In the News: Inflation, Philanthropy, More

Philanthropy, inflation and divorce were just some of the topics Aspiriant advisors discussed with major financial news outlets in the last month.

Among the highlights:

Phil Kastenholz, director in Investment Strategy & Research and partner, told MarketWatch that the Fed is “playing a fine line” when it comes to timing interest rate increases and the speed of tapering.

“Kastenholz said that he is particularly concerned about wage inflation, with the jobs report Friday [August 6] showing a 4% increase over the past year. He worries higher wages could lead to stickier rises in inflation,” MarketWatch said.

Jan Vega, director in wealth management, was featured in Financial Advisor, a trade publication, on how to incorporate philanthropy into advisory practice.

“The important part for the advisor is identifying your role in the process then finding the right partners and resources for the other pieces,” Jan said.

Meanwhile, Sandi Bragar, partner and managing director in Planning Strategy & Research, made the media rounds with The Wall Street Journal, TD Ameritrade’s Market Overtime, BNN Bloomberg, Bloomberg TV and Yahoo! Finance.

In The Wall Street Journal, Sandi commented on the tendency for people to make rash investment decisions or neglect their portfolios when going through a divorce. Once the stress is over, the situation improves. “When you go through a divorce, you reach a new normal,” she said. “You have a new identity and then move on.”

In the newscasts, Sandi talked about why we’re still positive on the economic recovery, concerns about a market reversal, and investment opportunities, while stressing the importance of having a diversified portfolio with global exposure.

“The stock market and the economy are related; they don’t often move in lock-step,” she told John Erlichman on BNN Bloomberg. “We think it’s really important to be cognizant of risk in portfolios, and that’s what we’re doing for our clients.”