American Investment Services, Inc.

Disciplined, Diversified, & Cost Effective

2013

Feb. 2013 – The Old Normal

In early 2009 renowned bond investor and PIMCO chief investment officer Bill Gross and CEO Mohamed El-Erian proclaimed the emergence a new post-financial crisis era, coining the phrase “new normal”. They predicted a period that would be characterized by several years of economic stagnation and below average equity returns in the U.S. and in other […]

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Jul. 2013 – You’re Paying Too Much for Investment Help

From 1980 to 2006, the U.S. financial services sector grew from 4.9% to 8.3% of GDP. A substantial share of that increase represented increases in asset-management fees. Excluding index funds (which make market returns available even to small investors at close to zero expense), fees have risen substantially as a percentage of assets managed. In

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Sept. 2013 – Tossing up BRICs: No Easy Layups for Emerging Market Investors

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index lost 9.9 percent of its value year-to-date as of August 31. The so-called BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have led the way down, as the MSCI BRIC Index lost 12.2 percent. The year thus far has been marked by social unrest in Brazil, chronic political corruption in Russia, a

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Mar. 2013 – Tax Time

With April 15 fast approaching, we would like to point to several observations regarding federal income taxes that might be of interest to our readers. According to IRS data, 143,399,737 individual tax returns were filed for calendar year 2011. Of this total 1,481,966, or roughly one percent, were subjected to an IRS examination (audited) during

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