Julie Won

U.S. population growth has started edging higher again after hitting an alarming all-time low during the pandemic. According to the latest Census data, from July 2021 to July 2022, the U.S. population grew 0.38%. Admittedly, that’s still not great – it’s one of the lowest growth rates since 1900. But it’s better than the extraordinarily […]

Worker shortages are a problem. Everywhere. You know it if you’ve been looking to hire – or trying to see a doctor, renovate a kitchen, or pick up your burger and fries. Everything is harder and takes longer when the help is not there. Whether it’s railroad workers or accountants, there just are not enough […]

Like the rest of the world, we at H+D were glued to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which began November 20 and concluded December 18 with Argentina winning over France in an absolute nailbiter. Like any good organization, we also held an office pool where we vied to predict the outcomes of each World Cup […]

It’s not too often we get to introduce a new team member, but this is one of those rare times, and we’re excited. H+D is delighted to welcome Mark Andrews, who joins us as an Associate Portfolio Manager. Mark will be working closely with clients on investments and planning as well as helping with research […]

There was a lot to digest in 2022: Inflation wasn’t transitory à la the Fed’s original thinking. Stock and bond prices went down. Grocery bills went up. And after one of the winningest investment streaks, the simple strategy of owning a passive basket of U.S. stocks stopped working. Still, there were some pleasant surprises among […]

Old habits die hard, they say, and so it is that investors have struggled to let go of the playbook that triumphed the past decade. Buying the dip in big tech and old favorites worked great in the benign, low-volatility bull markets we had for over a decade. But not this year. Nothing has snapped […]

CNBC recently reported that 72% of recent homebuyers feel regret about their purchase — either because they paid too much or because they rushed the process and made too many concessions. Whether that survey is robust or accurately reflects reality, I don’t know. But I certainly can believe there is regret out there — because […]

You might call it Korea’s splurge of the summer. Writer Se-Woong Koo, in his excellent English-language blog Korea Exposé, calls it an “over-the-top affair” and “the-most-talked-about delicacy of the season.” Others I know just call it excessive and ridiculous. What we’re talking about is a Korean dessert called bingsu, a traditional treat that Koreans long […]

In fact, with all due respect to Mick Jagger and the Stones, you can’t get what you need now either. Global supply chains still are roiling profits and plans. In General Electric’s last earnings call, the words “supply chain” came up 24 times. For General Motors, they appeared 14 times. And for Tesla, there were […]

According to a recent survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, 69% of Americans said they were confident about being able to retire comfortably. While that doesn’t seem like a half-bad number, the other side of the coin is that 31% are worried – some deeply so — that they won’t be able to […]

Corporate profits still are rising, and that’s good news in a world with plenty to worry about. War, inflation, political divisiveness, take your pick — you’d be forgiven for thinking things are going to hell in a handbasket. But at least for now, corporate sales and earnings are staying resilient. According to FactSet, 77% of […]

Picture a factory that sucks carbon dioxide out of the air to reduce global warming, then turns it into stone. Well, it’s real, and it’s been operating outside of Reykjavik, Iceland since last September. It’s also been identified as one of the 10 breakthrough technologies of 2022 by the MIT Technology Review, which has been […]