Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Half Of Oldest Baby Boomers Retired

More than half of the first wave of baby boomers are fully retired, according to a new study by MetLife Mature Market Institute.

Fifty-two percent of those born in 1946 are fully retired, says the study, "Healthy, Retiring Rapidly and Collecting Social Security: The MetLife Report on the Oldest Boomers." Six years ago, when MetLife began following those born in 1946, 19 percent were retired; two years ago that number had jumped to 45 percent.

Twenty-one percent of 67-years-olds are still working full time, while 14 percent are working part time. The rest are seasonally employed, on disability or self-employed.

Of those who are fully retired, 38 percent said they were ready to retire (they wanted to be through with work), 17 percent said they retired for health reasons and 10 percent said they lost their jobs. The rest retired for other reasons -- simply because they could afford to or because they wanted to join a retired spouse.

The first wave of boomers are eligible for full retirement benefits from Social Security at age 66 and 86 percent of those born in 1946 are collecting, although 43 percent say they began collecting earlier than planned.

Eighty-two percent of the first boomers want to continue living where they are and not move again.

More than 40 percent of the oldest boomers are optimistic about the future and nearly one-quarter are optimistic about their health, but only 20 percent feel good about their personal finances, says MetLife.

At the same time, of those who are retired, only 20 percent feel their standard of living has been lowered since they retired.

Source:  Karen DeMasters, Financial Advisor Magazine

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

 The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Floating-rate bank loans darling of the fixed-income market

With record-low interest rates wreaking havoc on income-seeking investors and the risk of a rate increase growing with each passing day, floating-rate senior bank loans have become the latest darling of bond investors.

A large part of the appeal, which was illustrated by nearly $15 billion pouring into bank loan mutual funds during the first quarter, is the idea that the interest on the loans adjusts to rising interest rates.

The interest on the loans, which are made to businesses by banks, is pegged to the London Interbank Offered Rate.

Although the bank loan category qualifies as below investment grade, it generally is considered higher quality than traditional high-yield bonds, mainly because of the floating-rate feature.

The bank loan funds category, as tracked by Morningstar Inc., gained 9.4% last year, and is up 3.4% this year.

That compares with the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which gained 4.2% last year and is down 0.2% this year.

Although bank loan yields are comparable to those of other high-yield bonds, much of the recent appeal can be traced to the floating-rate component.

But that shouldn't be the only reason to invest in bank loans, according to Mark Okada, co-founder and chief investment officer at Highland Capital Management LP, an $18 billion asset management firm.

“It will be hard to call the exact move in interest rates because we're in a massive global monetary experiment that's never been done before,” he said.

Part of the reason that Mr. Okada likes bank loans has to do with something most people aren't even talking about. About two-thirds of the $1.3 trillion bank loan market is owned by Collateralized Loan Obligation funds, which represents stability.

“The CLOs have 10 years to raise the money, so there's no hot money there,” Mr. Okada said.

In addition to the floor installed by the presence of the CLO market, bank loans also stack up strongly compared with traditional high-yield bonds when it comes to default risk.

The average high-yield bond is rated B, while the average bank loan is rated double-B.

In terms of historical default patterns, the long-term default rate of bank loans is 3%, with an average recovery rate of more than 70%.

High-yield bonds have a long-term average default rate of 4%, with an average recovery rate of 30%.

“Both have default risk, but it's better to be in bank loans than high-yield bonds if you adjust for default risk and recovery,” Mr. Okada said.

To be clear, bank loans are below investment-grade bonds, and should be approached accordingly.

Source:  Jeff Benjamin, Investment News

PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio (BKLN) is a component of the D2 Capital Management Multi-Asset Income Portfolio.

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

 The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Almost 90% Of U.S. Investors Plan To Increase Or Maintain Investments For 2013

Eighty-nine percent of U.S. investors plan to increase or maintain their investments for 2013, according to a survey released by the global asset management company Schroders.

Equities are the investment product most respondents preferred, the survey found. Of the U.S. investors polled, 55 percent plan to invest in U.S. equities. Eighteen percent are planning to invest in global equities and the same number are looking to invest in emerging market equities.

Schroders polled 14,800 investors in 20 countries. Respondents had to have over $15,000 that they wanted to invest in the next 12 months in order to participate.

The report shows that investor confidence is returning. Nearly half (48%) of all respondents said they are more confident about investment opportunities in 2013 than they were last year. Those in the U.S. and Asia show the greatest confidence, with 59 percent more confident about prospects compared with 39 percent in Europe and the Middle East.

The average amount to be invested or re-invested by U.S. respondents this year is just over $132,000, according to Schroders.

More than a third of all investors are planning to increase the amount they invest in the next 12 months, with an average increase of 3 percent over 12 months ago. Thirty-four percent of American investors are looking to increase the amount of money they invest in 2013 by 3 percent, and 55 percent expect to invest the same amount.

Globally, 81 percent of all respondents plan to increase or maintain their investments for 2013, the survey found. Sixty-eight percent of all investors are planning to invest in equities in 2013.

Source:  Kathy Lynch, Financial Advisor Magazine

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Investors Relying More On Advisors Post Financial Crisis

Investors who sought guidance from an advisor during the 2008 financial crisis overwhelmingly found that advice to be more helpful than any they got from another source.

