Merino Mindset
Practical Views on Money and Life
Does your company give you restricted stock units (RSUs) as part of their compensation package? But you're not sure what RSUs are or how they work?
RSUs are a great way to add extra equity to employees and give them a stake in the company. In a 2017 survey of 325 companies, 72% reported using RSUs in their compensation programs compared to only 37% a decade before. A shift towards companies providing a more comprehensive benefits package for their employees.
Have you resisted or curtailed your investing because you aren’t confident about where or how to invest? Don’t let the five investing myths below hold you back. Investing in the stock market or choosing 401(k) funds doesn’t have to be complicated or even risky.
In previous generations, women had less access to money than they do now so it was common to hear “my husband takes care of that.” As our world has evolved, not only is this less common, but we’re also seeing that women are making better investment decisions than their male counterparts. These days, we’re seeing that female fund managers freak out less, manage their risk well, and outperform male fund managers.
An interesting question caught my attention during a recent economic outlook presentation I attended: “Is the stock market grounded in reality? Or are we seeing irrational exuberance?” Whoa. I hadn’t asked myself these questions as succinctly, but this posed a good question.
Is the stock market currently grounded in reality? Is it ever grounded in reality?
Happy February! I’m not gonna lie, these days, we’re really busy at Merino Wealth. And when we’re busy things can get kind of stressful around the office. We have a great team, wonderful clients, and we’re doing great work. But if we’re sleep-deprived, logging in on the weekends, and overwhelmed with our workloads, things can feel a bit tense. In some cases, it’s just the simple feeling that we might not have done "XYZ" perfectly, which of course, is an unrealistic bar to set for ourselves.
I started investing in 1994 after my grandparents bought me a share of stock for my 14th birthday. At that time the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was valued at 3,829.73. By the lowest point of the dot.com bubble burst on October 7th, 2002 it was valued at 7,422.84. We lost companies like Pets.com and eToys.com, but by January 1st, 2004 the value was back up to 10,453.92.
As a non-profit supporter, you’ve probably heard the buzz about #GivingTuesday and may be asking “What is this day all about?” #GivingTuesday started in 2012 and is observed on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. More than just a day on the calendar, #GivingTuesday is a movement that inspires giving back in contrast to Black Friday and Cyber Monday that promote consumption of all things holiday related. It is often referred to as the opening day of the holiday giving season.
One little known fact about me is that that I’ve actually had first-hand experience with our last two stock market crashes. First, as a young investor during the dot.com bubble. Second, as an advisor during the 2008 financial crisis.
As we’ve reached stock market highs recently I’ve been thinking a lot about our last recession. At that time we saw a peak of the DJIA, (“the Dow” and the typical benchmark used when you hear a reference to “the market”) on October 9th, 2007 and a bottom on March 6th, 2009. By that time it had lost over 54% of its value. So if someone bought into an investment tracking the Dow on October 9th 2007 their investment would have been about half that value on March 6th, 2009.
A handful of years ago a couple of clients came to me with a question. The husband’s company was set to move their office from downtown Chicago to Ohio. For a minute they considered uprooting their lives and decided that it wasn’t for them. They took this change as a reason to take pause and evaluate his next move when a great idea came to mind. What if we take a break-a “career break?” Not only did they want to take a break, but they also wanted to travel the world while doing so. And did I mention that they were in their 30s? Their question to me was whether or not it was in the cards financially. Was it possible?
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