Articles

Many people regard the S&P 500 Index as a good measure of how their portfolio is doing. However, an investor with a well balanced and diversified investment portfolio should have outperformed this index over the last five years. That is… Read More

We often advise our clients with taxable estates to consider gifting strategies that will reduce the portion of their estate subject to estate taxes and also meet their charitable or family goals. The recent rise in interest rates has made… Read More

When preparing estate plans, many people believe they must name an institution, such as a bank, as trustee of a trust. Sometimes, naming a professional trustee makes sense, but in many cases it is not necessary. Before you name a… Read More

Individual stocks have advantages over other types of investments when it comes to estate planning. They offer a cost effective way to reduce income taxes, can easily be sold if necessary, and offer an effective way to pass on your… Read More

Sometimes we forget just how poorly some large, well established companies can be managed. This list reminds us that a “buy and hold” strategy is unwise. There is no substitute for careful selection and continual reevaluation of your investments. The… Read More

Does working with an Investment Advisor mean giving up control of your investments? Not necessarily. At BWFA, our clients are always in control of their investments. But being in control doesn’t mean that clients have to do all the tedious… Read More

BWFA invests a piece of almost every client account in foreign stocks and bonds. In this article we give you our point of view about why these securities add value to our client accounts, and how we participate in foreign… Read More

Mutual funds offer small investors a way to participate in the financial markets. But, in order to earn a fair return, investors need to do their homework. Evidence shows that most investors do poorly because they select inappropriate funds and… Read More

Fidelity Magellan grew to be the largest mutual fund ever, and has also declined in size more than any other fund. The story of how this came about may help our readers see what went wrong. The Fidelity Magellan Fund… Read More

This article offers a glimpse at how Social Security “private accounts” might work and what you should do if private accounts become part of the Social Security system. We’ll leave the vexing questions regarding whether private accounts are good social… Read More

Most investors pay scant attention to portfolio risk management. In this article we discuss the importance of risk management, and how we handle portfolio risk for the investment management clients of BWFA. In the 1990’s, as the value of their… Read More

The biggest risk mutual fund investors face in earning a decent return may be their own behavior. A recent study by Dalbar, a financial industry research group, examined real investor returns over a nineteen-year period. It concluded that, �Investment return… Read More

Conventional wisdom says that investors should determine the percentage of their portfolio they invest in stocks by subtracting their age from 100. The rest of their portfolio should be spread between bonds and cash. According to this wisdom, a 30-year-old… Read More

Congress recently passed a bill reducing taxes on dividends from a maximum ordinary income rate of 35% to no more than 15%. This is great news for investors, especially those needing income from their portfolios. We believe the market has… Read More

Before deciding which investments are best for you, you should look closely at the new tax law, which lowered the rate you pay on dividends and capital gains to 15%. This law has provided investors with some really significant opportunities… Read More