Thirty percent of respondents surveyed by Fidelity got help from a financial advisor during the crisis, and 90 percent of those investors rated that guidance as helpful, topping advice from any other source. As a result of the financial downturn, nearly one-quarter (23%) of respondents rely more on a financial professional now than they did in the past, according to Fidelity's Five Years Later survey.

The study reveals that 47 percent of respondents who worked with an advisor felt better prepared financially before the crisis, compared with 37 percent who did not use one. After the crisis, 66 percent felt better prepared, versus 53 percent of those who did not use one.

Five years later, the majority of respondents say they have altered their financial mindset and investment behavior. Fifty-six percent of investors believe that it’s their responsibility to prepare for retirement. Fidelity says this reflects an increasing shift in individuals’ recognition that they must take greater interest and control of their personal finances.

According to Fidelity, actions investors have taken to better prepare for their futures include:

• Forty-two percent have increased their contribution rates to their 401(k), IRA or health savings account, and more than half (55 percent) agree that they feel better prepared for retirement than before the crisis.
• Forty-nine percent said they have decreased their personal debt, and nearly three-quarters (72 percent) say they have less personal debt now than they did before 2008.
• Forty-two percent have increased their emergency fund, and 80 percent of those respondents say they have a better understanding of their finances now than before the crisis hit.  
• Sixty-four percent are more interested now, than before the crisis, in income products, such to provide a steady cash flow in retirement.

In 2008, when the financial crisis started, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of investors reported they were either scared or confused, and nearly half (47 percent) said their household lost significant assets. 

Today, over half (56 percent) of investors feel confident about their financial condition, and those who use an advisor were more apt to say they feel the country’s economy is better now than 5 years ago.

Source:  Kathy Lynch, Financial Advisor Magazine

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Friday, May 24, 2013

5 ways to derail a retirement plan

Nobody ever said that retirement planning was going to be easy. Americans worry about retirement planning. According to a recent Gallup poll, 61 percent are very or moderately worried about not having enough money for retirement, and 58 percent are worried about not being able to pay costs associated with a serious medical issue.

If you're among the worried, here are the five circumstances most likely to derail your retirement in order of least serious to most damaging.

  1. Taking a 401(k) loan. As long as your employer allows it, you can lend yourself up to $50,000 from your 401(k). Sometimes, taking one of these loans makes sense. But often it doesn't because people don't pay them back and the loans turn into a distribution, complete with income taxes owed plus a 10 percent penalty for those younger than 59 1/2.
  2. Taking the money out of your 401(k) when you change employers. Cashing out your retirement fund -- even when it is a small amount -- is almost never a good idea.
  3. Starting retirement savings too late. If you start saving when you are in your 20s, you'll have the power of compound interest on your side. If you wait until you're 50 and starting to panic, you'll have a hard time catching up.
  4. Not saving enough. Some 57 percent of workers told the Employee Benefit Research Institute, or EBRI, that they have less than $25,000 in total savings, and 28 percent have less than $1,000. That won't go very far.
  5. Failure to save at all. One-third of workers told EBRI that they aren't saving anything at all for retirement -- even though they admit to knowing better.

Source:  Jennie L. Phipps, Bankrate.com

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” It is a phrase often associated with a new investment product or strategy, such as a new specialty fund. There is a never-ending list of new products and revived investment ideas whose risks are capable of derailing your long-term plans.

One of the most recent ones involves pension and settlement income streams.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FINRA recently published an alert about Pension and settlement income streams.  They are often pitched as pension loans, pension income programs, mirrored pensions, factored structured settlements or secondary-market annuities.  These are investments intended to provide a stream of income based on someone else’s pension or lawsuit settlement.

The appeal of these investments is the 5.75% to 7.75% yield. The downsides are the high transaction costs, the difficulty of selling them, the risk you may not be paid and the risk that the agreements may not even be legal. In other words, these can be investments that are too good to be true.

There will always be investments that sound appealing. However, some investments are often pitched to benefit the seller or the company facilitating the transaction, not the investor. This is why just because you can buy an investment, does not mean you should.

Source:  American Association of Individual Investors

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Any Profits on Gold before the Price Fell?

Bloomberg recently published a great story and reminder about how investors who sold bullion-backed gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) and are sitting on capital gains could be surprised by higher tax rates than equities.

Gold is considered a “collectible” by the IRS, so gains on bullion ETFs held for over a year are taxed at a 28% rate.

Taxpayers pay a maximum rate of 20% on long-term gains for stock ETFs. The higher tax rate for gold ETFs may catch some investors by surprise since the exchange-listed products are bought and sold like individual stocks.

Source:  John Spence, ETF Trends
  
The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Monday, May 20, 2013

5 Reasons to Avoid Buying Bonds Directly

Today, with bond yields low, owning individual bonds may be the wrong thing to do. Why? Because bond yields will rise, probably dramatically, when the Federal Reserve begins backing away from the easy-money policy that has driven interest rates down to record lows. That will pummel individual bondholders because bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Yes, holders of individual bonds will continue to collect their interest payments. But when yields rise, inflation normally does, too. The after-inflation return on these individual bonds will turn sharply negative.

