Seth is back with this year’s first installment of “What’s New(s)?” highlighting the topics that he’s following closely which might have an impact on you, as well as some others that he thinks you might find interesting or fun.
Ben Carlson, an investment professional and author of the fantastic blog “A Wealth of Common Sense”, updates his own asset allocation quilt each year and 2022 has been published! The asset allocation quilt is intended to show how the performance of different asset classes can deviate year-to-year, further highlighting the benefits of diversification. Here’s the quilt for 2022 and a few takeaways:
2022 was not a great year for the markets. It was the first year since 2018 that only two asset classes had positive returns.
Diversification helped. Small cap, mid cap, and international equities finally outperformed large cap!
Bonds did not help. This was the worst year for bonds in the past 10 years.
In his 1973 book “A Random Walk Down Wall Street” Burton Malkiel wrote that “a blindfolded chimpanzee throwing darts at the stock listings can select a portfolio that perform as well as those managed by experts”. 50 years later he is doubling down saying he believes the hypothesis even more strongly now – time after time the data has proved it. Be on the lookout for the 50th anniversary edition of A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Best Investment Guide That Money Can Buy.
SmartAsset produced a report ranking the 15 states where the top 1% are richest. Rounding out the top 5:
- California
- New York
- New Jersey
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut
Think ChatGPT might replace financial advisors/investment managers? Based on this recent exercise it might be a few more years before that materializes… At least ChatGPT recognizes the futility in trying to outperform the market!
Black Panther star, Chadwick Boseman, tragically passed away at age 43 after a battle with colon cancer. It was reported that his estate was valued at roughly $3.8MM at his passing. He passed away without having an estate plan in order and the probate court/his attorneys took matters into their own hands. After court fees, legal fees, probate fees, there was only ~$2.3MM to distribute to his heirs – a true cautionary tale for anyone without an estate plan.
The market has had a significant rally to kick-off 2023. See below for charts comparing how this rally compares to other recent bear markets in 2007-2009 and 2000-2002.
