Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

Identity fraud is a growing problem and affected more people in the last year than at any time since data started being collected.  The data breach at Equifax last year is the highest profile case since it affected more than 145 million Americans. Many other major companies have had large-scale data breaches including Anthem Blue… Read More »

Real Estate Investing: What are the options?

By Daniel Cohen The market value of all real estate in the world is more than 200 trillion dollars which is more than triple the size of the value of all stocks and almost double the value of all bonds. Considering this staggering value, it may seem unusual that most financial advisors and their clients… Read More »

Saving for College? The Virginia 529 Plan gets Morningstar’s Gold Rating.

Cohen Investment Advisors believes strongly in the value of a higher education and we help our clients plan for the future cost of funding education for their children. 529 plans provide a tax-advantaged way for parents and grandparents to save funds for college expenses. These plans are offered in every state and the decision can… Read More »

Cash is NOT King

By Daniel Cohen, CFP® Interest rates have been rising but rates paid on savings at banks are still near historic low levels, barely more than zero percent.  Big losses have been suffered on holdings of intermediate and long-term bonds as that is where the rates have risen the most.  Losses on ten-year treasury bonds are… Read More »

Rethinking the Balanced Approach to Investing

With interest rates remaining at historic lows for an extraordinary length of time, maybe now is the time to rethink how much should be allocated to bonds in a portfolio.  Historically, it has made sense to hold a certain percent of a typical portfolio in stocks balanced with bonds in order to reduce risk.  Stocks… Read More »

Beware of the Robo-Advisor and Other “Smart” Investment Solutions

By Daniel Cohen The financial services industry has undergone changes since I entered it more than two decades ago, and it seems to be changing at an accelerated pace in the past few years.  Just like many other industries such as lodging (Airbnb) and transportation (Uber), financial services companies are now competing with technology-based competition… Read More »

Staying on the winding road to steady growth

By Daniel Cohen In response to the recent volatility in the markets since the end of last year, we’ve been hearing from people nervous about their investments, particularly in stocks. The so called “Wall Street jitters” continue to haunt some investors, particularly those looking for “safer” financial vehicles or products in which to invest, and… Read More »