Given that most bond mutual funds also are likely to lose some value when rates start to rise, why is a fund any better?

1. You can sell a fund at net asset value five days a week. With individual bonds, brokers often offer 3% to 5% less than the bonds are worth. No broker wants to buy the relatively small bond pieces that individual investors own, so no one offers remotely fair prices.

2. Managers can use derivatives to adjust the sensitivity of their bond funds to changes in yields. Some bond funds, should lose little or nothing when rates rise because it's deploying some of its assets to sell Treasuries short — that is, betting that they will fall in price.

3. A bond fund can take risks that would be imprudent for an individual investor. If you own five or ten individual bonds, you can't afford for even one of them to go bust, so you have to stick to the highest-quality issues. But if you're a fund manager and you own hundreds of issues, it's reasonable to take some risks on at least a portion of them in return for higher yields.

4. Managers have at their disposal analysts who are much better equipped to dissect an individual bond than you are. Come to think of it, fund analysts generally do a better job of assessing a bond's safety than the bond-rating agencies do.

5. Whatever value is left in the bond market today — and there's precious little — can be found only in debt that few individuals are capable of analyzing on their own. I'm referring to high-yielding junk bonds, emerging-markets bonds and some mortgage securities. For these, you need the diversification and, yes, the professional management that a bond fund provides.

Source:  Steven Goldberg, Kiplinger's

D2 Capital Management uses a variety of bond mutual funds and bond managers to maximize diversification in our client accounts.

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

BlackRock: Four Reasons to Still Hold High-Yield ETFs

As a number of market watchers have pointed out recently, high yield doesn’t look so junky anymore.

High yield spreads are historically tight, at levels not seen since the fall of 2007 as the chart below shows, meaning there’s currently a much smaller difference in yield between a high yield bond and a comparable Treasury.

At the same time, some high yield prices have reached all-time highs.

In other words, investors aren’t being rewarded that much for holding high yield, traditionally viewed as a risky asset class.

Does this mean it’s time for investors to abandon high yield? I continue to believe investors should have an allocation to high yield for four reasons:

1.)    High yield companies aren’t so junky anymore. Today’s tight high yield spreads are justified given high yield companies’ historically low default rates, which are thanks to an improving US economy, ample liquidity and very strong corporate balance sheets.

2.)    All bonds look expensive today. Absolute yields are close to record lows across the fixed income space as a result of continued bond buying by central banks around the world, from the Federal Reserve to the Bank of Japan. But while high yield appears fully priced, it still provides reasonable compensation — versus other fixed income alternatives — over the long term.

3.)    High yield has few alternatives. For yield hungry investors, there are few alternatives to high yield considering today’s record low Treasury and sovereign yields.

4.)    High yield isn’t as volatile as it used to be. While the bonds’ yields have fallen in recent years, their volatility has also dropped. In fact, the volatility of a high yield bond is roughly half of what it was last summer.

To be sure, the asset class is not without its risks. These include higher default rates than traditionally safer fixed income classes, a potential reduction in liquidity when the Fed begins to wind down its asset purchase program, and potential sensitivity to rising interest rates.  Also, if the economy turns south, high yield will likely be hurt more than other fixed income sectors.

As such, high yield is not for everyone. For speculative grade exposure that may help to insulate a portfolio in the event that rates continue to rise, I prefer floating-rate notes and bank loans over high yield. In addition, while high yield should be a key holding for more aggressive investors, I advocate that risk-adverse investors hold relatively small allocations.

Source:  Russ Koesterich, BlackRock Chief Investment Strategist

Peritus High Yield (HYLD) and PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio (BKLN) are components of the D2 Capital Management Multi-Asset Income Portfolio.

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.


The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Take the money and run?

Take the money and run or keep your allocation to stocks?

I’m sure this is a question many of you have. The market has had a good run so far this year, with the S&P 500 gaining 17.3% on a total-return basis through Wednesday’s close, despite a long list of worries. Then there is the old adage of “sell in May and go away.” But, Mr. Market remains in a chipper mood as is evident by the new record closes continually being set by the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500.

So, should you stay or should you go? The answer is yes.

If the above response seems to have all the clarity of a response one would expect from a politician, allow me to elaborate. The current environment does not offer any good alternatives from an allocation standpoint. Cash is earning next to nothing in absolute terms and costs you wealth on an inflation-adjusted basis. Yields on the benchmark U.S. Treasury closed Wednesday at 1.94%. Even gold is no longer glittering from an investment standpoint.

Relative to bonds, stocks remain cheap. The earnings yield on the S&P 500 is 5.8% as of Wednesday’s close, a significant premium to the current yield on bonds. One could argue that stocks are no longer cheap, but bonds are expensive too. On a valuation basis, by switching from stocks to bonds, you would simply be exchanging one not-so-cheap asset for an expensive asset. Cash not only loses out to inflation, but also incurs opportunity costs.

