Bristlecone Blog

As the year comes to an end, we wanted to thank you for your trust in our services. We’ve worked with some of you and your families for more than 20 years now, and it is much appreciated.

Speaking at an AARP event in late February, President Obama proposed tougher standards for brokers and other financial “advisors” who oversee retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401ks. Specifically, the White House wants brokers–whose investment recommendations are currently subject to a suitability standard–to instead be held to a more rigorous fiduciary standard.

While the Federal Reserve’s recently-concluded “quantitative easing” program has been a boon to several asset classes (including domestic equities, which are once again broaching record highs), the policy of deliberately low interest rates has been a burden to investors with large allocations to fixed income.

As indicated by a recent internet privacy breach (where private nude photos of celebrities ended up on public websites), it is becoming harder to keep secrets. In most cases, the photos were stolen from private iCloud accounts, leading to speculation that Apple’s security measures had been compromised.