Over the past 40 years, creating and maintaining financial security has become more of a personal endeavor. Despite record aggregate levels of U.S. wealth, large portions of the population appear quite vulnerable. Avoiding late-cycle overconfidence as it relates to both spending and investment decisions is key.
Stocks and bonds delivered spectacular performance in the first six months of 2019. The S&P index of large-cap U.S. stocks returned 18.5% for the year through June 30, while the Barclays Aggregate index of investment-grade bonds delivered an equally impressive 6.1% return. Declining interest rates—sparked by the Federal Reserve—deserve most of the credit for the impressive performance. But what should we expect for the second half of 2019? On the one hand, economic growth in the U.S. remains reasonably healthy, if not robust.
With the implementation of California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) set to go into effect January 1, 2020, anyone doing businesses with California residents should not only be preparing their digital strategies to comply with the new law, they should also be assessing their risk and reviewing their cyber insurance and adequacy of limits. Why? Now, at $100 minimum per individual incident, a small data breach of 5,000 people equates to $500,000 in damages. Given the minimum statutory damage provision, expect a significant uptick in class action lawsuits following data breaches.
Thomas Calandra, who is in his mid-twenties, is the owner of Calandra Enterprise. Thomas credits his family business’s success to his grandfather’s hard work, determination, and artistry that greatly influences the services provided to their customers and clients at their bakeries, hotels, and restaurants. He and his sister vow not to be like other family-owned businesses that rise in the hands of the elders and crumble in the hands of the grandchildren.
While far-reaching cyberattacks targeting the Internet of Things (IoT) devices hasn’t happened yet, it will in the not-too-distant future. Given the rapid pace of change and possibility, cyber risk insurance policies written a few years ago may not have adequate language to cover potential losses and damages that today’s IoT vulnerabilities expose. Now is the time to start reassessing cyber risk profiles in an IoT world.
A high-quality board of directors with a range of talents and experience can be a powerful resource for your company. Taking steps to ensure your board is well-designed, well-informed, and properly engaged will reap significant benefits for your company’s shareholders and management team.
If central banks do not cut rates, their authority could start to be undermined because they have raised expectations about lower rates to the point where it would be awkward to backtrack. This may provide an incentive to cut rates—good news for markets in the short term, but not necessarily in the long term.There is also a non-optimal solution in that central bank action is partly being used to counter the effects of an esclation in the trade dispute. This situation has a direct bearing on the six investment themes for 2019 and the macroeconomic forecasts for 2020.
Demographic shifts are poised to bring about significant changes in the philanthropic market, and this evolution is being accelerated by the emergence of newer, more dynamic models for giving as Generation X and millennials take over the charitable giving from their parents and grandparents. With a new generation of philanthropists seeing themselves as social investors, non-profits must also redefine their philanthropic mission and strategies toward a “for-purpose” path.
The Fine Art insurance market is beginning to harden. Personal insurance companies are offering less coverage in catastrophic areas and Lloyd is closing some of their business units, including some who write insurance for Fine Art.
Anticipating cash flows in and out of an investment program is a vital consideration in portfolio construction for high-net-worth individuals and their families.