Brinton Eaton - In the News

"Preparing for The Next 'Black Swan'" The August 21-22, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, "Preparing for The Next ‘Black Swan'" discusses what investors are doing to protect portfolios against a “black swan” — an unforeseen event that can wreak havoc on the financial markets. Brinton Eaton's Jerry Miccolis, who was quoted in the article and expands on the discussion further in BE's blog posting, Protecting Your Portfolio from the Next Black Swan

"Actively managed funds no certainty of top results" Carolyn Bigda of Chicago Tribune and Brinton Eaton's Jerry Miccolis discuss Strategy Indexing; the purchasing of mutual funds that track the performance of the broader market, and how an investor should broach these types of investments. To read more, click here.

"In Investing in Your 30s: Boosting Your Financial Health" Daily Finance’s Jean Chatzky confers with Brinton Eaton’s Marina Goodman about ways to reduce debt. "…If you need a high income just to meet your fixed expenses, you're making yourself very vulnerable," states Goodman. Read more.

"Keep Calm When The Markets Are Rolling" Keep Calm When The Markets Are Rolling, encourages readers to stay the course and not to manage personal finances based on the market turbulence. Investors are cautioned to hold back emotion when making their financial decisions and to stay focused on the long term, despite the day-to-day volatility. Those who are overly concerned can scale back on stocks five to ten percentage points, but Jerry Miccolis of Brinton Eaton states, “You’d better plan on having this money work for you for 30 to 40 years.” Read the full article in Kiplingers Retirement Report, July 2010 issue.

"NPR Interview with Jerry Miccolis" Steve Pomeranz, host of National Public Radio’s On the Money program, interviews Jerry Miccolis on the importance of considering life expectancy when planning a retirement portfolio. Miccolis describes how most investors significantly underestimate their life expectancies, the impact of inflation and the correlation to the need to stay in the equity markets. To listen to the interview, click here.

"Retirement: New Ways to Protect Your Portfolio" Brinton Eaton discusses an investment that aims to provide returns and tranquility amid intense market volatility. To read more, click here

The "New Rules for Diversification" By Randy Myers The Wall Street Journal interviews Jerry Miccolis on the benefits of portfolio diversification. Miccolis explains why diversification is important, and highlights how alternative investments can be a key part of an investor’s strategy for growth. To read more, click here

"Tax Me Now or Tax Me Later?" By Lauren Young Bob DiQuollo sets the tone for this article on Roth IRA conversions. To read more, click here.

“401(k) Beneficiary Rules: What You Must Know” Most 401(k) investors are worried about whether they'll outlive their savings and haven't given much thought to the opposite scenario. This can be a big mistake because there are inheritance rules that may require your account to be distributed in a way that you didn't foresee. Jeremy Welther explains how to distribute your 401K assets to multiple benificiaries, such as family members, fairly. To read more, click here.

“Protecting Your Portfolio Against Extreme Loss” The holy grail of investing is a portfolio that doesn't go down when the stock market plummets, but goes fully along for the ride when the market soars. There are still no magic bullets, but some new investing strategies are emerging that can help protect a portfolio from major losses and still offer plenty of upside. To read more, click here.

"NPR Interview with Jerry Miccolis" Steve Pomeranz, Host of NPR’s Morning Edition interviews Jerry Miccolis, co-author of Asset Allocation For Dummies® (Wiley 2009) about how the average investor should approach asset allocation. To listen to interview, click here.

"The Ins and Outs of Asset Allocation" By Michelle Singletary I met a woman who asked me to review her 401(k) portfolio. She was worried about how she had allocated her contributions. To read more, click here.

"New Life for an Old Idea: Investment Buckets" By Russ Banham That wily poet Robert Burns had it right when he wrote, "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry." Burns could have been talking about the 2007–09 financial crisis, which took a hammer to many people's investment accounts, not to mention the seemingly hidebound buy-and-hold investment strategy. To read more, click here.

"Cut Your Risk" By David Landis It wasn't hard to feel like a chump in 2008, when stocks, corporate bonds and commodities all tanked at the same time. The experts said we would be protected from disaster by spreading our risk among those different kinds of investments. But we weren't. To read more, click here.

"Traveling abroad for better returns" By SHERYL NANCE-NASH While there's no place like home, sometimes you have to get out of your own backyard -- and that includes investing. Impressive growth in emerging economies such as China and India will boost investments that provide exposure to these markets, says the new Emerging Wealth report from consultancy Watson Wyatt. To read more, click here.

"In an uncertain economy, what could be safer than a pile of money?" By Tim Grant At a very practical level, cash is a relatively safe investment that rarely loses its nominal value, unlike stocks and long-term bonds, which could lose value and, in the worst of circumstances, become worthless. At a more strategic level, cash makes it possible for an investor to buy other assets when prices take a dive. To read more, click here.

"6 Great Financial Gifts for Children" By EMILY BRANDON A savings bond or piggy bank probably won't elicit a squeal of delight from a small child or melt a sullen teenager's face into a smile the way a video game will. But there are few people who wouldn't appreciate a gift that appreciates over time. To read more, click here.

