August 2023 Market Recap Sep 01, 2023

In August, the S&P 500 fell 1.77% for the month, making it only the second negative month of 2023.

Positive sentiment took a significant hit in the first half of August, chiefly due to a surprise credit rating downgrade for the United States by Fitch, a conservative outlook from tech giant...

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Recession? No recession? Recession? Aug 01, 2023

The market rally persists, but the debate around a looming recession endures.

Key Takeaways:

  • The S&P500 and NASDAQ both continued to gain in the month of July.
  • The Dow Jones had its longest winning streak since 1987.
  • The inflation report for the month of June showed its smallest...
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The S&P500 Hits A 52-week High Jul 07, 2023

The market rally continues, May inflation comes in cooler, and more.

On Tuesday, June 13th the S&P500 hit a 52 week high. Right on the heels of a 4% Year-over-Year inflation read for the month of May.

Here’s where inflation stands:

Later that week, the Federal Reserve decided to skip...

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Live Below Your Means financial planning for young professionals Jun 22, 2023
by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®

At CameronDowning we work with a lot of young professionals.  These are people who are well-educated, hard-working, and striving for good things in life.  They come to us for financial organization – to get their life’s financial...

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Big DROP changes financial planning for retirement Jun 12, 2023
 by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®         

On June 5th of this year Gov. DeSantis signed into law some major changes – upgrades - to the Deferred Retirement Option Program.  The main points are these: 

DROP extended to 8 years

Beginning July 1st the...

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A Fed Pause In A Tight Labor Market financial planning for attorneys financial planning for entrepreneurs financial planning for retirement financial planning for young professionals May 31, 2023

The Federal Reserve meets again on June 13th-14th  for its periodic Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. This meeting is a critical one. There is a general expectation that the Fed will finally pause historic rate increases at this meeting. To illustrate the point, a May 23rd Forbes...

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Did You Start a Business? financial planning for entrepreneurs May 30, 2023

by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®

Congratulations!  You did it!  You launched a new business, worked you’re a** off, and now have a going enterprise.  It wasn’t there before – it exists because of you and your team.  A huge accomplishment, and something of...

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Cash is Still King! financial planning for attorneys financial planning for entrepreneurs financial planning for retirement financial planning for young professionals May 24, 2023

by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®

There's a lot of financial stress out there - we hear it from our clients.  People who don't have a financial worry in the world are afraid.  And, given two high profile bank failures recently and the release of the Durham report last week, I suspect...

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Financial Planning for Attorneys financial planning for attorneys May 15, 2023

by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®

One of our specializations here at CameronDowning is financial planning for attorneys.  We love working with lawyers!  As a rule, they keep appointments, provide documents as requested, understand paying professional fees (after all, they charge such...

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Is an IRA Rollover Right for You? financial planning for attorneys financial planning for entrepreneurs financial planning for retirement financial planning for young professionals May 09, 2023

How to get a big pay hike

If you want a big pay hike, sometimes the only way you're going to get it is by jumping ship to a new employer who values your skill set and experience and is willing to pay for it.  Otherwise you may have to settle for an annual cost of living increase. People...

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Fed Funds Rate Beginning to Stabilize. Morningstar - Rate Cuts On The Horizon Apr 28, 2023

As we enter May of 2023 the stock market is up on the year, despite the banking crisis we've experienced in the last couple months. The failure of First Republic Bank, which was taken over by banking giant JP Morgan Chase, was no surprise as the bank had been on life support ever since...

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Retire at 60? Mar 30, 2023

So Glenn – Can I retire at 60?

This is a tough one.  Lots of people want to retire early, and for various reasons.  But there are lots of moving parts to this.  Let’s break it down a bit. 

Where will you get health insurance?

This is your very first consideration,...

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