Alert!

By Paul Morrone CFP(R), CPA, MSA

As you may know, the credit reporting agency, Equifax, experienced a data breach which may have compromised the personally identifiable information of millions of Americans. Our organization does not have a direct relationship with Equifax, however, many of the companies that you as U.S. consumers use on a daily basis likely report data to, or use data from, Equifax’s resources. Given the widespread nature of this event, we wanted to provide you with a bit more insight as to what happened and what you can do to protect yourself over the next few months.

By Paul Morrone, CFP ®, CPA, MSA

Over the past few months, LPL Financial, the custodian for many of our clients’ assets, has been working on a redesigned monthly statement which you will soon be receiving for the first time.

By Paul Morrone, CFP ®, CPA, MSA

The change of pace within the internet of things never ceases to astonish me. Back in the day when Netscape Navigator was the browser of choice and green bar printers were still a thing, a well-designed website was limited to some text content, a solid colored background and maybe some pictures if you wanted to get crazy.

Recent headlines have been quick to report a global sell off in equity securities. While there are many variables seeking to disrupt capital markets, only a handful may be attributed to the significance of the recent pullback in asset pricing.

The three fears most aggressively permeating equity markets have resulted in the tightest range of returns for the S&P 500 in the last 50 years:

1. The Greek monetary crisis and ensuing dismantle of the Euro Area. Greece, after defaulting on their loan to the International Monetary Fund, has accepted more pronounced austerity measures in their debt servicing. They have received emergency liquidity, and for the moment, the uncertainty of European dissolution has largely dissipated.

2. Prominent fears of interest rate normalization. Investors are concerned with a premature interest rate hike by the Fed that could potentially drive the economy into a relapsed recession. The Fed has reiterated however that the path to interest rate normalization will be of greater concern to capital markets than the timing and magnitude of the first rate hike. Equity securities on average have appreciated near 10% during the first 12 months of an interest rate hike, similarly bull markets do not dissipate for two and a half years after such an event.

As you may be aware, the insurance company Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield suffered a cyber-attack on January 26, 2015. As a result of the breach, personal information about policy holders, current and former employees was compromised. This data includes names, addresses, social security numbers, birth dates and emails among other identifiable information. To date, it has Anthem has confirmed that medical information has not been accessed. The timing of this breach is especially critical as tax filings occur between now and April 15th and many times hackers use personal information to file fraudulent tax returns and claim false refunds.