Mark Patterson

Lately, I have heard of barrage of rhetoric that I believe is supposed to get the masses riled up against “Wall Street” and corporate America. Wall Street and corporate America have been demonized in the past so it is really not a new concept. This is not a criticism of the political left or right

If you are meeting with a broker, financial advisor, financial planner or investment advisor, you have likely been through an investment risk questionnaire. I have used a few of these myself, however, I believe that many are a means for the broker, advisor or planner to use a “plug and play” investment strategy. As we

If you’re looking for a new advisor or just meeting with your current advisor, I have what I believe are five relevant questions that need to be asked and answered honestly. 1) Does your advisor and their firm act in a fiduciary capacity, in other words, do they work for you, the client? If yes,

9/11 has been a date that always gets my attention regarding our stock markets and national security. First for the obvious reason of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Benghazi more recently. But September traditionally has been the worst month for the equity markets throughout the year. We have seen more

There are times when we inherit, win the lottery or even sell an asset such as a home that provides a lump sum of money that we had not planned for. Often that sum of money goes to a bank account while we strategize what to do with this money. Most banks today have an

If you have ever put money into a mutual fund and discovered that the proclamation of return did not line up with your real return of dollars, then there could be several reasons. The net return could be affected by the fees and commission charged by the fund that can vary between funds, fund companies