Welcome back to our series about annuities! This time, we will be diving a little deeper into the basics of annuities. We will look at how annuities work and some important terms to concentrate on when thinking about an annuity or examining an annuity contract. First, let’s take a look at the history of annuities. They’ve been around for a very long time and have evolved over the many years.

Annuities can be some of the more complex and misunderstood financial products out there. Just start typing the word “annuity” into your search bar and look at the 33 million articles it presents. “Why Annuities are a Bad Idea for Almost Everyone” and “Despite What You’ve Heard, Annuities Aren’t All Bad” were the two of the articles found on Google recently for an annuities search. And so, the contradictions begin.

Now that we have gone over how Creekmur Wealth Advisors approaches, analyzes, and acts on investing, let’s put it all together. In this part, we will examine an individual case study; we will look at one exchange-traded fund and explain how we make an investing decision based on those three steps of analysis. Today, we will be diving deep into the ETF named CIBR!

Now that you’ve had a glimpse at our process for bringing in new investments, it is time to look at a more continuous investing responsibility of our firm: managing our current portfolios. This involves using the various investing actions that can be taken to continuously update and tweak our current holdings. This helps to ensure that our models reflect the current markets and maintain our goal of outperformance. Let’s take a look at these options:

How an individual or advisor conducts an analysis for a potential investment is one of the largest contributors to the long-term success of that particular investment. If someone has a well thought out analysis process, the odds of investing success could greatly increase.

In this next section of our investing series, we will be examining the philosophy side of investing. There are essentially two schools of thought: fundamental and technical. These two approaches to investing are often placed on opposite ends of the spectrum, but most investors fall somewhere in between the two schools. Let’s dive in!

In this series, Creekmur Wealth wants to give you a better understanding of how we go about investing for our clients: what our thought process is, what tools we use, and, what our options are for your products. But first, allow us to introduce ourselves to those of you who do not know us yet.

Are you aware of them?

The federal government offers some major tax breaks for older Americans. Some of these perks deserve more publicity than they receive.

Future financial needs may be underestimated.

If you were born during 1965-80, you belong to “Generation X.” Ten or twenty years ago, you may have thought of retirement as an event in the lives of your parents or grandparents; within the next 10-15 years, you will probably be thinking about how your own retirement will unfold.1