Real Life Results, No Doping Necessary

Can you believe we are in the 2nd half of 2016? I can already imagine the headlines we will have in store for the next six months…from the Olympics to the U.S. Presidential Race.  Our mission at Illumination Wealth is to help our clients live their best financial life, no doping necessary. One of the ways we accomplish this is through our commitment to growth and learning – a core value of Illumination which you will read about below.

This month we are excited to introduce Office Hours — a Facebook Live video stream giving our clients and community advice that they can use immediately to live their best financial life. We will also offer guidance on insurance and investing in volatile markets.

In this edition of our newsletter:

• Illumination Wealth Office Hours: Tips On How to Travel Like The Wealthy
• If Disaster Strikes, Are You Prepared?
• Market Scoreboard
• Illumination’s Core Values

Illumination’s Office Hours: Tips On How To Travel Like The Wealthy

Join us Tuesday, July 26 at 1:30PM Pacific/ 4:30PM Eastern on Facebook Live for our first edition of Office Hours. Office Hours is a brief, informative video segment that gives you quick actionable advice on a variety of personal finance topics. Make sure to be notified when we’re live by liking the Illumination Wealth Management page on Facebook.

If Disaster Strikes, Are You Prepared?

Matt talks with Craig Sewing on The American Dream Show about the importance of understanding your investment risk profile when it comes to protecting your investments. Alexis Ranglas, Insurance Advisor at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., joins them to explain how to protect your home and other valuable property from disasters by making sure you have the right insurance coverage.

Market Scoreboard

1st Half 2016 Market Performance

After a volatile first half of 2016, most major markets, including the U.S. stock market, ended the six month period with positive returns. U.S. stocks began the year with the worst start ever, recovered within weeks, fell again toward the end of June due to the Brexit vote, and recovered quickly to close the first half up 2.69%. The U.S. stock market continues to climb into the second half of the year. Talk about a wild ride. If this experience teaches you one thing, it’s that you can’t predict the market.

Other markets produced better returns for the first half of the year. Emerging market equities, REITs, and commodities were all up 7.5% to 11.9%. Gold outperformed all of them, up almost 25% since the beginning of the year. If you diversified your portfolio across these markets and didn’t just invest in the S&P 500 stocks, you enjoyed the larger gains these markets provided. Having a well-diversified portfolio can contribute to improved returns and less volatility in your investment portfolio.

If you aren’t sure how to invest in volatile markets, contact us to learn how we can help.

Illumination’s Core Values

At Illumination Wealth, we work under a set of core values that drive every decision we make about how we serve our clients. We believe it is important that we share these core values with you, and you will be learning about a core value of ours each month.

Commit to Growth and Learning

Our mission is to help our clients live their best financial life by making smart financial decisions. We offer the recommendations and advice, but they are the ones that make the financial decisions. To make those decisions, they need to have the right information. At Illumination Wealth we make a commitment to educating our clients on saving, investing, risk management, and other financial topics so that they have the knowledge and information to make good decisions.

Of course one of our goals is to help our clients grow their assets, but more importantly, we strive to help them grow as individuals, as families, and as financially savvy and independent people. We know that as they grow in these areas they will lead happier, healthier, and wealthier lives.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. – Benjamin Franklin

As always, we hope you have found this edition to be enlightening and look forward to hearing from you soon!

All the best,

The Illumination Wealth Team

The opinions and forecasts expressed are those of Matt Rinkey, President of Illumination Wealth Management (IWM) and may not actually come to pass. Mr. Rinkey’s opinions and viewpoints regarding the future of the markets should not be construed as recommendations of any specific security or Illumination Wealth services. No part of this material is intended as an investment recommendation. Neither the information nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation to purchase or sell securities or any of IWM’s services. Do NOT ever purchase any security without doing sufficient research. There is no guarantee that investment objectives outlined will actually come to pass. Investors should consult an Investment Professional before investing in any investment program. Neither Mr. Rinkey or Illumination Wealth nor any of their employees shall have any liability for any loss sustained by anyone who has relied on the information contained herein. Entities including, but not limited to IWM, its officers, directors, employees, customers and affiliates may have a position, long or short, in the securities referred to herein, and/or other related securities, and may increase or decrease such position or take a contra position. The analysis contained is based on both technical and fundamental research. Although the information contain is derived from sources which are believed to be reliable, they cannot be guaranteed. Past performance is never a guarantee of future results.