Insights

4th Quarter 2017 Market Update

4thQuarter Market Outlook

Hurricanes lined up in the Atlantic this year one by one to take aim at the United States, a lunatic took aim at innocent people attending a festival in Las Vegas, fires burn through cities consuming a swath of wine country well before harvest.  Racist marches leading to death in Charlottesville and rising tensions with North Korea and a twitter account that can’t stay quiet have also been part of the recent quarter.  This kind of makes you want to bury your money in the yard, right?  If you had you would have missed out on some strong returns in the last quarter with the S&P returning nearly 4% over the third quarter.  Much like the many heroes who stepped in to help other Americans in times of need, America is resilient.  The economy has been gradually growing in strength over this long bull market as America and continues to grow back stronger after all these tragic events.

On the Personal Side:

This past quarter has also been very active for our family including a Logan family reunion in Charleston.  It was great to see some family I haven’t seen in some despite having left Charleston envious of my Uncle Jim’s Logan Tartan plaid kilt.  We also joined other families, with 54 people total going to Bryson City, North Carolina to be in the line of totality for the solar eclipse.  Children with their faces covered in soot carrying around dead animals, white water rafting and hiking made the trip very memorable and eerily reminiscent of a scene from Lord of the Flies.  To my knowledge, the trip resulted in zero cases of dysentery so I would consider the excursion a huge success.  It was quite a site to take in.  Evan and I attended my 20-year high school reunion in Las Vegas and stayed at the now infamous Mandalay Bay.  It was a great experience to reconnect with some classmates from the American School in Japan and recall some of the great experiences we shared in Tokyo.  Amelia has started Kindergarten and is gradually making her mark on Greensboro Academy while she is starting to mature and even listening from time to time.  Lila is enthralled with all things reading and gymnastics.  The other day I filmed her practicing handstands while reading her book and was quite impressed with her multitasking abilities.  Evan continues to manage the family shuttle, have 50 helping hands involved in various fundraising events and school volunteer opportunities.  We recently achieved our 12th year of marital bliss.  Dealing with me for 12 years is quite an accomplishment.  We plan to celebrate with her tagging on the end of a work trip to Austin, Texas where I will be taking a class and exam for my Accredited Investment Fiduciary designation.

On the business side:

Ashlie has taken on a lot more responsibility around the office and has things running like a well-oiled machine.  Ashlie and Brooke have also begun reaching out to do check in calls from time to time to make sure that we are helping you with any financial needs you may have.  She is currently working to double check all of those who are required to take a distribution from your IRA this year and making sure nothing is missed.  If you have had some changes in your financial picture that you would like to discuss and review, don’t hesitate to reach out to Ashlie to schedule an appointment via email at [email protected]

Our new intern from UNCG has started.  Melchor Ornelas will be here for the remainder of the school year on a part time basis assisting with various projects.  We are excited to have him around the office.

We are continuing to develop ways to better serve our clients and have gotten a lot of great feedback with ideas from clients.  If you have any feedback or input we would love to hear it.

Social Media:

I would love to connect via LinkedIn or Twitter at @mattloganinc ,or follow me on Instagram or  follow page on Facebook where you will find timely articles and regular TV interviews.

Introductions:

If you know of people who have recently changed jobs or are looking to retire, please don’t hesitate to pass along my name.  These life changes can be important times to make decisions relating to a person’s financial future and should not be overlooked or taken lightly. 

Online Access:

As I mentioned, we have consolidated our online account access through E-money. To access your accounts, click here. The system really helps me advise you in a more effective manor by allowing me to see your whole financial picture and craft a plan to fit your needs.  You can include account not held here in your analysis as well as any debt or assets you have and most of them link directly to other sites, allowing you access to a walking net worth statement.  If you need assistance setting this up, let us know and we would be happy to walk you through the system.

The Bus:

This past quarter, the bus has been putting some miles on.  Our team used it for an office outing to bid farewell to our intern Laura Shachtman in July.  It has attended the Guns and Roses concert in Winston (I even made it a point to be part of it), a few football games, a couple of weddings.  It has also helped a lot of local non-profits raise quite a bit at charity auctions.  If you are around town this coming weekend, it will be part of the Junior League Touch a Truck event held   It has further info, please go to www.whythebus.com.

Fourth Quarter Outlook:

With the markets coming off a great 3rd quarter with the S&P 500 up nearly 4% and up over 13% for the year, the markets have been performing well.  Foreign markets, especially emerging markets have done particularly well with the MSCI Emerging Market Index up a whopping 20.1% for the year. Moving forward we are keeping an eye on a few items including interest rates, For further analysis and market information click here for the 4th Quarter 2017 Outlook.

Disclosure: The views stated in this piece are not necessarily the opinion of Cetera Advisor Networks LLC and should not be construed directly or indirectly as an offer to buy or sell any securities mentioned herein. Due to volatility within the markets mentioned, opinions are subject to change without notice. Information is based on sources believed to be reliable; however, their accuracy or completeness cannot be guaranteed. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Investors cannot invest directly in indexes. The performance of any index is not indicative of the performance of any investment and does not take into account the effects of inflation and the fees and expenses associated with investing.

The S&P 500 is a capitalization-weighted index of 500 stocks designed to measure performance of the broad domestic economy through changes in the aggregate market value of 500 stocks representing all major industries.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is designed to measure equity market performance in global emerging markets. It is a float-adjusted market capitalization index. Additional risks are associated with international investing, such as currency fluctuations, political and economic stability, and differences in accounting standards.

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