One of those opportunity costs is the chance that stocks will be priced higher in six months than they are now. Though the period of May through October is referred to as the “worst six months,” the S&P 500 still boasts an average gain of 1.2% since 1945, according to Sam Stovall at S&P Capital IQ. It is also helpful to consider what your potential loss might actually be. To throw out some numbers for the sake of discussion, let’s assume a summer correction hits and stocks pull back 10%. If the current momentum lifts the market another four percentage points between now and its late spring/summer peak, the actual decline from today will be a little more than 6%. Though nobody likes to see their portfolio decline in value, a 6% pullback is well within the range of normal fluctuations and should not be any cause to sell or worry. Keep in mind that this is just an example. When I asked my Magic 8 Ball if the market’s returns will be better or worse than what I just typed, its response was “As I see it, yes.”

It’s not just my Magic 8 Ball that is giving a lack of clarity. Jack Schannep of the TheDowTheory.com Newsletter sent out an alert last week saying the Dow Jones transportation average’s break to new record highs warranted an “in the clear” signal. He further added, “As an ‘old bold pilot’ the implication of rising above the clouds and being ‘in the clear’ is favorable, but not necessarily a permanent situation—there are usually other clouds, and some may rise into your flight path.”

Confusing? Yes. Uncertain? Yes. But, if correctly forecasting where stocks are headed was easy, the long-term returns on stocks would not be 9.98%; rather they would be much lower. Over time, stock investors get compensated for incurring risk.

Maintaining long-term allocations which includes bonds and cash still makes sense from an overall portfolio allocation standpoint.

Source:  American Association of Individual Investors

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.


Tips To Make Next Year’s Taxes Less Stressful

Most of us approach taxes as something to put off thinking about until absolutely necessary. Having just finished filing – or still putting some finishing touches on this years filing – most people want to lock up the part of their brain that deals with taxes until it needs to be brought out again next year. However, with a bit of forethought and preparation, you can make next year’s taxes go much more smoothly.

Get Organized - There’s no grand secret to filing taxes in an easy and efficient manner. It is just a simple matter of setting a system of organization and sticking too it. An old shoe box, while compact and useful, is not the most effective system for holding your financial info in an easy-to-access manner. We’ll look at a relatively bare bones system for keeping records that will come in handy when tax season rolls around again.

Receipts - Even if you do not get a single write-off for receipts, it is well worth your time to keep them - and keep them in logical order.

It allows you to find any receipts if they do become eligible for tax purposes; for example, the computer you buy in March could become a deduction if you launch a home business in December - but not if you don’t have a receipt. Even if you don’t start a business, you may donate that computer to a charity next year and you can use that receipt to set the value of the charitable deduction.

Pay Stubs and Invoices - You can file these the same way as above, but it is worth getting slightly more technical if you are going to take your taxes seriously. When you end up paying an unusually large tax bill or receiving a large return, you need to find out what caused it. Usually, you’ll find that the withholding was off all year, but that doesn’t help you when the bill comes due.

You simply need to file a new W-4 to make changes. There are also life changes that should automatically prompt you to file a new W-4, such as a marriage (or divorce), the birth of a child, a second job, a new house and so on.

Plan Your Deductions - There are all sorts of deductions for taxpayers, but too often we miss them by leaving things too late. For example, Christmas often gets people thinking about charitable contributions, but it also happens to be the month when spending on gifts eats up free cash. Instead, plan to give on a set schedule, whether monthly, quarterly, bi-annually - basically, whatever works for you. The same reasoning applies to all deductions that depend on a purchase or some action on the part of the taxpayer. This gives you a more realistic chance of actually claiming a deduction rather than merely planning to claim one.

Plan Your Investments, Too - Taxes are a consideration when investing, even though they shouldn’t be the most important consideration. If you are already in the market for stable income investments or even just saving up for retirement, do of course consider the tax advantages of certain approaches. Munis and government bonds can help high-tax, high-net-worth individuals. Similarly, plans like a tax-deferred 401K can help you sock away extra for retirement and reduce your taxable income now as a bonus.

Study Last Year’s Taxes - The best thing you can do to make next year’s taxes easier is to study last year’s taxes. What deductions did you max out? Which ones could have been bigger? What credits did you miss? Reviewing your tax return for missed opportunities will prompt you to be more aware of how your actions can impact your taxes – and that’s not a bad thing. It can also be useful to buy tax software so you can run “what if” scenarios using your return.

The Bottom Line - Nobody wants to be thinking of taxes when they’ve just finished with them for another year. However, if you get serious about keeping organized records, watching your withholding, planning your deductions and reviewing your tax returns, you’ll find that tax season becomes, if not exciting, at least bearable and easier to handle.

Source:  Investopedia

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Baby Boomers Withdrawing IRA Money Too Fast, Survey Says

Americans 61 to 70 are withdrawing money from their IRAs at a faster rate than people required to take distributions, a new survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) shows.

The EBRI study, IRA Withdrawals: How Much, When and Other Saving Behavior, says people age 61 to 70  withdrew an average of $16,655, compared with people aged 71 to 80, who withdrew an average of $10,557. Retirement plan account owners are required to take minimum distributions starting when they are 70 1/2. As would be expected, the EBRI study showed that those at lower income levels withdrew more than people in upper income levels.

