Investment Management

The Rise of the Invisible Economy

The investment industry has come a long way, offering Americans more ways than ever to build wealth. But the rise of alternatives—once the exclusive domain of institutions and the ultra-wealthy—has made it more difficult to cut through the noise and identify what matters. We’ve developed a framework to help. For most of our country’s history, […]

Investment Management

The Rise of the Invisible Economy

The investment industry has come a long way, offering Americans more ways than ever to build wealth. But the rise of alternatives—once the exclusive domain of institutions and the ultra-wealthy—has made it more difficult to cut through the noise and identify what matters. We’ve developed a framework to help. For most of our country’s history, […]

Message from the CEO – November 2022

In some ways, Clifford Swan Investment Counselors has been undergoing a period of transformation, which started seven years ago when we became a 100% employee-owned firm. While we have always focused the firm’s direction on providing valuable guidance, taking the step to being fully independent allowed us more control over how we shape the firm […]

Peter J. Boyle, CFA

Quarterly Insights: October 2022

After dropping borrowing rates to zero during the pandemic, the Federal Reserve has dramatically changed course in a bid to fight inflation. As we’ve written about before, higher rates have two key effects: a psychological one – weighing on risk appetite – and a mathematical one, as higher rates reduce the value of future cash […]

Clifford Swan

Summer Internship Program Successfully Completes Seventh Year

Clifford Swan’s summer internship program has successfully – and happily – been reinstated following a two-year hiatus during the pandemic. The internship provides undergraduate students considering a career in investment and wealth management a fundamental educational experience and opportunity to develop skills in multiple components of an investment advisory firm, while at the same time […]

Clifford Swan

How to Invest in a Changing Fixed Income Environment

In last quarter’s newsletter, equity analyst Dan Mintz considered equity investment in an inflationary environment. Today, we will discuss how the fixed income landscape is changing and share our resultant investment strategy. <br>   INFLATION, RECESSION, AND YIELD CURVE SIGNALS With prices for everyday purchases like food and gas remaining high, inflation continues to be […]

Murcy Huang, CFA

Gift Annuity Payout Rates Are Increasing

There are many ways to support charitable causes financially. There are outright cash donations, bequests in an estate, different types of charitable trusts, as well as charitable gift annuities. Today, we will focus on the latter. “The promise of a reliable income stream is often attractive to donors.” Charitable gift annuities, or CGAs for short, […]

Lloyd K. Wong, CFA

Clifford Swan Recognized by Financial Advisor Magazine

Financial Advisor magazine recognizes Clifford Swan in their sixteenth annual ranking of independent advisory firms around the country, ranking Clifford Swan as the 15th largest RIA in California.  RIA firms applied for consideration. To be eligible for the ranking, firms must be independent registered investment advisers, file their own ADV statement with the SEC, and provide financial […]

Clifford Swan

Quarterly Insights: July 2022

There were very few places to hide during the year’s first half as both equity and fixed income markets suffered heavy losses. With companies and consumers facing the highest inflation since the early 1980s, the U.S. Federal Reserve recently, and perhaps belatedly, raised interest rates aggressively to combat inflation. Rapidly rising interest rates swiftly brought […]

Clifford Swan

Stop the Inflation Swindle

As a key tenet of our mission at Clifford Swan is to preserve and grow our clients’ wealth, inflation protection is always on our minds. Recently, however, the topic has made national headlines, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the year ended March 2022 rising 8.5% versus the previous year—the highest jump since 1981. […]

Daniel J. Mintz

Social Security as an Inflation Hedge

Inflation is top of mind in the investment community. As my colleague Dan Mintz discusses in his corresponding article, inflation is historically high. At Clifford Swan, we have strategies to preserve and grow our clients’ wealth in an inflationary environment. Our approach to disciplined stock picking, as described by Dan, is one of them. In […]

Erica S. White

Quarterly Insights: April 2022

The winds of change blew strong this past quarter, with new trends emerging and others shifting. Specifically, global risks have increased, a move towards globalization is shifting to reshoring, and long-term disinflationary trends, as well as the age of quantitative easing, appear to be paused.Just as the latest COVID-19 surge began to fade in early […]

Clifford Swan

Markets and Current Events

The economic and financial market backdrops are changing, and the news headlines have been quite disconcerting. After averaging gains of 20% for the previous three years, the stock market is experiencing a correction, with the S&P 500 Index down about 10% year-to-date. Some corrective market action was to be expected and a healthy tonic for […]

Kevin J. Cavanaugh

U.S. Monetary Policy: Massive and Dominant

U.S. monetary policy is more active than ever, with the Federal Reserve exerting considerable influence on the global financial and economic environment. We believe that the current landscape may warrant asset allocation shifts in investment portfolios. <br> Background – The Rising Influence of the Federal Reserve: The Federal Reserve was established by Congress in 1913 […]

Randall L. Zaharia, CFA, CAIA®

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