On July 13, CRA Financial hosted a barbecue at the Atlantic City Aquarium, catered by Nobil Foods. Starting with a tour of the aquarium, a delicious barbecue and cocktails followed outside overlooking Clam Creek, with a performance by Strawberry Jam Band. Clients of all ages enjoyed the summer night of fun.
CRA Financial, LLC is a comprehensive wealth management firm whose primary objective is to assist clients in accumulating and preserving wealth. They are committed to providing value-added, wealth- enhancing services in a cost-effective manner that remains consistent with their philosophy of putting their clients’ best interest first. These services encompass six comprehensive areas of financial planning: investment, tax, insurance, retirement, education, and estate planning.
This article was originally published in the Summer Edition of NJ Lifestyle. Photos by Eric Weeks.
RALLY: The markets are off to a great start so far in 2017. The S&P 500 closed the second quarter with a strong year-to-date gain of 9.34% (Total return including dividends). Investors saw a market that remained resilient in the face of uncertainty and volatility was kept at bay. Corporate earnings remained strong, global economies have been improving, and major central banks across the world have continued support. Markets shrugged off repeated global terrorist attacks and a seemingly stalled presidency as a gridlocked Congress wrangled with the questions of the government’s appropriate role in the U.S. health care system. 
Volatility was the overall theme of the stock market in 2015, but despite the wild swings to the upside and downside, the market finished roughly flat for the year, posting a price only return of -0.73%. The market finally experienced the “inevitable correction” that investors and analysts had been calling for since mid 2013. In May, the S&P 500 hit an all-time intraday high of 2,134. In August, the S&P fell to an intra-year low of 1867, representing a drop in value of 12.5%. After an initial September rally that faded back to market lows, October rewarded investors with a 13% rally, hitting 2116 in early November, before sliding back to 2043 to end the year. 
As published in the Holiday 2015 Edition of NJ Lifestyle
Arguably the most difficult aspect about investing in the stock market is the volatility that is the trade-off for higher long term returns. During the past 40 years, the S&P 500 (widely regarded as the standard index for measuring Large Cap U.S. stock market performance and includes the 500 largest U.S. Corporations by market capitalization) realized an average annual total return of 11.4%, according to S&P Dow Jones index data. However, to have benefited from such performance, an investor would have had to stay the course through periods of significant volatility. Market declines of 10% or greater (typically defined as Corrections) have happened more than 15 times over that forty year period, including four bear markets (defined as market declines of 20% or more). Corrections happen on average once out of every 18 months. Until the recent decline in August, the markets had been more than four years since our last 10% pullback. Corrections are normal and are to be expected when investing in equities. That doesn’t, however, mean they are not unpleasant and unnerving to most investors.