The average performance before, during and after a recession shown in pink, yellow and orange respectively. The performance after is much greater than during or before.

Chart of the Day

Chart of the Day: Positive Returns During Recessions

Today’s Chart of the Day and commentary is from Angie Parsons, my colleague and fellow Portfolio Manager. The chart from BlackRock shows stock..

View of a young woman's hands holding a credit card and sitting cross-legged with a laptop on her lap, open to a shopping website.

Security and Fraud Prevention

Ten Ways to Keep Your Money Safe Online

Life is busy. We spend our waking hours working, learning, parenting, caretaking, exercising, cooking, shopping and feeling guilty about all the..

Chart illustrating Total Risk, with unsystematic risk noted in light blue and systematic risk in darker blue.

Chart of the Day

Chart of the Day: More Investments = Less Risk (To a Point)

Today’s Chart of the Day spotlights an important investment concept which was pioneered by Harry Markowitz, a Nobel Prize winner and pioneer of the..

Chart of the Day

Chart of the Day: Work from Home Figures Sticky at 30%

Today’s Chart of the Day from Wolfstreet shows that Work from Home, a.k.a. WFH, is getting “sticky” at 30% after peaking at 60% during the pandemic.

young woman sitting on a wood floor with laptop on her legs and take-away coffee in her hands. Tax documents on floor all around her

Security and Fraud Prevention

Protect Yourself from Tax Scams This Season

It’s that time of year again - tax season. Let’s not let the fraudsters cash in on our hard-earned money or steal our identity.

Line graph illustrating the median age of homebuyers from 1981 to 2024

Chart of the Day

Chart of Day - Median Age of Homebuyers

Today’s Chart of the Day uses data from the National Association of Realtors compiled by Torsten Sølk with Apollo, showing the history of the median..

Map of US with orange highlights from light to dark with the darker the shade indicates the higher number of insurance non-renewals. Map of the US with blue highlights from light to dark illustrating the 3-year insurance premium change with the darker the shade indicating the higher the increase.

Chart of the Day

Chart of the Day: Higher Homeowner Insurance

Today’s two charts illustrate that Florida continues to struggle with increasingly more expensive homeowners' insurance.

How Florida's Hurricane Season Impacts Home Mortgages

As we enter another year in the Sunshine State, one thing remains consistent—hurricane season. For many Floridians, this season means more than just..

Bar graph illustrating cash vs 60/40 portfolio results over 1, 2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. Red bars indicate the percentage of time the 60/40 outperformed cash, while black bars show the percentage of time that cash underperformed during that same time period.

Chart of the Day

Chart of the Day: Cash Can Cost

Today's Chart of the Day, from BlackRock, illustrates the potential downside of staying in cash for too long. It highlights the excess returns of a..

bar chart in amazon blue showing growth of use over time

Chart of the Day

Chart of the Day: 75% Use Prime

Today’s Chart of the Day from Chartr shows that over 75% of American’s are using Amazon Prime as of 2024. Amazon is now the 4th largest company in..

Real Estate Buying a home Loan Banking

Your Guide to Residential Mortgages in Florida: What Homebuyers Need to Know

Buying a home is one of the most significant financial decisions you'll make, and navigating the mortgage process can be daunting—especially in..

Graph showing the happiness level of Olympic bronze (red) and silver medalists (yellow) on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest)

Chart of the Day

Chart of the Day: Bronze Happier Than Silver

Today’s Chart of the Day has data from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology used by our partners at BlackRock (the company that owns..

percentage of assets shown in blue, percentage of funds in orange

Chart of the Day

Chart of the Day: Fees go on Forever

Today’s Chart of the Day from Bloomberg shows the percentage of assets and revenue by ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), which we use extensively in..

Older gentleman sitting at a desk working on a laptop

Banking

The Benefits of Using Crews Bank & Trust's Online and Mobile Banking

Online and Mobile Banking have transformed how we manage our finances, making traditional banking methods seem old-fashioned by comparison. With just..

Yellow bar graph by year, from 2020 to 2024, comparing the history of stockholder returns (black line) for Big Oil

Chart of the Day

Chart of the Day: The Value Stocks of Big Oil

Today’s Chart of the Day, shared by my colleague Angie Parsons, is from an article in Bloomberg which illustrates what a “value” stock is.

On Our Minds

List Grid

Chart of the Day

03/13/25

Chart of the Day: Positive Returns During Recessions

Today’s Chart of the Day and commentary is from Angie Parsons, my colleague and fellow Portfolio Manager.

