Happy Fall! It continues to be a good year in the investment markets, and we have a full report below.

We touched on the key tax changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) in last quarter's newsletter. Because of OBBBA, the tax rates for 2026 will not change, but we'll still see the bracket threshholds adjust for inflation. The final figure for the 2026 cost-of-living adjustments is expected to release on October 24, and the current expectation is 2.8%.

If you're a federal employee affected by the shutdown, how you should respond financially depends on your situation. We're sharing general shutdown financial planning guidance, and are happy to strategize personally with you.

We're excited about Justin Apostolo joining our team as a financial planning analyst after spending a few months with us as our 2025 summer intern! Justin is finishing up at BYU-Idaho until graduation next year. Welcome to the team!

We are looking to expand our team again for the summer and are taking applications for our 2026 intern! Find out more about the position here, and if you're interested, please apply by October 24th.

Please read on for other actionable planning ideas. We will be closed for Thanksgiving (Thursday and Friday, November 27th & 28th), Christmas (Wednesday through Friday, December 24th - December 26th), and New Year's Day (Thursday, January 1st). We plan to send the next newsletter out in mid-January. We'd love to hear from you on questions or suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered in the future.

We closed out another strong quarter last month. Year-to-date, global markets have significantly outperformed the U.S. on the equity side. The Federal Reserve cut rates and AI is driving growth in tech stocks.

With all of this good news, there is still uncertainty around inflation, concerns over international tensions, and government shutdown worries. While the S&P 500 attained new highs last quarter, so did both gold & silver. If you currently hold precious metals, this is good news for you. Though we don't recommend these assets as part of an investment portfolio, it's especially important to remember at this time that if you're considering purchasing gold or silver, you're definitely buying high. Remember, it's sell high and buy low.

The S&P 500* returned 8.12% last quarter and is just under 15% for the year. Small cap stocks were up 12.39% for the quarter and 10.39% for the year. Large cap value stocks were positive as well at 5.33% for the quarter and nearing 12% for the year.

On the international stock side, developed markets returned 4.77% last quarter and are up over 25% year-to-date. If your portfolio is over target in a particular area, it's probably in emerging markets stock. At 10.64% for the quarter and 27.53% so far this year, it's been quite the rewarding little position in our portfolios this year. Most of our portfolios include a small allocation to this portion of the international stock market due to it being a little riskier when compared to more developed countries. But investors have certainly been rewarded for taking on that risk this year.

Our bond funds are positive for the quarter with intermediate-term bonds at 2.03% and 6.13% for the year. Our shorter-term bonds returned the same as last quarter at 1.12% and hovering around 4% for the year.

With another report of above average returns, we want to remind you that systematic rebalancing of the portfolio back to your target asset allocation is one of the best ways you can manage risk in your financial plan. We get it... it's fun to see your portfolio swell when things are going well in the market. It can feel like you're stopping the growth too soon by rebalancing. While there may be some truth to that, it will feel much better to sell high and rebalance the portfolio yourself than to let the market correct and "rebalance" for you. If you need a partner to help take some of the emotion out of portfolio decisions, we're here to help!

*Source for investment returns is Morningstar. Quarterly returns are as of September 30, 2025. S&P 500 TR USD for S&P 500. Russell 2000 TR USD for small cap stock. Russell 1000 Value TR USD for large value stocks. MSCI EAFE NR USD for developed international markets. MSCI EM NR USD for emerging markets stock. Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD for the US aggregate bond index. Bloomberg US Government 1-3 Yr TR USD for short-term bonds.