Long Story Short is a weekly financial planning and investing podcast from Burney Wealth Management.
Each week, your hosts Andy Pratt, CFA, CAIA and Adam Newman, CFA, CFP®, discuss the biggest questions they’re hearing from clients. They’ll occasionally bring in team members and interesting guests to discuss specialized topics like estate planning, business succession, and retirement income strategies.
Founded in 1974, The Burney Company is a fee-only investment advisory firm that manages $3 billion in assets. Learn more about comprehensive financial planning at burneywealth.com.
The Bull Market Turns Four & Bonds Are Back on the Table
October 12 marked four years since the 2022 bear market bottomed, and the market has climbed 118% since that low. Andy Pratt and Adam Newman look at how this run compares with past bull markets, which have averaged a 192% gain before the next bear market, and why the next pullback is more likely to be an ordinary 20% to 25% decline than a crash. Andy also explains why stocks would be 10% to 15% higher today if valuations had held steady, since earnings have grown faster than prices as interest rates climbed.
Bonds have had a much rougher stretch, with the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index returning about negative 0.5% a year over the past five years. Adam and Andy explain why higher yields make bonds more attractive going forward, with short- and intermediate-term bonds now yielding around 5%, and how that changes the math in retirement projections built around a 5% to 6% return and 3% inflation.
⏱️ Timestamps:
(00:00) A Commanders clock-management mishap
(03:00) The bull market turns four
(04:00) Up 118% and still an ordinary bull market
(05:00) Looking back at 2022 and the Magnificent Seven
(06:00) How bull markets differ in size and length
(07:00) How bull markets usually end
(08:00) Why the next drop tends to come from an unexpected risk
(09:00) Climbing a wall of worry
(10:00) The stock market as the wisdom of the crowd
(12:00) Bonds after a tough five years
(14:00) Why higher yields mean better bond returns ahead
(17:00) What higher yields mean for retirement planning
(19:00) Why you don't need junk bonds for yield
(22:02) Podcast disclosures
Resources:
Long Story Short website | burneywealth.com/podcast (http://www.burneywealth.com/podcast)
Follow Burney Wealth Management on LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/company/burneywealthmanagement (http://www.linkedin.com/company/burneywealthmanagement)
Follow Adam Newman on Linkedin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-newman-cfa-cfp%C2%AE-48853916/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-newman-cfa-cfp%C2%AE-48853916/)
Follow Andy Pratt on LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/andyjpratt/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyjpratt/)
#BullMarket #StockMarket #BondMarket #RetirementPlanning #WealthManagement
The Burney Company is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Burney Wealth Management is a division of the Burney Company. Registration with the SEC or any state securities authority does not imply that Burney Company or any of its principals or employees possess a particular level of skill or training in the investment advisory business or any other business. This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as personalized investment advice, legal advice, tax advice, or a recommendation.
9 Oct 2026
How Rising Interest Rates Affect Bonds, Stocks & Your Plan with Alex Shen
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates in September for the first time since 2023, and the 10-year Treasury yield has since climbed to its highest level since 2002. Andy Pratt sits down with Alex Shen, Burney's Director of Research, to make sense of it. Alex explains why the short-term rates the Fed sets and the long-term rates the market sets can move so differently, and Andy covers why bonds lose value when rates rise and how those lower prices create higher yields for new buyers.
Alex, a quant by training, also explains why growth stocks in areas like AI and biotech tend to feel rising rates more than mature companies like Coca-Cola and Costco. She uses parenting to describe how the Fed looks for a balance between too loose and too strict, and why a higher rate isn't automatically bad for the economy. For investors worried about where rates go next, Alex suggests putting that energy into a plan that holds up across different scenarios.