“As more and more baby boomers enter retirement with large portions of their retirement savings in IRAs, their financial security in retirement may well depend on how they manage these accounts post-retirement,” says Sudipto Banerjee, EBRI research associate and author of the report.

“Some may be overly cautious in drawing down their IRA balances, sacrificing a more enjoyable retirement, while others may spend too much too soon, jeopardizing their retirement security,” he adds.

The survey includes 12,347 households that included individuals between the ages of 61 and 79 who made IRA withdrawals.

Older households were three times as likely to roll over their withdrawals to another form of savings rather than spend the money than younger households (31.5 percent versus 10.9 percent). The majority of both age groups used the withdrawn money for regular expenses or special purchases.

Forty-eight percent of lower-income people in the younger age group made IRA withdrawals, which EBRI calls a very high percentage of households. The average annual percentage of the account withdrawn was 17.4 percent by lower-income people.

“These findings are important because people who are withdrawing early do not seem to be making withdrawals with any particular strategy,” says Banerjee. “The high rate of withdrawal cannot be sustained over a retirement lifetime.”

Source:  Karen DeMasters, Financial Advisor magazine

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.




Sunday, May 12, 2013

Advance Planning Is A Key To Avoiding Marital Stress Over Finances

June is the favorite month for marriage, according to TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com. That's the good news.

The bad news is that 53% of marriages end in divorce, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention U.S. marriage and divorce rates.

Experts caution that there are many ways to crunch those numbers. But the basic prevalence of divorce stands out.

And disagreements over how to handle money are a leading factor.

"Talking about your finances is the way to avoid those disagreements," said Richard Gotterer, managing director and senior financial adviser of Wescott Financial Advisory Group, in its Coral Gables, Fla., office.

Anja Winikka, editor of TheKnot.com, said, "Talking basically means planning."

Some key points:

  • Share information. A key first step for couples and couples-to-be is to level with each other. "You've got to tell each other how much you earn, spend and owe," Winikka said. "You've got to be honest about debts, including student loans — and any problems stemming from your debt."

  • Understand your partner's attitudes. If one of you is a spender and the other is a saver, that can become a problem later. If you don't acknowledge that difference, tension is more likely. "Talk about it early so it does not become a wedge issue later on," Gotterer said.

  • Set goals. "Talk about where you want to end up," said Joe Duran, CEO of United Capital, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based firm whose website includes Honest Conversations, an interactive tool that helps couples understand their money biases.

  • Develop a strategy. This is your action plan for reaching your goals. It can cover everything from buying a house to annual vacations, paying for your children's education and retirement. This is where you come to grips with how much money each goal will take, and how much you need to set aside each year to achieve those targets.

  • Set up a rainy-day account for emergencies and an estate plan. "Even at a young age, you should write a will and create durable power of attorney, a health care proxy, and designate a guardian for your kids," Gotterer said.

  • Make a budget. This goes hand-in-glove with forming a strategy — your financial game plan. This shows you how much you need for essential expenses and discretionary ones. It is a key tool in prioritizing — deciding what you can afford, what you can't and what must be delayed.

  • Decide whether to pool all of your income in a single account. Many two-income couples prefer to have one account for paying household expenses, and then two additional accounts for each spouse's discretionary spending.  "There are pros and cons to each approach," Winikka said. "Having that conversation is what matters."  One off-shoot of that chat: deciding whether you want one person to be the family treasurer, cutting all household checks, or whether either of you can pay bills.

  • Prenuptial agreement. Create one if you have assets, income or family wealth that would need preservation in the event of divorce.  For a prenup to be enforceable each partner must have counsel, both sides must fully disclose income and assets with value. "Let your attorneys work out the details, including which things will be covered and whether you want provisions for compensating one spouse based on length of marriage," said Steven Goldfeder, a partner in the matrimonial department of New York law firm Blank Rome.

Source:  Paul Katzeff, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Young Investors Admit To Little Financial Know-How

The majority of Gen X and Gen Y admit to having little or no knowledge about financial products and services, according to a new study by LIMRA, a worldwide research organization.

Sixty percent of those born between 1965 and 1980, which is Gen X, and 54 percent of those born between 1981 and 1992, Gen Y, say they are not knowledgeable about finances, according to LIMRA’s study, "Sowing the Seeds for Retirement: Gen X and Y Market," released last week.

Those in the survey, which included 1,700 Gen X and Y members, working with an advisor felt more confident about their retirement prospects.

LIMRA’s study found that Gen X and Y consumers have little tolerance for investment risk, even though many financial experts say people early in their careers should invest more aggressively to achieve their long-term financial goals. Those who worked with a financial professional had a higher tolerance for investment risk.

“Our research indicates that few of these consumers are taking full advantage of the retirement savings vehicles available to them,” says Alison Salka, corporate vice president and director of LIMRA retirement research.

Source:  Financial Advisor Magazine

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.


Thursday, May 9, 2013

What Buffett Would Say

1) No matter how small an amount you can allot, put a bit, every month, into the stock market.

2) Follow your passion. Do what you love and the money will come. He loves to say, "I tap dance to work." That's how much he loves his profession. And by the way, Buffett doesn't love money. He loves the process of *making* the money. He went directly into the profession for which he had an affinity. Whether it's comic book artist, newscaster or social work, if you head straight to where your desire lies, you'll be successful.