"Absolute Return: Preparing for an Uncertain 2010" By David Bogoslaw It's a sign of the times that even after a 65% runup in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index over the past nine months, investors still feel nervous about what 2010 may have in store for them. To read more, click here.

"How Long to Keep Financial Documents and When to Discard Them" Most people hold onto boxes full of records they no longer need. And don't always keep the records they need. Find out what to keep. http://www.fpaforfinancialplanning.org/

"5 Retirement Risks and How to Handle Them" The May 11, 2009 issue of U.S. News & World Report featured recommendations from Brinton Eaton on addressing key retirement problems: http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/retirement/2009/05/11/5-retirement-risks-and-how-to-handle-them.html

"Giving to charity?" Prove it or lose deduction, featured on AffluentMagazine.com" Brinton Eaton's advice on new IRS rules governing charitable deductions was the focus of this April 2009 article: http://www.affluentmagazine.com/articles/article/187

"Is it time to get back into the market?" This Jan 5, 2009 issue of The Christian Science Monitor features Brinton Eaton's recommendations on how to respond to the market collapse of late 2008: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0105/p13s01-wmgn.html

"The Perfect Alternative" Brinton Eaton's research into alternative investments to stabilize portfolios is featured prominently in the Dec 1, 2008 issue of Financial Planning magazine: http://www.financial-planning.com/fp_issues/2008_12/perfect-alternative2626161-1.html

"Volatile markets offer opportunities to harvest tax losses" In this Oct, 17 2007 online interview by Marketwire, Brinton Eaton points out that difficult markets present their own advantages if you are alert to them. See http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=782121

"Volatile markets prove that allocating funds among noncorrelated assets really does work" Brinton Eaton was quoted in this Sept 1 2007 issue of Financial Planning magazine, commenting on the benefits of adding noncorrelated assets like commodities to a portfolio. The article is accessible via the following link: http://www.financial-planning.com/asset/article/528407/different-strokes.html

"Private Equity IPOs: Too Risky?" Brinton Eaton's opinions on this high-risk asset class were featured in the June 25, 2007 issue of Business Week online. See http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jun2007/pi20070625_ 455484.htm?chan=search .

"WisdomTree launches ETF aimed at foreign REITs" Brinton Eaton advisors were quoted in this June 5, 2007 issue of Market Watch. Their comments related to the use of newly-available non-US real estate investment trusts in a diversified portfdolio. The article is available at http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/new-fund-focuses-top-dividend-paying/story.aspx?guid=%7B6873B254-935C-4685-BDE0-2F401E37E2B5%7D&dist=TNMostMailed.

"Second Home Can Boost Taxes" Brinton Eaton was featured in this May 31, 2007 Wall Street Journal article regarding the steps taxpayers should take when moving, or splitting their time, between states with much different tax laws. See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118057519169919477-search.html?KEYWORDS=arden+dale&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month.

"Three big mistakes that people make with their retirement plans" In this August 29th 2007 online interview in InsuranceBroadcasting.com, Brinton Eaton commented on ways to improve your retirement strategy. See http://workitmom.com/bloggers/moneymom/2007/08/28/retirement-plan-tips/

"Harvest Time All the Time: A connoisseur explains how to use ETFs to harvest tax losses year-round" Brinton Eaton's approach to tax loss harvesting was the subject of this article in the October 2006 issue of Investment Advisor. The article also gives a brief overview of the firm's investment approach and its organizational philosophy. See http://www.investmentadvisor.com/article.php?article=6821

"Luxury vehicle, average ride: Despite all the hype, hedge funds likely to disappoint" Brinton Eaton's rationale for abandoning hedge funds was briefly cited in the June 11, 2006 edition of MarketWatch. See http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?dist=newsfinder& siteid=mktw&guid=%7BA29E7E6D%2DC3F4% 2D43D3%2D8E0A%2DEED5AB143BB4%7D&link= &keyword=hedge%20funds. This story was also run in several other publications, including the June 11, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle (under the title "Hedge funds deliver status but not a whole lot more") and the June 13, 2006 Philadelphia Inquirer (under the title "Hedge funds not offering a boost").

"Don't forget the magical power of rebalancing" The June 9, 2006 issue of the Daily Record reported on Brinton Eaton's research into the surprising benefits of systematic portfolio rebalancing, including how adding an "inferior" asset can improve the performance of the portfolio. The article can be accessed through the following link: http://brintoneaton.com/files/Daily%20Record%20article%202006-Jun.pdf

"Investing: How to diversify now" Brinton Eaton was highlighted in this May 15, 2006 MSN Money article. The piece provides practical advice on building a diversified portfolio, and includes a discussion of how a properly managed portfolio can actually achieve a higher return than any individual asset within it. The article is accessible via the following link: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20060517/investment-diversity.htm

"Finding an Index-Fund Genius" Brinton Eaton was featured in this February 25-26, 2006 Wall Street Journal article. The subject was the enlightened use of low-cost index funds to achieve superior investment results. The article is accessible via the following link: http://phoenix.liu.edu/~uroy/index-funds/IndexFunds-experts.htm

"Finance Firm Puts Priority on Clients" A profile of Brinton Eaton Associates appeared in the November 2, 2003 issue of the Daily Record. View article