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Watch That Cell Phone!

By Posted on In Rule of Thumb, Uncategorized

1 in 10 Americans have had their smart phone stolen. Make sure you protect your personal information with these three tips:

  1. Make sure you have a security PIN set up to lock your phone. Consumer Reports states only 36% of all smart phone have some sort of security.
  2. Find an app that will allow you to locate, lock or wipe the phone remotely in case it’s lost or stolen.
  3. Download and set up an app that can help you back-up your phone.

If your phone is ever stolen, you will be able to wipe the app clean (remove all your personal information) remotely. And if you eventually locate it, you can simply restore your personal information.

Just 10 minutes of preparation could save you hours and hours of frustration in the future.

The Great Tax Migration

By Posted on In Investment Strategies, Rule of Thumb, Taxes, Uncategorized

Sick of the high costs to live in Connecticut? Some residents (and our clients, too) are taking action and moving to cheaper states. If you’re curious to see how much you could save, start with these resources:

How Money Walks:Wealth is leaving this state, mostly to Florida, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Virginia and South Caroline. Some wealth is coming into the state from New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Michigan – states that are MORE expensive than Connecticut.

Save Taxes By Moving: Great calculator to help you quantify your state-income savings if you moved to another state.

City to City: How Far Your Paycheck Goes: A simple tool to help compare the cost of living from one city to another. I like this one because it takes into account the median income.

Pay Attention to Your NU Stock

By Posted on In Trend Updates, Uncategorized

For those of you who hold NU stock, you may be excited to see that it has been reaching new all-time highs at over $47 per share! So, let’s take some time to evaluate it as an investment. Recently, we noticed an abnormality that warrants some discussion:

  1. With some unease in the market, investors flocked to a more conservative investment, many of whom turned to utilities for their relatively stable performance and nice dividend. NU pays an annual dividend of $1.57 per share which is a yield of 3.38%. It’s paid off for investors so far this year. The utility industry has been doing very well compared to the S&P 500 so far this year. This, in part, has contributed to the healthy performance for the NU stock.
  2. But comparing the NU stock to it’s peers (other utilities) paints a different picture. NU outperformed its peers for most of 2013. But in 2014, it started to lag. While NU has been performing well this year, the industry as a whole has been doing better.
  3. S&P has recently downgraded their opinion on NU shares to “Hold”, from “Buy”. The rating agency also forecasts the price of the stock 12-month from now to be around $47.

We’re not suggesting that you sell out of NU. Such recommendations are made on a case-by-case basis only. But it’s important to put this performance in perspective. Now may be a good time to evaluate the position to make sure it’s still an appropriate investment.

 

Doom-and-Gloomers Have It Wrong

By Posted on In Economy, Uncategorized

The stock market didn’t crash.

The economy didn’t collapse.

The government didn’t default.

The Euro didn’t fail.

The inflation rate didn’t turn into hyperinflation.

 

And yet, every time we turn on the TV, all we see are more dark clouds looming in the distance, which only gives investors more reason to sit on the sidelines.