Greetings!  Goodbye winter, hello spring!   As another tax season is counting down, we look forward to having our annual obligations to Uncle Sam behind us and warmer weather ahead. 

As for the market, it was a continuation of last year’s momentum. The market notched its best start to the year in 5 years. The Magnificent 7, now the Fantastic 4 (nice of the market to keep segmenting into numbers related to movie titles), have seen a bit of the wind taken out of their sails. Those 4 remaining are Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta and Amazon. Apple, Alphabet, and Tesla stocks have languished in the recent quarter. The good news though, is that the broader market has begun to catch up and we are starting to see other sectors of the market catch a bid. We seem to be in the soft landing as the economy seems to be shrugging off higher inflation in the hopes that productivity and growth prevail.

We give you a deeper insight into our thoughts on the past quarter and an outlook for the current quarter and year further below. If you would like, we also have a link to the Q2 2024 Global Market Outlook by Russell Investments (click here).

In this issue of our Investment Newsletter:

• Our investment topic this issue is: "Foreign Stocks: Do They Still Make Sense?"

• Our second investment topic for this issue is: "Bitcoin: Currency or Asset?"

• Recent articles where Landmark Wealth Management was quoted in the press

• Access to our updated ADV brochure for year-end 2023

• An overview of recent market activity, along with Our Perspective...

• A recap of the performance of major market indices from the past quarter

• Upcoming Economic Calendar

You will find past investment articles, by clicking the Articles tab above, or directly on our website, found under Periodicals. 

If there is a topic of interest you would like to see covered in the future, please reply back to this email to let us know, or click here. Likewise, if you have any questions on this or anything else, feel free to reply back.

Investment Topic

"Foreign Stocks: Do They Still Make Sense?"

For our investment topic, "Foreign Stocks: Do They Still Make Sense?" we give our thoughts and suggestions. To learn more, please click here.

Please note - this investment topic, as well as past investment topics, can be found on our website under the Articles tab, or you can click here.

Investment Topic

"Bitcoin: Currency or Asset?"

For our investment topic, "Bitcoin: Currency or Asset?" we give our overview on the subject. To learn more, please click here.

Please note - this investment topic, as well as past investment topics, can be found on our website under the Articles tab, or you can click here.

Our Annual ADV

As per Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requirements, attached is our annual ADV brochure.  To access this, please click here. If you would like us to email or mail a hard copy, please feel free to call/email us to let us know.

Recent articles where Landmark Wealth Management was quoted in the press

The past few years, Landmark Wealth Management has been quoted in the press for various articles. We have decided to start sharing these when they happen. If curious about past times we were mentioned, you can see it on our website under Articles > In The Press, or simply click here.

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From an article that was on the website MarketWatch, we thought you may find this story of interest: ‘I’m not a high maintenance person.’ I’m 70 and living well on $24,000 a year in Social Security. But I’ll have to take IRA distributions soon and might want to live abroad. Should I hire a pro to help?". To access this article, please click here.

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From an article on the website US News & World Report, "How Roth IRA Taxes Work". To access this article, please click here.

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From an article that was on the website MarketWatch: "We plan to retire in 2 to 3 years with a small pension, 401(k)s and IRAs. We’d love a financial adviser to help us plan for the next 30+ years. But what might that cost?". To access this article, please click here.

As we turned the calendar into the new year, we found more of the same for the stock market, but we began to see cracks in the top names dubbed the Magnificent 7. The good thing though is that we have started to see a broadening out of the market, which is a healthy thing.

Investors shrugged off higher interest rates, continued stubborn inflation, higher consumer debt to drive this market higher in hopes the Federal Reserve comes to the rescue. Consensus keeps getting reduced, the Fed going from six to three, and some say even no interest rate cuts this year. The conversation around the bond market has rallied a bit, although returns remain flat to slightly negative. The Federal Reserve is trying to digest whether they can pull off a soft landing as the economy seems to be chugging along with employment still historically low and inflation staying above 2%, which is their target.

Given all the potential headwinds, the S&P 500 had a great quarter, notching 22 new highs during the first three months of the year, including passing the eye-catching 5,000 barrier. It has been the best first quarter return since 2019 with the barometer benchmark up about 10%. Additionally, Small and Mid-Cap stocks performed well. The top sectors were Energy, Financials, Communication Services, and Industrials. The lagging sector was Real Estate as measured by the Dow Jones US Select REIT Index, with a decline of over 1%. Market sentiment seems to be high among most market prognosticators, and if history is a guide, the market can continue its march up but as always, just as everyone jumps on the bandwagon, things can change. As Warren Buffet says, be fearful when everyone is greedy.

 The bond market is telling a slightly different story, the Bloomberg US Bond Aggregate Index was slightly negative for the quarter. Not terrible given the year we went through in 2022 when the Fed had to raise rates aggressively, yet bonds still seem to be facing selling pressure. Not surprising, given the continued high levels of debt and stubborn inflation being around 3%, above the target 2% the Fed is mandated to. The yield on the 10-year Treasury ended at 3.54%, after starting at 3.88% in the beginning of the year. Yields fluctuated quite a bit throughout the quarter; on the low end, the yield hit 3.3% and the high end, the yield touched 4.05%. Additionally, the yield curve still remains inverted and has been inverted for the longest time in American history. As of the end of the quarter, it has been this way for 634 days. The previous longest streak was 623 days which started back in August of 1978. 

As we look forward, there are several things on investors’ minds, top being an election year.  Can the Federal Reserve continue to manufacture a soft landing, and what happens on the international scene.  As far as elections go, we do not believe one should make any drastic changes to your investment allocation.  We know one thing for sure, companies are out to make profits no matter who is in the White House. They will find a way to navigate the regulatory environment and keep their businesses profitable. Could there be potential volatility along the way?  Sure, that can happen at any time. Could we have higher inflation and subdued growth? Sure, it’s possible. Could we see an expansion of wars or other events that we are not seeing just yet? Absolutely. The key, as always, is to review and update your plan on a regular basis. Use sound financial planning strategies to achieve your goals and that allow you to sleep at night. As the great Art Cashin says, don’t bet about the end of the world, as it will only happen once.  

If it has been a while since we last sat down and went over your own personal numbers, we encourage you to make an appointment and meet with us for a review.

Hopefully you have a Happy Tax Day (if at all possible) and enjoy the warmer weather!



Please remember that all investments carry some level of risk, including the potential loss of principal invested. They do not typically grow at an even rate of return and may experience negative growth. As with any type of portfolio structuring, attempting to reduce risk and increase return could, at certain times, unintentionally reduce returns.

Below is the Q1 '24 price return performance of some of the major indices:

Upcoming Key Dates on the Economic Calendar 

• First Friday of each month: Unemployment report for the prior month, released at 8:30AM.

• Thursday, April 25 at 8:30AM - GDP, 1st quarter (advance estimate).
• Tuesday, April 30 - Wednesday, May 1: The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets, and releases their announcement on Wednesday at 2PM.
• Wednesday, May 1 - Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) releases minutes of previous meeting at 2PM.

• Monday, May 27th - Memorial Day: US Markets Closed.
• Thursday, May 30 at 8:30AM - GDP, 1st quarter (second estimate).

• Tuesday, June 11 - Wednesday, June 12: The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets, and releases their announcement on Wednesday at 2PM.
• Wednesday, June 19th - Juneteenth: US Markets closed.
• Thursday, June 27 at 8:30 AM - GDP, 1st quarter (third estimate).

• Thursday, July 4th - Independence Day: US Markets closed.