Ulta Beauty changed the beauty retail experience in the 1990s by offering a new way to shop. At the time, prestige, mass, and salon products were sold through distinct channels — department stores for prestige products; drug stores and mass merchandisers for mass products; and salons and authorized retail outlets for professional hair care products.  Ulta Beauty changed the experience by offering multiple brands at multiple price points and now offers 25,000 products across 600 brands. Ulta Beauty has more than 1,350 stores plus more than 350 shop-in-shops in Target…

Next to the March to April period, the early Fall has become the second busiest time of year for tax to-dos and planning.  Third Quarter estimated tax payments are due by September 15th.  Additionally, tax filers who are on extension need to complete their tax filings and finalize their payments by October 16th. The complexity of filings in combination with late reporting of K1 issuers pushes more tax payors onto extension each year.  Please call or email if you need 1099s or other documents from last year to complete your…

The S&P 500 Index is considered the best measure of large-cap U.S. equities. It includes 500 companies and captures approximately 80% of the available market capitalization in the U.S. A key component of the index’s structure is that it is market cap weighted. It weights the 500 companies according to their market cap, meaning the largest companies (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, etc.) have much higher weights than the smallest companies. In fact, Apple is currently about 7% of the index and Microsoft is 6.5%. Only the largest 15 stocks have a…

Investing in stocks involves more risk than investing in bonds, and as a result, the potential reward should be higher. The current yield on a 10-year treasury notes (still considered a risk-free investment despite recent downgrades) is about 4%. The current earnings yield on the S&P 500 is about 4.5%. This yield is based on trailing S&P earnings and is calculated by dividing S&P 500 earnings over the index value, which is the reciprocal of the more commonly referenced Price to Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio). The difference between the two…

Investing directly in real estate involves buying a stake in a specific property, as opposed to passively buying shares in a fund or a publicly or privately held company that invests in real estate – such as a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Direct real estate investments, consisting of residential or commercial rental investment properties, require knowledge of leasing, mortgage loans, tenant and landlord relationships, and property management. Additionally, if a direct real estate investor desires to update their strategy by selling one property to invest in a new investment…