3) Invest in yourself. Back in the day when he wasn't making a lot of money, he spent more than $100 dollars on enrollment in the Dale Carnegie "How to Make Friends and Influence People" seminar. He was terribly shy and realized he'd never make it to the top no matter how talented he was in asset allocation if he couldn't communicate with people well. He loves to say that that course, along with the engagement ring he bought his wife, is the best investments he ever made.

4) No need to be cheap, but be frugal. Once I called Buffett on Valentine’s Day and guess what he was eating? A roast beef sandwich. He wasn’t having filet mignon. Certain situations and endeavors may call for splurging and being more carefree, but if the billionaires are saving money, maybe you should too.

5) Be disciplined. You probably know that Buffett bought Heinz recently. But did you know that Buffett has had his eye on it since the 1980s? It was only recently that it got to the price he wanted to pay for it. Buffett absolutely refuses to overpay for stocks. He reports his own earnings for Berkshire, going by book value (which considers assets and liabilities). He tends to assess a company’s value similarly and once he determines the price he’s willing to pay for it, he won’t budge an inch. Design a set of rules that work for you when it comes to budgeting and spending and adhere to them closely if you want to be successful.

Source:  Investopedia from an interview by Liz Claman

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

High Yield and Preferreds Soar

As stocks continue to rally, two other asset classes that have been doing very well lately are non-investment grade (junk) bonds and preferreds.  Below are six-month price charts of the Peritus High Yield Bond ETF (HYLD) and iShares S&P US  Preferred Stock ETF (PFF).  As shown, both have basically gone parabolic over the last few weeks, making new 52-week highs on a daily basis.





Source:  Bespoke Investment Group

Peritus High Yield (HYLD) and iShares S&P US Preferred Stock (PFF) are both components of the D2 Capital Management Multi-Asset Income Portfolio

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Don’t Let 'Dead' 401(k)s Skew Your Retirement Plan

Americans typically work at seven different companies during their career, and most of them have something to show for each stop along the way.

"They end up with these small 401(k)s or other employer-sponsored accounts that they've left behind," said John F. Sweeney, Fidelity Investments' executive vice president.

New research on the contents of Americans' IRAs and 401(k)s suggests that these orphaned retirement plans often languish untouched since the last automatic-deposit contribution, like dusty museums of our financial needs at the time, and out of whack with our current age and attitude toward investing.

The clues come in a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, whose researchers looked at Federal Reserve data on the asset allocations of Americans' retirement accounts.

They found that workers who have more than one kind of retirement investment generally keep a higher percentage of their funds in stocks than those who have one kind of account. More specifically, those who own an IRA are more likely to be all in stocks if they have a 401(k) as well.

That lack of balance with more stable, interest-bearing assets, like bonds, suggests that these stock-heavy IRAs are predominantly old 401(k)s that were rolled over for safekeeping as workers left a job and never updated.

"There's a lot of odd investing behavior," said Craig Copeland, an EBRI researcher and author of the study, "but that may be the reason. They'll pay attention to the new 401(k), but just leave the older one."

"It's inertia," agreed Rebecca Hall, a wealth planner with Ameriprise Financial in Reston, Va. "They may never have changed from when they were hired 15 years before."

The phenomenon gives "set it and forget it" a whole new meaning.

The problem, as Copeland pointed out in the study, is that our employer-sponsored funds increasingly constitute our chief long-term savings. Investors who rely exclusively on volatile equities may find themselves left short if their retirement coincides with a downturn, as it did for many who retired in the past five years.

"The manner in which participants allocate assets within these plans could have a significant effect upon the financial resources they ultimately will have available in retirement," Copeland wrote in the study.

The easiest way to avoid stacking up 401(k)s is to establish a rollover IRA, a specially designated account that allows you to flip pretax savings out of your old employer's plan and into a new one as you switch jobs.

Alternately, you can let the money stay in the rollover indefinitely. It only makes sense to roll the funds back out if the new employer's plan is as good or better than your IRA.

You can also use a rollover IRA to consolidate multiple "dead" 401(k)s. The rollover doesn't incur any tax hit, and allows you to invest in any fund offered by your new investment firm.

With the funds from these old 401(k)s in your hands, you'll also be able to realign your asset allocation to fit your current circumstances. You'll be able to see more clearly what your current allocations are and map your way forward.

"You want to see them as combined asset base," said Sweeney. "With all of your accounts in one place, you can pull all of your holdings into one analysis."

There can be good reasons to keep your old 401(k) where it is. Your old employer may offer types of investments, like "insurance-wrapped" products, that aren't available elsewhere, or you may simply like the fund you're in. If you are planning to borrow from the 401(k) for college expenses or if you are over 55 and plan on retiring early, your 401(k) may offer more flexibility than an IRA.

But there are many more reasons to move the money. "You usually get a larger selection [of investments] that suits your current needs," said Hall, as well as permitting you to invest in a business (including your own) or in real estate. In general, an IRA offers you more control over the money. "With a 401(k), you are a participant, not an owner," Hall said. "In an IRA, you own the dollars."

