April 2017 - Sheaff Briefs

Duel over the Rule

“What’s it all about?” you may be asking, hearing the talking heads go on about the Department of Labor Fiduciary Rule. “The Rule,” debated for years, became official under President Obama, and was scheduled to be phased in starting April 10, 2017. The rule expands the “investment advice fiduciary” definition under Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Meanwhile, a special memorandum issued by President Trump attempted to delay the rule’s implementation by 180 days so that the [...]

Neither Too Big Nor Too Small, Midcaps May Turn Out to be “Just Right”!

Most investors are accustomed to paying attention to small company stocks (they’re exciting) or large caps (they’re familiar), but often need to be reminded of a third, sometimes “forgotten,” asset class that has the potential of being (as Goldilocks would put it) “just right” for their portfolios. With the necessary caveat that “past performance is no guarantee of future results,” Sheaff Brock Mid-Cap 10 portfolio manager Paul Coan likes to point out that midcap stocks tend to be more stable [...]