SET Monthly Issues
SET Monthly Issue October 2017
THE BEAUTIFUL BOND It’s the question that smart investors have asked for generations. And even when they don’t get a good answer, investors continue to ask… “How much of my total portfolio should I put in stocks and how much in bonds?” If there was an easy answer, we wouldn’t keep asking. But in the […]
SET Monthly Issue September 2017
THE LATIN LOOK How much of your portfolio should be invested in global stocks? Like any other investment question, the annoying and predictable answer is, “It depends.” Over the past year, there’s been a growing thirst for global stocks as U.S. stocks remain lodged in the high rent district. There’s also the dollar to keep […]
SET Monthly Issue August 2017
THE ROBOT REVOLUTION Hot trends have a nasty way of pouring cold water on investors’ hopes. We do our best to avoid the latest fashions… sectors where investors who should know better mindlessly jump on bandwagons which have already had their day. But there is one sector where we believe this year’s sizzling activity will […]
SET Monthly Issue July 2017
BANKING ON FATTER DIVIDENDS Our thirst for ETF investments that deliver solid income has been partially quenched over the past few quarters. We’ve been focusing on investments where we can get a good night’s sleep and a good income. But our thirst isn’t fully quenched. We’re still on the hunt for dividends to either reinvest […]
SET Monthly Issue June 2017
WHEN IT’S ALL ABOUT INCOME, WE’RE ALL IN It’s like an early morning drive along Route 1 in Maine between Eastport and Lubec. The fog is settled in so thick along the coast that even the evergreens lining the road are blurred. You’ve got Janet Yellen and the Federal Reserve Board fixated on pushing interest […]
SET Monthly Issue May 2017
GUNG HO FOR GLOBAL GROWTH There are two schools of thought on global investing, and it’s tough to find glaring flaws in either one. There’s the “why bother?” school. This outlook suggests that US-based companies come with sufficient global exposure to deliver a built-in international reach. Stocks like ExxonMobil (XOM) and Procter & Gamble (PG) […]
SET Monthly Issue April 2017
Back To The Basic Materials The economic laws of supply and demand never stray far from the world’s mines. When demand for basic materials slides, and when prices start to fall, production is cut to try and prop prices back up. It sounds simple, but the trick for the mining or basic materials company is […]
SET Monthly Issue March 2017
Playing It Safe In Switzerland When you make your own mental list of the world’s safest and most secure countries, chances are you’ll include Switzerland. The perception is largely accurate, but doesn’t entirely mirror reality. One of Switzerland’s largest banks, UBS, was a big player in the U.S. subprime mortgage business. When the financial crisis […]
SET Monthly Issue February 2017
Marching Into Midcaps There’s nothing new about the allure of midcap stocks. Historically they have been the neighborhood market investors move for growth. The streets are lined with undiscovered stocks and high yield profits. But each of these attractive upsides comes with risk, so investors who march into midcap stocks should embrace a long-term horizon. […]
SET Monthly Issue January 2017
The Split Personality Sector Investing in health care means riding two horses at once. One is the hospital horse, the other is the pharmaceutical horse. 2016 was dreadful for health care stocks. The sector wound up the year down 3.94%, the worst performing of the ten major sectors which make up the overall market. Driving […]