This difference becomes crucial if the business you're working for goes poof—or you do. "Managing distribution of 401(k)s in case of death can be less than ideal," Hall pointed out. "Some plans will simply cut the survivors a check and let them pay the taxes." A surviving spouse can pull a deceased mate's funds into their own IRA, and surviving children have the option of taking the distributions over time.

If you've racked up half a dozen retirement accounts, the thought of rationalizing them all may appear daunting. But thanks to the Internet, it's never been easier to switch your "dead" 401(k)s from one investment firm to another, though it's usually wise to talk to a representative of both parties by phone. They may even do it for you.

Source:  Paul O'Donnell, CNBC


The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Investors' Fear of Missing Rally Replaces Concerns

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 15000 for the first time Tuesday as stocks continue a historic four-year run that investors are finding increasingly irresistible.

The Dow is off to its fastest start to any year since the dot-com-fueled bull market of 1999. But this time around the surge isn't driven by blind optimism—many investors simply see few alternatives to stocks.

Tuesday's rally, which pushed the Dow up 87.31 points to 15056.20, was the latest milestone for a steep climb that began in the throes of the financial crisis. Since the market bottomed in March 2009, the Dow has surged nearly 130% without suffering a single bear-market downturn—typically defined as a decline of 20% or more from a recent high.

The latest leg of the rally has been led by stocks favored by cautious investors, such as those companies that pay high dividends. And investors continue to pour money into the perceived safety of bond mutual funds despite extremely low yields.

Traders say the stock market's march into record territory has been fed by a steady stream of buying. That includes smaller investors who had for the most part shunned U.S. stocks in the years since the financial crisis.

"This has been a pretty resilient market," said Sean Lynch, global investment strategist at Wells Fargo Private Bank. "Investors have played the worry game, and those that have sat on the sidelines in cash are starting to question that."

Fueling the growing confidence in stocks is a sense that the U.S. economy is healthy enough that recession isn't a concern but not so strong that the Federal Reserve will pull back on its aggressive measures to ease monetary policy.

The Fed's efforts to keep interest rates extremely low are seen by many as a key driver of the rally.

In recent months, the blue-chip Dow has seemed particularly impervious to economic and political headwinds. The Dow is already up 15% this year, despite a congressional battle over the federal deficit and a banking crisis in Cyprus that threatened a flare-up in the euro zone's continuing debt woes.

The Dow hasn't suffered a three-day losing streak in 87 days, the longest such run since 1958. It has been nearly six months since the Dow suffered even a 5% decline. And the last 10% drop took place in the summer of 2011, when the index lost 17% as the European debt crisis flared up and the U.S. government's debt rating was downgraded.

In addition to the Dow's record finish, a number of other closely watched measures also staked out new ground.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 0.5% to 1625.96, its fourth straight record. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1% to its highest finish since November 2000.

With cash and money-market funds yielding next to nothing, and Treasury yields near historic lows, more investors are deciding stocks are the best place to put their money, even with a U.S. economy that has struggled to build momentum and relatively weak earnings news.

"The risks really seem to have dissipated," said Benjamin Pace, head of asset allocation for Deutsche Bank Personal Wealth Management. "We're five years removed from the initial onset of the financial crisis, and that echo effect has gotten lighter and lighter."

"All that money is starting to burn a hole in people's pockets," Mr. Pace added. "People talk about there being no alternatives to stocks, and there's an element of truth to that."

Mr. Pace knows the dilemma firsthand.

His investment team came into the year with a cautious stance on the equity market, given worries about the ongoing debt crisis in Europe and budget wrangling in Washington. Last month, though, the Deutsche team, which manages $60 billion in assets, decided to increase its holdings of stocks, and is debating whether to push that allocation even higher.

Many smaller investors are also starting to creep back into stocks.

In the past few months, Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, the retail brokerage business for the fund-management giant that has more than 14 million client accounts, said more money has been flowing into stocks and mutual funds.

"People's confidence is coming back," said Ram Subramaniam, president of Fidelity Brokerage Services, adding that the amount of client money that flowed into stocks last quarter is about two-thirds higher than it was a year ago.

As a sign of how quickly the recent gains have come, the Dow first cleared the 14000 level in July 2007, as the housing-fueled stock rally was reaching its peak. After the financial crisis, stocks tumbled by 54% before taking the next four years to reclaim the 14000 level again on Feb. 1 this year. In contrast, it took just 66 days to burst from the 14000 level to Tuesday's close above 15000.

There are signs of lingering caution among investors. There have been big gains in the more conservative corners of the market, such as consumer staples, utilities and telecommunications stocks. These companies tend to be valued more for their steady earnings and their dividends rather than their growth opportunities.

Defensive posturing can also be seen among U.S. Treasurys. As recently as last Thursday, the yield on the benchmark 10-year note—which falls as prices rise—dropped to 1.63%, one of the lowest levels in history.

Meanwhile, investors have continued to pump money into bonds alongside stocks. The first 17 weeks of 2013 saw a record $55.2 billion of investor money flow into mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that focus on investment-grade corporate debt, according to Thomson Reuters unit Lipper.

Still, Bob Baur, chief global economist at Principal Global Investors, which manages about $280 billion in assets, has seen more signs of stock-market interest percolating.

