Greetings!

We hope you're staying cool this summer!

As of July 27th, the S&P 500* is up an even 9% year-to-date. Short- and intermediate-term bonds breakeven year-to-date at .35% and -.34% respectively. Bonds have been impacted by rising interest rates and inflation, but stock funds have certainly picked up the slack.

Last month, we saw the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history with SpaceX. It generated a lot of hype, and probably led some folks driven by the fear or missing out (FOMO) to jump on this new opportunity. A single stock can be a lot more volatile (for better or worse) than a broader stock index fund, so be sure you have a plan in place to manage concentration issues of a single company in your portfolio.

Since we're squarely in the 2nd half of the year, now might be a good time to check in on how you're tracking with your savings goals or perhaps your spending/gifting goals. You may also want to see how you're tracking on the taxes you've paid in this year to avoid any unpleasant surprises you might uncover when you file for 2026. There's still time to adjust in any one of these areas!

Casey Caudle has recently joined us as a financial planning associate. Casey has been in education previously, and we're so excited to have him on our team!

Please read on for other actionable planning ideas. We will be closed for Labor Day (Monday, September 7th). We also have our team retreat coming up this fall where we will be closing the office (Monday and Tuesday, October 19th & 20th). If there's something on your mind that you'd like to see us cover in our October newsletter, please let us know!

*S&P 500 TR USD for S&P 500. Bloomberg US Aggregate Total Return for intermediate-term bonds. Bloomberg US Government/Credit 1-5 Year Total Return for short-term bonds.

Trump / 530A Accounts

The markets made a resilient comeback during the second quarter of the year after the volatility we experienced in the first quarter. This is a classic, textbook example of the benefit of staying the course and remaining invested in your current portfolio.

With markets again at all time highs, now may be a good time to reassess whether or not you need to rebalance your portfolio or consider lowering your stock allocation if the market volatility in Q1 made you lose some sleep.

The S&P 500* returned 15.20% for the quarter, a sharp reversal from the -4.33% from last quarter. Small cap stocks returned 19.70% and large cap value stocks returned 13.87%. On the international side for stocks, developed stocks returned 14.2% for the quarter. Emerging market stocks returned 12.1%.

Bond funds returned 0.67% for intermediate-term bonds and 0.38% for short-term bonds, with 1-year total returns in the 3% range. It was a notable quarter at the Federal Reserve, with new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh taking office in May and demonstrating a more hawkish tone on inflation than the market anticipated. Despite the market now pricing in rate increases before the end of the year, bonds still yielded positive total returns for the quarter, a reminder that when looking at bond returns, it’s important to factor in both the price change and the interest income (total return).

Similar to last quarter, this quarter has most rewarded investors who are well diversified. While the S&P 500 tends to grab the headlines, out of all the asset classes mentioned, it was actually the lowest performing one over the past 12 months (22%), with small cap being the top performing asset class mentioned at 37.50% for the 1-year time period.

With uncertainty running at levels relatively similar to what we’ve seen over the past few quarters, your guess is as good as ours as to what Q3 will hold. That’s exactly why we recommend staying invested in a portfolio that’s appropriately allocated to your risk tolerance and goals, rather than trying to predict what comes next. If you’re unsure how your portfolio is currently allocated, or you’d like to make sure it still lines up with your long-term financial goals, give us a call – we’re always happy to sit down and take a look together.

*Source for investment returns is YCharts. Quarterly returns are as of June 30, 2026. S&P 500 TR USD for S&P 500. S&P SmallCap 600 TR USD for small cap stock. Russell 1000 Value Total Return for large value stocks. FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index for developed markets stock. FTSE Emerging Markets China A Inclusion Indices for emerging markets stock. Bloomberg US Aggregate Total Return for intermediate-term bonds. Bloomberg US Government/Credit 1-5 Year Total Return for short-term bonds.