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Securities offered through Cetera Financial Specialists LLC (doing insurance business in CA as CFGFS Insurance Agency), member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory ser-

vices offered through Cetera Investment Advisers LLC. Cetera entities are under separate ownership from any other named entity.

HOLISTIC NEWS

“We believe that

everyone needs to

plan for the

expected … and

unexpected”

- Holistic Wealth

Advisors

In This Issue

• Welcome Cynthia!

• New Retirement Ac-

count Management

• Special Topic Piece

• Important Notes

4Q MARKET REVIEW

The US dollar appreciated against all major

currencies during 2014 with the US dollar index

up nearly 13%—reflecting the largest annual gain

since 1997. While the US Federal Reserve is

expected to raise interest rates in 2015, the

European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, and

People’s Bank of China are pursuing lower rate

policies to stimulate their economies. This

suggests that the trend of a strengthening dollar could continue, but this is not a foregone

conclusion. Currencies can be volatile and policy moves, historically, have not always

produced the intended effects. Moreover, the early 2000s saw the US dollar depreciate

against the euro and yen, and in recent years the dollar’s “reserve currency” status has

been called into question.

History has shown that leadership can shift between domestic and international markets

over time. For example, the MSCI EAFE international equity index beat the S&P 500 every

year throughout 2002-2007, recording a 14.79% annual return versus 6.07% for the S&P

500. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index performed even better over that six-year period

with a 29.02% annual return. More recently, results shifted in favor of US asset classes, but

this does not diminish the importance of global diversification. With the strong run for US

equities, some analysts argue that this has made international stocks even more attractive

based on valuation measures.

As the year closed, the decline in energy prices and the increase in market volatility drew

heightened attention. With US stock market volatility rising from depressed levels, active

risk management will be critical to help manage the changing tides. While the future may

bring new risks, combining traditional and more flexible asset allocation approaches can

provide potential opportunities and portfolio diversification benefits, while removing

emotional decision-making from investment portfolios.

* Article supplied by Assetmark

What’s New at Holistic Wealth Advisors January 2015

2014 Referrals

We would like to thank all

of our clients who referred

a friend or family member

to HWA. These referrals

reiterates the trust you

have in us. We would like

to congratulate Pierre Joris

& Nicole Peyrafitte as our

2014 raffle contest win-

ners!!!!

2015 Referral

Raffle Contest!!

For each referral you send to

HWA you will be entered into

our end of year raffle draw-

ing for a $100 gift card!

Do you have a friend,

neighbor, colleague, or

family member that is:

- Retiring?

- Moving?

- Tired of D.I.Y.?

- Ready to invest?

- In need of professional

wealth & retirement

planning?

- If so, please forward

our office number and

email or call our office

with your referral infor-

mation. We will gladly

set up an appointment

and review their person-

al situation.

Welcome Cynthia Anslow

The HWA team would like to welcome Cynthia as a full-time employee! She has

spent the last two years working within our firm on a part-time basis. Yet her

hard work, dedication to quality client service, and warming personality earned

her a spot on the HWA team. Please help us by welcoming Cynthia aboard!

Retirement Account Management

HWA would like to announce a new and exciting element to our suite of services as we are now able to

help manage the investments within your active retirement accounts such as NYS Deferred Comp, or

Company 401(k), 401(a), 403(b) and 457 plans. Partnering with The Pacific Financial Group, we

accomplish this through a “Self-Directed Option” within your plan. This option allows you to take full

control of YOUR retirement plan account by giving you more choices, more flexibility, and access to

professional investment advice. We believe professional advise matters because it allows us to customize

your retirement solution (instead of being enrolled in a plan design for thousands of participants).

We can:

• Create your personal retirement date portfolio

• Coordinate your assets and define all of your goals & objectives

• Provide comprehensive investment management & cohesive financial planning

• Construct a portfolio with greater diversification while teaching more disciplined investing behavior

If you are interested in learning more about this new offering, please call our main office at (518) 357-

3858 to schedule an introductory appointment.

Breast Cancer Fundraiser

Holistic Wealth Advisors was recently recognized by the National Breast Cancer Foundation for our

2014 Fundraising efforts. We would like to send a special “Thank You” to all of our clients who

displayed their generosity as we raised over $1,000 for The Foundation. We will continue to have

focused fundraisers each year so please keep an eye out for more details from HWA.

Go Figure

4 Tons

The weight of wrap-

ping paper waste

generated between

Thanksgiving and

Christmas.

$27,000

The median amount

of student borrowing

to pay for college—

has doubled in the

past two decades

20 Billion The number of cards

and packages shipped

between Thanksgiv-

ing and Christmas.

