Posts by Basil Schmitz
AEWM Wealth Report: Your Money, Your Values: Aligning Your Financial Plan With What Matters Most to You
Download PDF Version Values-based financial planning helps align your investment strategy with what matters most to you, creating a sustainable approach to wealth building that goes beyond chasing returns. Overview Picture this: You’re at a neighborhood barbecue, and the conversation inevitably turns to money. Someone mentions their latest stock pick that’s “guaranteed” to double in…
Read MoreAE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 9/21/25 – 9/27/25
Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Sept. 21-27, 2025 How high can we go? Markets have settled into a groove as we head into October and the fourth quarter. Volatility is under 16, one of the lowest levels this year.1 Markets are expecting two more 25-basis-point (0.25%) cuts by year-end after the Federal Reserve…
Read MoreAE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 9/14/25 – 9/20/25
Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Sept. 14-20, 2025 The Fed finally moves! After the horrendous jobs revision last week of -911,000 (from March 2024 to March 2025) showed that basically the only jobs created last year were government or government-dependent (health care and education) or low-paying hospitality jobs, the Federal Reserve decided to…
Read MoreAE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 8/31/25 – 9/6/25
Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Aug. 31-Sept. 6, 2025 Jobs dry up The week started with an appeals court ruling that President Trump’s use of tariffs was unlawful (see more in the next section) and markets nosedived before recovering to start off a short trading week.1 Then we had news that Russian President…
Read MoreBlame AI for the market and economy disconnect
AE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 8/17/25 – 8/23/25
Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Aug. 17-23, 2025 Powell speaks and markets like what they hear Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium late last week was just what the U.S. market wanted to hear.1 The days leading up to his speech were somewhat depressing, as the…
Read MoreAE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 8/10/25 – 8/16/25
Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Aug. 10-16, 2025 Markets rise on rate cut expectations A lot was riding on inflation data last week, with many of the usual “experts” calling for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to go up in response to tariffs. As usual, they were wrong, and the CPI stayed fairly…
Read MoreAE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 8/3/25 – 8/9/25
Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Aug. 3-9, 2025 Trump follows through With the Aug. 1 tariff deadline looming last week, some traders were banking on President Donald Trump extending the deadline once again. But he followed through for the most part, saying the deadline “will not be extended” and making the tariffs effective…
Read MoreAEWM Wealth Report: How the Fed Funds Rate Impacts U.S. Consumers
Download PDF Version Overview After cutting interest rates three times in the last half of 2024, the Federal Reserve paused cuts in the first six months of 2025. Their reason for the pause: potentially inflationary tariffs and solid economic data.1 Throughout the pause, markets continued to keep a close eye on signs the Fed might…
Read MoreAE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 7/27/25 – 8/2/25
Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: July 27-Aug. 2, 2025 Here we go again? There was a lot going on last week, from the Federal Reserve meeting and July jobs (more in the section below) to tariff deadlines, earnings and the initial second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) report. The week started off well enough,…
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