⏱️ Timestamps:
(00:00) Welcome to Episode 66 with Alex Shen, Burney's Director of Research
(02:30) What an interest rate is
(03:30) Short-term rates versus long-term rates
(06:00) What drives long-term rates
(10:30) How higher rates show up in everyday life
(13:00) Why bond prices fall when rates rise
(14:45) The 100-year bond story
(17:00) How interest rates affect stock prices
(20:00) Coca-Cola, Costco, and long-duration growth stocks
(23:45) Restrictive versus accommodative rates, explained through parenting
(27:00) The Taylor rule and the Fed's recent hike
(29:30) Alex's advice for anyone worried about rates
(33:12) Podcast disclosures
Resources:
Long Story Short website | burneywealth.com/podcast (http://www.burneywealth.com/podcast)
Follow Burney Wealth Management on LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/company/burneywealthmanagement (http://www.linkedin.com/company/burneywealthmanagement)
Follow Adam Newman on Linkedin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-newman-cfa-cfp%C2%AE-48853916/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-newman-cfa-cfp%C2%AE-48853916/)
Follow Andy Pratt on LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/andyjpratt/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyjpratt/)
Follow Alex Shen on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexshen7/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexshen7/)
Atlanta Fed Taylor Rule Utility | https://www.atlantafed.org/cqer/research/taylor-rule (https://www.atlantafed.org/cqer/research/taylor-rule)
#InterestRates #FederalReserve #BondInvesting #FinancialPlanning #InvestmentStrategy
The Burney Company is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Burney Wealth Management is a division of the Burney Company. Registration with the SEC or any state securities authority does not imply that Burney Company or any of its principals or employees possess a particular level of skill or training in the investment advisory business or any other business. This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as personalized investment advice, legal advice, tax advice, or a recommendation.
25 Sept 2026
The J Curve Roth Conversion & What a Fed Rate Hike Means for Stocks
A handful of Burney clients have asked Adam Newman and Andy Pratt about a Roth conversion idea that's been marketed heavily to affluent investors lately. The hosts call it the J-curve Roth conversion strategy. You fund a private investment through a traditional individual retirement account (IRA), wait for the early markdown that private funds tend to show, and convert to a Roth IRA while the value sits low. Adam isn't convinced that markdown ever reverses, since it reflects a discount for illiquidity and risk, and higher fees and possible IRS scrutiny can eat into whatever the conversion saves. Andy prefers simpler moves, like holding tax-efficient exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in taxable accounts and saving the Roth IRA for the assets with the highest expected growth.
Adam and Andy also react to the Federal Reserve's recent quarter-point rate hike. They look back at how the S&P 500 has behaved in the year after the Fed starts raising rates, explain why the rate itself tends to follow economic conditions, and share what they plan to watch as markets head into the fourth quarter of 2026.
⏱️ Timestamps:
(00:00) Welcome to Episode 65
(00:34) The most dangerous phrase in investing and financial planning
(04:00) Real estate write-offs, 10 to 15 years later
(05:17) Opportunity cost and the next best use of your money
(06:15) Why the lowest possible tax bill can leave money on the table
(07:17) The tax idea du jour and the J-curve Roth conversion strategy
(09:43) How the strategy works inside an IRA
(11:29) What the early markdown tells you about risk
(13:27) Simple asset location moves across taxable, traditional, and Roth accounts
(14:46) Fees and an easier way to time a Roth conversion
(16:06) IRS scrutiny and the conservation easement example
(18:00) The Fed raises interest rates
(19:45) What rate hikes have meant for stocks, and signals versus drivers
(24:54) Podcast disclosures
Resources:
Long Story Short website | burneywealth.com/podcast (http://www.burneywealth.com/podcast)
Follow Burney Wealth Management on LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/company/burneywealthmanagement (http://www.linkedin.com/company/burneywealthmanagement)
Follow Adam Newman on Linkedin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-newman-cfa-cfp%C2%AE-48853916/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-newman-cfa-cfp%C2%AE-48853916/)
Follow Andy Pratt on LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/andyjpratt/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyjpratt/)
#TaxPlanning #RothConversion #RetirementPlanning #FederalReserve #WealthManagement
The Burney Company is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Burney Wealth Management is a division of the Burney Company. Registration with the SEC or any state securities authority does not imply that Burney Company or any of its principals or employees possess a particular level of skill or training in the investment advisory business or any other business. This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as personalized investment advice, legal advice, tax advice, or a recommendation.
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