Education

Inverted yield curves have captured the media's attention this year an may be responsible for much of the recent market volatility. So, what is an inverted yield curve and why does it matter? The yield curve is the difference between short term interest rates and longer term interest rates. In normal times of economic growth, the yield curve is upward sloping yield which means investors receive a lower interest rate for investing in shorter term bonds and a higher interest rate for investing in longer maturity bonds. Recently the yield curve inverted which means short term bonds are now paying a higher interest rate than longer term bonds.

The health insurance landscape continues to evolve and choosing the right healthcare plan can be confusing. We are bombarded with an alphabet soup of acronyms such as HSA, FSA, HRAS, MSA's, DCFSA, PPOs, HDHP and many of us simply default to the same plan year after year because it's familiar. This may be the path of least resistance, but depending on your circumstances you may be missing one of the most tax efficient investments accounts available, one known as the Health Savings Account, or HSA.

ESG, the latest buzzword in the investment community and one that you are likely to hear a lot more about, is short for Environmental, Social, and Governance, the standard criteria that is used in classification for Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), Sustainable Investing and Impact investing. The socially conscious investing landscape has been regaining momentum over the past few years, but the concept has actually been around for decades and continues to evolve to meet new and growing demand.

Keeping up with all of the new financial products and acronyms is like trying to stay up to date with the latest social media app. I have just begun using Instagram; forget about Snap Chat and this New Pokémon Game! In the financial world, we have a wave of new “Smart Beta” products being launched every day, each one promising better performance, lower risk, lower fees, or some combination of the three. So what is all the rage about Smart Beta? And is it actually “smarter” than the market?