This Week’s Takeaways:
- Tech has been the top-performing sector over the past ten years. Historically, that means it is set up to lag over the subsequent ten years.
- Professor Siegel is encouraged by the market rotation into small cap and value, thinks inflation continues to head in the right direction and the labor market is stable, and believes investors should ignore the Powell/Trump drama.
- Failing to keep up with your home’s upkeep and maintenance as you age leads to lower returns when you sell the home, as does selling through private listings to investors.
- A guideline for financial planning by age.
- Boston Corner digging into the New England economy year-to-year and a most recent update with Things to Do This Weekend in Boston
What Widening Gaps in US Stock Returns Mean for Your Investments by Morningstar
U.S. stock returns have been diverging significantly across individual securities and sectors, creating a higher “dispersion” environment where winners and losers are much farther apart in performance. This widening gap can impact sector returns as sectors rotate in and out of favor. The top performer of the past decade routinely lags over the subsequent 10 years. That sector was technology and investors need to prepare themselves for a performance stretch where that changes.
Markets Absorb Inflation Noise as Rotation Broadens by Professor Jeremy Siegel
A rotation from large growth names toward smaller cap and value stocks is underway. The inflation reports were in line with expectations, and inflation continues to head lower. The labor market isn’t as bad as some are suggesting. And investors should ignore the Trump/Powell drama.
Why Do Older People Get Lower Returns on Their Homes? by Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
As people get older, they see a decline in returns from selling their houses. This begins at age 70 and increases with each additional year. This is because the homes tend to have poorer upkeep and are privately listed and sold to investors.
Financial Planning By Age: Key Milestones That Can Shape Your Financial Future by Heritage Financial
At Heritage Financial Services, financial planning is never one-size-fits-all. Many of the most impactful planning opportunities are tied to specific ages—sometimes because of tax law, sometimes because of benefit eligibility, and sometimes because a planning window briefly opens and then closes. Understanding age-based milestones can help you make informed decisions and avoid missed opportunities. Here is an age-based overview of key financial planning moments to keep on your radar.
Book Recommendation
Edge of Eternity: Book Three of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett
In Fall of Giants and Winter of the World, Ken Follett followed the fortunes of five international families—American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh—as they made their way through the twentieth century. Now they come to one of the most tumultuous eras of all: the 1960s through the 1980s, from civil rights, assassinations, mass political movements, and Vietnam to the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, presidential impeachment, revolution—and rock and roll.
Boston Corner
The Beige Book – First District by Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
The Beige Book is published eight times per year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector.
Summary of Economic Activity: Economic activity edged up further, with a slight increase in consumer spending . Manufacturing and commercial real estate were stable , while nonfinancial services firms reported moderate growth. Residential home sales showed moderate declines from a year earlier. Employment and wages were flat, and prices continued to rise at a modest pace. The outlook improved on balance, with more optimism and a bit less caution than in the last report, boosted in part by reduced uncertainty from tariffs.
New England Economic Conditions Through January 13, 2026 by Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s January 2026 New England Economic Conditions report shows that the region’s labor market stagnated over the past year, with nonfarm payroll employment essentially unchanged from November 2024 to November 2025 and job declines in Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, while Vermont saw modest growth; layoff rates rose across most states more than nationally, and the unemployment rate in New England increased to 4.2 percent (still below the U.S. rate of 4.5 percent). Sector trends were mixed, with gains in other services but losses in leisure and hospitality and education, and household employment indicators such as the employment-to-population ratio fell more than in the U.S. overall. Inflation in the region was lower than the national rate in December 2025 but remained above 2 percent, driven by higher shelter and food prices.
