 Headlines
- North Korea Launches Five Projectiles Into Sea
- Belgium Says Missing Syrian Helped Paris Attacker
- Indonesia to Step Up Maritime Security After Run-In With Chinese Coast Guard
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Planning Spotlight: Special Needs Trusts
Millions of American families face the emotional and financial challenge of caring for a child with special needs. For these families, financial and  estate planning must go beyond traditional goals to include for the child's current and future well-being.
The purpose of a special needs trust is to provide funds to enrich a disabled individual's quality of life without jeopardizing his or her eligibility for government assistance. For this reason, care must be taken when drafting the trust document to specify that trust assets are to be used to meet the supplemental needs of the individual -- needs that go beyond food, shelter, clothing, and medical services.
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 The Markets
There is ongoing debate about whether markets behave in rational ways.
The efficient market hypothesis suggests it's impossible to outperform the  stock market because current share prices reflect all relevant information.
In other words, stocks should always trade at fair value and it should be impossible to invest in a stock that is overpriced or underpriced. The Economist reported there are two issues efficient market theorists have trouble explaining. The first is market bubbles, "where entire markets get out of whack with traditional valuation measures and then collapse." The other is pricing anomalies.
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By the Numbers
Notes: S&P 500, Gold, DJ-UBS Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized ... more important disclosure mentions found here. (We urge you to read the entire disclosure statement.)
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