Steve Booren

Improving Investor Behavior – Make Steady Savings Your Strategy

There’s $15 on the line, and your buddy is stepping up to a 10 footer for a birdie on the 18th hole. It’s a slippery putt, but not slippery enough. As he takes his shot, human nature kicks in. “Miss it, miss it,” we say to ourselves.…
Steve Booren

Renegotiating with our Business Partner, Donald Trump

Imagine you have a business relationship with a partner. You work and run the business, and take home 65 percent of the profits for your efforts and your partner received 35%. Last December your partner recognized your hard work and rewarded you with an additional 14 percent of the business, reducing their take to 21 percent.
Steve Booren

Improving Investor Behavior – Act Like an Owner

Most business owners can feel the pulse of their business. If you own a coffee shop for instance, you can go to the location, see and interact with your employees, touch your inventory, and keep your customers happily caffeinated. You can smell the aroma of your business. You can feel it. What if you had that same feeling as a shareholder of a public company? What if you thought like an owner?
Steve Booren in front of a dry erase board
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The Difference Between Financial and Investment Advice

With the advent of technology, real financial advice will be a huge differentiator in the financial services industry. Anyone can create a portfolio, asset allocation or investment strategy. We are even told robots can do this with this concept called “Robo-Advisor”. What most people actually need is advice about how their investments fit into their overall financial plan, and more importantly their life. Believe me – robots cannot do this, nor do investment products do this. It takes an experienced, skilled, listening Advisor. Both investment management and financial advice are necessary components for long-term success, but it’s important to understand the differences. So let's compare and contrast the two.
Steve Booren
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Meet Bob, The World’s Worst Market Timer

Did you invest some money on Jan. 26th? Do you ever feel “the curse” of investing at exactly the wrong point? Like your investing is too late, at the wrong time, or maybe that you’re just unlucky? Well meet Bob – the World’s Worst Market Timer.
Dave Anderson

The U.S. Economy & Markets

I am an optimist by nature. I feel this optimism is not pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking, but rather a view to the future that is based on a sound historical tract record and the economic progress we see across the globe. Because of this optimistic view toward our economy, I am also an optimist regarding our capital markets.
Road through a field of yellow grain

It’s Just the Road

In the last few days stocks have taken a beating.  Volatility has finally returned after a near two year hiatus.  Friday February 2nd saw the largest single one day drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average history.  The following Monday (Feb.…
stairs and an escalator

What is “Normal”?

Over the last ten days the stock market has experienced higher levels of volatility than we’ve seen in some time. The result has been many headlines highlighting the downfall of a strong market. It’s left many people wondering if this is…
Three plants illustrating growth

5 Tips to Help You Pursue Growth of Your Retirement Funds

How can you pursue growth of your retirement funds? We have five tips on how a dividend growth strategy that focuses on “blue chip” companies with a history of paying dividends may offer benefits when compared to a traditional investment…
Steve Booren
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2017 In Review

At the end of every year I enjoy taking a look back. As you probably know, I’m a big believer in perspective and investing for the long term. And though our ability to look forward in time is still a work in progress, our ability to look back and gain some perspective is always valuable. So as we wrap up 2017, I want to take a look back at some of the major events that defined the year.
Pat Alfano

How Dividend-Paying Stocks Are Like Tenants

In real estate, people tend to invest for rental income today and the possibility for more an increased price tomorrow. But in the stock market, I've found that many investors focus on price and ignore the long-term potential of dividends. They're taught to buy low and sell high—and they forget about the income opportunity between those two points.
Growing Old Will Your Money Keep Up?

Living to 85? Will Your Money Keep Up?

Did you know there’s an 80% chance that a 60-year-old couple will have at least one spouse reach the age of 90? And about 1-in-10 adults will live past age 95, according to the Social Security Administration. That’s a problem for most investors. Few retirement plans account for such a long period (sometimes more than 30 years!) of time. So the typical question becomes: what’s going to last longer, you or your money?
Your Income Should Not Depend on Market Whims

Market Up or Down: Your Income Should Not Change

If the market dropped 10% during your first year of retirement, how would that affect your income? What effect would a 5-year bear market have on your plans? These are the questions we encounter time after time. Investors want to understand…
Brannon Brown

Joy and the Successful Investor: The Upward Spiral

In my decade plus time advising clients, I have seen this truth—my most joyful clients are my most successful investors. Not the other way around. The rewards follow the joy, not joy the rewards. They view the future as bright and invest faithfully in it knowing that no amount of market return will ever be able to generate an internal joy, but that prudent stewardship and a long-term perspective can perpetuate the upward spiral of joy.
Steve Booren

The Crystal Ball of Context

The advisors at Prosperion don’t make short-term market predictions – you see, we don’t have a “crystal ball”. Like you, we aren’t sure when the next market correction (or major upswing for that matter) is going to happen. But we can say with certainty that one will happen… eventually.