3,700 The average number

of text messages

processed by teens in

a single month.

6 years Increase in global life

expectancy since

1990.

90 Seconds On average children

run a mile 90 sec-

onds slower then

their counterparts 30

years ago.

“Go Figure” provided by

Special Topic: America’s Energy Edge

Only five years ago, the world’s supply of

oil appeared to be peaking, and as conven-

tional gas production declined in the Unit-

ed States, it seemed that the country

would become dependent on costly natural

gas imports. But in the years since, those

predictions have proved spectacularly

wrong. Global energy production has be-

gun to shift away from traditional suppliers

in Eurasia and the Middle East, as produc-

ers tap unconventional gas and oil re-

sources around the world, from the waters

of Australia, Brazil, Africa, and the Mediter-

ranean to the oil sands of Alberta. The

greatest revolution, however, has taken

place in the United States, where producers have taken advantage of two newly viable technologies to un-

lock resources once deemed commercially infeasible: horizontal drilling, which allows wells to penetrate

bands of shale deep underground, and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which uses the injection of high-

pressure fluid to release gas and oil from rock formations.

The resulting uptick in energy production has been dramatic. Between 2007 and 2012, U.S. shale gas pro-

duction rose by over 50 percent each year, and its share of total U.S. gas production jumped from five per-

cent to 39 percent. Terminals once intended to bring foreign liquefied natural gas (LNG) to U.S. consumers

are being reconfigured to export U.S. LNG abroad. Between 2007 and 2012, fracking also generated an 18-

fold increase in U.S. production of what is known as light tight oil, high-quality petroleum found in shale or

sandstone that can be released by fracking. This boom has succeeded in reversing the long decline in U.S.

crude oil production, which grew by 50 percent between 2008 and 2013. Thanks to these developments,

the United States is now poised to become an energy superpower. Last year, it surpassed Russia as the

world’s leading energy producer, and by next year, according to projections by the International Energy

Agency, it will overtake Saudi Arabia as the top producer of crude oil.

Much has been written lately about the discovery of new oil and gas deposits around the world, but other

countries will not find it easy to replicate the United States’ success. The fracking revolution required more

than just favorable geology; it also took financiers with a tolerance for risk, a property-rights regime that let

landowners claim underground resources, a network of service providers and delivery infrastructure, and

an industry structure characterized by thousands of entrepreneurs rather than a single national oil compa-

ny. Although many countries possess the right rock, none, with the exception of Canada, boasts an industri-

al environment as favorable as that of the United States

The American energy revolution does not just have commercial implications; it also has wide-reaching geo-

political consequences. Global energy trade maps are already being redrawn as U.S. imports continue to

decline and exporters find new markets. Most West African oil, for example, now flows to Asia rather than

to the United States. And as U.S. production continues to increase, it will put downward pressure on global

oil and gas prices, thereby diminishing the geopolitical leverage that some energy suppliers have wielded for

decades. Most energy-producing states that lack diversified economies, such as Russia and the Gulf monar-

chies, will lose out, whereas energy consumers, such as China, India, and other Asian states, stand to gain.

* Article excerpt written by Robert D. Blackwill and Meghan L. O'Sullivan for Foreign Affairs Magazine.

Newsletter Courtesy

of Your Holistic Team

Stacy Clifford

Lakshmi Nagarajan

Sarah Blass

Sam Clifford

Raymond Kidalowski

Cynthia Anslow

Sue Donovan

Terence Ruso

H. Paul Thomas

Lillian Helmedach

Rita Young

Sue Miniter

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

HWA has officially launched our new media-rich

website filled with client friendly content such as

presentations, videos, and countless financial calcu-

lators. Our clients also have a single portal to log

into all of their accounts (without worrying about

keeping track of multiple bookmarks). If you have

not done so please take a moment to visit our new

site www.holisticwealthadvisors.com. HWA has

also launched a series of social media platforms

including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Finding

our social media pages is easy … just simply go to

our website and click on any social media icon on

the top right.

ITEMS OF NOTE You still have time to make 2014 contributions to your Roth, IRA, and SEPs. Per

IRS guidelines you have until April 15, 2015 - reduce your tax bill by contributing.

1099 Mailing Dates:

1099-R = 1/31/15

1099 Tax Package = 1/31/15 thru 3/18/15

1099 Revisions = 3/15/15

Contact Us Please contact our main office for more information about our services

Holistic Wealth Advisors

19 Clifton Country Road

Suite 3B

Clifton Park, NY 12065

(518) 357-3858

info@holisticwealthadvisors.com