FAI Press Room

Dennis A. Suckstorf interviewed for the Baltimore Sun by Eileen Ambrose. Maryland lawyers and advisers have been in a holding pattern waiting for Congress to act.

J. Michael Martin interviewed for The Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2010, by Ben Levinson. Investors frustrated with stocks are jumping en masse into the safety of bonds. The yields on Treasurys have plunged to lows last seen during the worst of the financial crisis.

Lyn A. Dippel interviewed by Tim Grant for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Losing a spouse brings with it a host of issues, not the least of which is how the surviving spouse will support himself or herself financially. Elderly widows, in particular, have a higher likelihood of facing poverty as they struggle with grief.

J. Michael Martin, President and Chief Investment Officer of Financial Advantage discusses what he expects the market to look like in the next 10 years.

Curtis R. Gross interviewed for Fidelity.com. Finding winning growth stocks is a challenge in any sort of economy. Finding them in an economy where few sectors seem to be growing much at all is an even greater challenge — but by no means an impossible one. Tight credit, high debt burdens and the upcoming end to the federal government's monetary and stimulus programs will likely mean modest economic growth through the fall. That, experts say, makes it critical for investors to employ strict criteria when seeking out growth stocks.

Chad J. Norfolk interviewed for the Wall Street Journal. These volatile ETF's can magnify performance - but also deliver unexpected results.

After 15 years in their second marriage, the husband was preparing to retire with $1 million in his IRA, and the wife, who had been a stay-at-home mom, was shocked to learn she had no ownership rights to the account. "She was devastated," said Lyn Dippel, a lawyer and financial planner at Financial Advantage in Baltimore. "She had raised the kids all this time and had no money to leave her two kids from a former marriage.

J. Michael Martin Interviewed for Bloomberg Business Week. There remain glimmers of hope for bond investors. "Rising rates are not a foregone conclusion," says J. Michael Martin, president of financial planning firm Financial Advantage in Columbia, Md. A weak economy could keep the Fed from raising interest rates. Even if the Fed raises short-term rates, long-term rates could remain low if the threat of inflation seems limited.

The outlook for freedom and growth in the U.S. and China. In our January column (“A Sensible Strategy”) we suggested gradually increasing allocations to emerging markets. We cautioned, though, that not all emerging markets are created equal. “Transparency is always a concern, and whether citizens are increasingly free is probably the most critical variable to evaluate and monitor.

Sixty years of endless summer are winding down. Investors have happily surfed atop a long, beautiful but increasingly dangerous wave of credit. The past two years have been like the last days of August. We realized it was ending, but we were intent on enjoying every last drop of its pleasures because we knew we wouldn’t see it again.