Author Archive



Compromised Brokers

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is offering as much as 330% of a brokers annual production to join the firm.

Click here to view the article from Investment News: “Morgan Stanley Smith Barney pumps up recruiting packages to lure top producers.”

With all the problems that big Wall Street firms caused for the global economy, it is absolutely [...]

Bill Ramsay Quoted in Investment Advisor

Bill Ramsay, CFP®, was recently quoted in the November 2009 Investment Advisor magazine.

Bill Ramsay Participates in TBJ Roundtable

Bill Ramsay, CFP®, recently participated in his third Triangle Business Journal roundtable event.  The 2009 Financial Roundtable: Wealth Strategies was held at the Triangle Business Journal office on September 29th, 2009, with the full article appearing in the October 16th, 2009 issue.
Bill also participated in the Triangle Busniess Journal’s rountables on August 23, 2007 and [...]

Personal Loans, The Right Way

With unemployment high, requests for loans from friends and family members are on the rise.  This can put a potential lender in a difficult position.  They do not like to see someone they care about having financial difficulties, but they also know that personal loans can become gifts as default rates are high.
There is also [...]

Buyer Beware vs. Fiduciary Duty

There are two primary types of client relationships in the world of financial advice. The sales model represented by brokers and insurance agents versus the fiduciary model represented by Registered Investment Advisors.

The inherent problems and conflicts of interest with the sales model is why we choose to operate exclusively as Registered Investment Advisors.

Ignoring Data

All data is not created equal.  The following chart would seem to indicate
that US stocks are more expensive and overvalued then they’ve ever been.
http://www.chartoftheday.com
The rest of the story is that the last 12 months of earnings are not
representative of what earnings will be going forward.  Our best estimate is
that at current price levels, the PE [...]

Raleigh Financial Advisor Bill Ramsay Quoted on Housing Market

“The housing market is not going to be the engine leading us out of the recession, but clearly it is going to be less of a drag than it has been or should be.”

Raleigh Financial Advisor Bill Ramsay Quoted on IPO News

“Too many of them do not do well, and the frenzy that exists when the IPO market is hot makes the problem worse as the average investor tends to significantly overpay when their gambling switch is turned on.”

Current Crisis Predicted in 1986

Hyman Minsky was an economist who developed a theory about financial markets that seems to nearly perfectly describe the path of this crisis.

Financial market insight from your mutual fund managers

One of our primary jobs is assessing mutual fund managers to look for those who can provide good results. Given the current onslaught of news and opinions on the economy and the markets, we thought it would be helpful for you to hear from a few of your funds’ managers.

FSI News & Views

This news site includes independent analysis and commentary by Financial Symmetry on the global economy.
We view all market developments through the same filter, "How will this affect our clients?"

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