The chart from BlackRock shows stock returns during recessions dating back to 1929. Surprisingly, the average return is positive and increases to 25% the next year afterwards. This highlights that although market downturns sometimes coincide with recessions, the stock market is not a good indicator of the current state of the economy. The reason is the stock market often looks past the short-term and instead looks well into the future. Therefore, more often than not, the stock market recovers faster than the economy.

Security and Fraud Prevention

03/12/25

Ten Ways to Keep Your Money Safe Online

Life is busy. We spend our waking hours working, learning, parenting, caretaking, exercising, cooking, shopping and feeling guilty about all the things we didn’t do. The list is endless, and it all takes time, so something has to give.

Chart of the Day

03/11/25

Chart of the Day: More Investments = Less Risk (To a Point)

Today’s Chart of the Day spotlights an important investment concept which was pioneered by Harry Markowitz, a Nobel Prize winner and pioneer of the Modern Portfolio Theory in 1952.

Chart of the Day

03/6/25

Chart of the Day: Work from Home Figures Sticky at 30%

Today’s Chart of the Day from Wolfstreet shows that Work from Home, a.k.a. WFH, is getting “sticky” at 30% after peaking at 60% during the pandemic.

Security and Fraud Prevention

03/5/25

Protect Yourself from Tax Scams This Season

It’s that time of year again - tax season. Let’s not let the fraudsters cash in on our hard-earned money or steal our identity.

Chart of the Day

03/4/25

Chart of Day - Median Age of Homebuyers

Today’s Chart of the Day uses data from the National Association of Realtors compiled by Torsten Sølk with Apollo, showing the history of the median age of all homebuyers. In 1981 the median age was 31 and in 2024 it peaked to a high of 56.

Chart of the Day

02/27/25

Chart of the Day: Higher Homeowner Insurance

Today’s two charts illustrate that Florida continues to struggle with increasingly more expensive homeowners' insurance.

02/26/25

How Florida's Hurricane Season Impacts Home Mortgages

As we enter another year in the Sunshine State, one thing remains consistent—hurricane season. For many Floridians, this season means more than just stocking up on emergency supplies. It's about stabilizing finances and ensuring their most significant investment—their home—is protected. Understanding the relationship between hurricane season, homeownership, and mortgage stability is crucial for anyone navigating Florida's housing market.

Chart of the Day

02/25/25

Chart of the Day: Cash Can Cost

Today's Chart of the Day, from BlackRock, illustrates the potential downside of staying in cash for too long. It highlights the excess returns of a 60% stock/40% bond portfolio compared to cash since 1926. The top bars (red) show these returns; for instance, a 10-year holding period yields returns 100% higher than cash.

The black boxes below show the percentage of time cash underperforms; for 10 years, that is 91% of the time.

This highlights the old adage, "It’s not about timing the market, but time in the market." If you have funds that you will not need for more than 10+ years, historically, stocks have been your best bet.

Chart of the Day

02/20/25

Chart of the Day: 75% Use Prime

Today’s Chart of the Day from Chartr shows that over 75% of American’s are using Amazon Prime as of 2024. Amazon is now the 4th largest company in the United States and has an annual return of 27% a year vs. 15% for the S&P 500 over the same time frame.

Real Estate, Buying a home, Loan, Banking

02/19/25

Your Guide to Residential Mortgages in Florida: What Homebuyers Need to Know

Buying a home is one of the most significant financial decisions you'll make, and navigating the mortgage process can be daunting—especially in Florida’s unique housing market.

Chart of the Day

02/18/25

Chart of the Day: Bronze Happier Than Silver

Today’s Chart of the Day has data from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology used by our partners at BlackRock (the company that owns iShares) for a presentation they recently provided to our clients.

Chart of the Day

02/13/25

Chart of the Day: Fees go on Forever

Today’s Chart of the Day from Bloomberg shows the percentage of assets and revenue by ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), which we use extensively in portfolios.

Banking

02/12/25

The Benefits of Using Crews Bank & Trust's Online and Mobile Banking

Online and Mobile Banking have transformed how we manage our finances, making traditional banking methods seem old-fashioned by comparison. With just a few taps or clicks, you can gain complete control over your accounts, no matter the time or place. At Crews Bank & Trust, we love to see our customers, but we know sometimes life is just too busy to stop by.

Chart of the Day

02/11/25