Questioned Me!
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 7/12/13
When I told Mom that I was buying gold bullion this week (7/8), she asked, Are you sure you want to do that?

Perspective
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 6/26/13
When you look down the road of life, the items closest in time loom largest and seem most significant. But over a lifetime we learn that while items far away may appear small, they can actually be larger, and much more important.

Predictions
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 6/18/13
Last Tuesday night was a special night. I was having some out of state friends that I had not seen for over a year meet my wife and me for dinner. I picked out an outstanding restaurant with a wide deck perched on the tip of one of Michigans gorgeous fresh water lakes. I got the last table available for the 6:30 p.m. seating.

I Spy
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 6/11/13
Its hard to tell which to be most worried about the Chinese spying on us through their computer hacking or the government spying on us through all our data providers! To paraphrase Jay Lenos remark the other night, Voters said they wanted a government that listened to them now theyve got one!

Perfect
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 5/30/13
Normally, May is a perfect time to visit New York City. The snow is gone, spring is in the air, Broadway readies for its Tony celebration, and people just seem friendlier. While there were plenty of friendly vibes from the populace when I visited on company business last week, and it is a super season on Broadway (Motown and Kinky Boots look to lead the list of new musicals they were terrific), the weather was abysmal cold and very rainy. They even had snow in parts of New York as the weekend began.

Things My Mother Told Me and Some She Didn't
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 5/15/13
Today the phrases Im most likely to hear are very different. A couple of them are well worth heeding. Theyre all well known on Wall Street but they never passed over my mothers lips.

Is Your Investing One Dimensional?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 5/8/13
At the National Association of Active Investment Managers (NAAIM) Uncommon Knowledge Conference in Denver last week, a reporter from Financial Planning magazine asked us, What is active investing? Many confuse the phrase with the simple act of running a mutual fund populated with stock picks within the strict guidelines of a prospectus, as opposed to running an index fund, where the manager simply buys and holds the shares making up a particular stock or bond index.

All That Glitters
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 4/16/13
Gold prices officially fell into bear market territory on Friday. With a 4% decline that day, the current drop in the price of gold from its August 22, 2011 top crossed the negative 20% mark. Today as I write this, the precious metal is down another 10% plus.

Twins
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 4/9/13
Any thoughts that the stock market was going to extend its rally were also shortened last week by a truly horrendous jobs report. In an economy that needs 250,000 new jobs each month just to replace retirees, we only had slightly more than 80,000 in March. The economists expectations were bunched around 200,000, so the disappointment in the air was palpable when the market opened and swiftly sank 150 points on the Dow Industrials.

Finally
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 4/2/13
With a headline like that, I could be talking about my Law School Alma Mater, the University of Michigan, making it back into the Final Four for the first time since 1993 by beating the University of Florida in the NCAA South Regional basketball Finals yesterday. Or it could be the exclamation of most Michiganders with the first sunshine-filled days this weekend since spring had sprung earlier in March (yes, the ice also finished melting on our lake this weekfinally).

Throw the Book at Him
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 3/26/13
On February 2, Ground Hog Day, Punxsutawney Phil failed to see his shadow forecasting, and as legend has it an early spring. Yet on the first day of spring, I looked out my back window at a lake still more than half frozen with my view partially obscured by a wicked little snow flurry. So much for forecasts!

Spring Thaw
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 3/12/13
The first thing you notice when you are landing at Detroit Metro Airport in the winter after two weeks in the Caribbean is whether or not there is snow on the ground. I am pleased to report that other than a few clumps left by the snow plows or swept by the wind into the empty furrows and fenced-in corners of a farmer's field, the six inches that covered everything when I left have largely disappeared.

Lessons Learned
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 3/6/13
The need for taking precautions, preparing for emergencies, having "just-in-case" options, was a much discussed topic...right after the 2000 and 2008 market crashes. Not so much anymore.

Is This Market "For the Birds"?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 2/27/13
Last week, the stock market hit one of those gusts of headwind that seemed to stop the 2013 rally in its tracks and push it backward. When that happens, as it is again today, it is like watching the gull traverse just a few feet in front of us on the beach. What happens in the short run can be progress or retreat.

Nervous Investors Approaching a Trap?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 2/20/13
With the S&P 500 reaching new post-crash highs, it is interesting, to say the least, that most individual investors are not bullish on stocks. Rather, as the market has moved relentlessly higher this year, individual investors have turned more and more bearish.

Is Love in the Air?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 2/12/13
This week includes Valentine's Day, the day millions worldwide exchange cards, letters, candy, flowers and other gifts with the center of their affection. Surely there must be a study of Valentine's Day. But search as I might, I could not find a single study of the influence of this fabled day on our financial markets. I did find one in Australia that dared to show that the chances for an up or down day in their stock market were, what else, 50-50. Could it truly be that we had finally found a seasonal event that was dare I say it random?

Are We There Yet?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 2/5/13
Last week we talked about the numerous commentators urging investors to buy the dips. We pointed out that many of them (unlike many of the Flexible Plan strategies) were under invested during the stock market rally that began last November and thus were simply trying to finally get on the market band wagon.

Taking a Dip?
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 1/30/13
In the cold Midwest in January, the only talk of dips tends to be at Super Bowl parties or during the annual Polar Bear Club celebrations when a few hardy, scantily clad individuals jump into the frigid winter waters. Of course, in the summer those dips are much more inviting, following which a double "dipped" cone from the ice cream parlor has plenty to recommend it. But tune in to any financial news program or pick up your favorite financial read and you'll see that dips are all the rage. In this case, the reference is to "buying on dips."

Breaking Away
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 1/24/13
With the college and the NBA seasons now in full stride, these breakaways are on full display every day of the week and most hours of the day throughout television land. Not to be outdone, the stock market staged its only breakaway last week as it broke out above its post-correction high and scored a new market-rally highpoint. As the chart illustrates, this has been a hard fought victory. The market made the just-broken highs back in September. Since then, uncertainty sustained by an election and impending fiscal cliff had formed a nearly impenetrable defense.

New Ice
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 1/15/13
Last week, the immediate snap-back reversal we were expecting lasted 3 days and then the rebound to new short-term highs that we also spoke about occurred as well. While it is always difficult in the very short term to tell if we are back on track, to me it looks like we remain pointing higher, expecting some short-term dips along the way.

Stock Market Rocket
by Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments, 1/9/13
I know that if you spent any time during the holidays around children eight or older, you probably saw some pretty amazing electronic toys, communication, and entertainment devices. But 50-some years ago one of the best toys in the world was...a rubber band. Today the snap of the rubber band holds a different meaning to me. It symbolizes what I believe has been happening in our stock market.
Results 51–100 of 113 found.