"We think U.S. stocks are still unloved and under-owned," Mr. Baur said. "Money has come out of U.S. equities for five years, and it's only started to come back in."

Source:  Jonathan Cheng, Wall Street Journal

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Warren Buffett Favors Equities Over Bonds

Warren Buffett has been a hot topic in the media in recent days after the legendary investor jumped on the social media bandwagon and joined Twitter last week. Appropriately so, Buffett’s first tweet was “Warren is in the house,” and in a matter of a few hours, the account’s followers swelled to nearly 400,000.

And as investors continued to listen intently to Buffett’s every word, his CNBC interview on Monday morning drew in plenty of listeners for his valuable kernels of wisdom.

Buffett Sees Great Opportunities for Stock Buyers.

Warren Buffett was once famously quoted saying “ be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful” – an investment philosophy that seems quite simple, but is often difficult for investors to implement. For the most part, investors often find themselves following the mainstream trend, buying in when investments are hot and quickly unloading positions when things turn sour. According to Warren Buffett, however, this knee-jerk trading strategy rarely provides meaningful returns.

In his CNBC interview, Buffett emphasized his belief, stating that “people pay way too much attention to the short term” and instead need to pay more attention to when major indexes fall below milestones, since that is when stocks are cheaper and more attractive to buy.

When asked what he thinks about the current environment, Buffett noted that while equities are not as cheap as they were several years ago, he thinks that at this time they are “reasonably priced” and are bound to go far higher in the long run. Fixed income investments on the other hand, have several red flags in their future, primarily due to the fact that the Fed will eventually raise interest rates. Currently, Buffett says that bonds are priced artificially higher because of the central bank’s bond-buying program, and when rates start to rise, bond holders could see a significant impact on bottom line returns.

Source:  Daniela Pylypcak, ETFdb

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.

Understanding the IRA Withdrawal Rules

For Traditional IRA owners: If you're going to turn age 70 1/2 this year (2013), the IRS requires that you begin taking minimum withdrawals from your account. Here's what you need to know to do it right.

Minimum Withdrawal Basics - If you're near that magic age of 70 1/2, then you probably already know that the tax law requires you to take mandatory payouts each year. If you turn 70 1/2 this year (2013), you must take your first minimum withdrawal no later than April 1 of 2014.

Tapping your IRA, of course, means you'll also get stuck with the resulting income-tax bills. In fact, the whole reason your friends in Congress enacted the minimum withdrawal rules was to force you to hand over the government's share of your IRA sooner rather than later. If you fail to take at least the minimum withdrawal amount each year, you'll owe a 50% penalty on the shortfall. Of course, you can always take out more than the minimum and pay the extra income taxes. In fact, the IRS will be delighted if you do.

Keep in mind, the IRA minimum withdrawal rules also apply to simplified employee pension, or SEP, accounts as well as SIMPLE IRAs, since they're both considered IRAs for this purpose. But Roth IRA owners are exempt from the minimum withdrawal rules as long as the original account owner is alive.

When to Start Withdrawals - Since nothing the IRS does is ever simple, knowing when you need to start taking mandatory withdrawals, is -- but of course -- tricky. As you approach 70 1/2, you're faced with a choice. You can take your first minimum withdrawal during the year you turn 70 1/2, or you can take it by April 1 of the year after you turn 70 1/2. Then for each subsequent year, you must take at least the required minimum withdrawal by Dec. 31 of that year.

Why does it matter when you start tapping your IRA? Well, it can have significant tax implications. After all, if you don't take your initial minimum withdrawal during the year you turn 70 1/2, you must take two -- and pay the resulting double dip of taxes -- in the following year.

Calculating Minimum Withdrawals - The amount of each minimum withdrawal depends on your IRA account balance at the end of the previous year divided by a joint life-expectancy figure for you and your account beneficiary (even if you don't have one!) found in tables published by the IRS. The younger you are, the longer the life-expectancy figure. The longer the life-expectancy figure, the bigger the divisor. And the bigger the divisor, the lower the minimum withdrawal amount. Of course, lower minimum withdrawals mean lower taxes -- which, obviously, is good.

The minimum withdrawal rules automatically assume you've designated a person 10 years your junior as your IRA beneficiary. Don't worry, it doesn't matter to the IRS if your actual designated beneficiary is older than the assumed age. In fact, it generally doesn't matter if you've actually designated a beneficiary or not. This might strike you as odd, but there is some history behind it. (We'll spare you the titillating details.)

The only exception to the "automatically-10-years-younger-beneficiary rule" is when your spouse is designated as the sole IRA beneficiary and he or she is more than 10 years younger. In this somewhat unusual circumstance, you're allowed to calculate your IRA minimum withdrawals using more favorable joint life-expectancy figures based on the actual ages of you and your spouse.

Source:  Bill Bischoff, Smart Money

The following on-line calculators can help you determine your Required Minimum Distribution:

http://apps.finra.org/calcs/1/rmd
http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/ira-minimum-distribution-calculator-tool.aspx


The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

The Jacksonville Business Journal has ranked D2 Capital Management in the top 25 of Certified Financial Planners in Jacksonville.  The Firm is also a member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida.