As we move into 2026, the most important objective is not making bold predictions—it is building portfolios that can endure a range of outcomes while still pursuing your long-term goals. As opposed to most firms, the framework we work with here is straightforward: avoid unnecessary knee-jerk reactio...

 From an investment perspective, 2025 was a constructive year, even if it didn’t always feel that way in real time. Markets absorbed shifting expectations for inflation and interest rates, policy uncertainty, and periodic risk-off episodes, yet ended the year with broad gains across equities and a w...

Client Memo: Is it 1999 All Over Again?  

Many of us can recall the absolute euphoria that occurred in the mid-to-late 1990s.  Companies with a “.com” at the end saw crazy volatility, mostly to the upside until the turn of the century before most of them went bankrupt.  

Today, the debate is simil...

President Trump recently unveiled a sweeping set of tariffs on exports from dozens of countries into the United States. Tariffs are duties imposed on imported goods by a government. They are intended to protect domestic industries, encourage local production, and generate tax revenue. In fact, tarif...

Tariffs are taxes levied by governments on imported goods. They aim to raise revenue, protect domestic industries, correct a trade deficit, impose political pressure on other states or deliver a combination of these goals.   - Investopedia

With the new administration, there will always be uncertain...

I’ve been on this bandwagon for some time now but as the market zooms, we have to wonder what future returns will look like. The S&P 500 is on pace for its second straight 20%+ annual return. This has only occurred five times over the last 75 years, per Bloomberg.

20%+ returns in the market in a...

A common question I receive is ‘what interest rate does the Federal Reserve Bank (“Fed”) control’ and ‘how does it affect me?’ Since I’ve received the question a few times, here’s a memo!

The Fed controls the very shortest maturity rate called the Federal Funds rate. It is the interest rate that ba...

The First Rate Cut Since 2020

The Fed cut the interest rate they control (called Federal Funds) for the first time since March 2020 – during the panic of Covid. They started with a larger half a point cut. That was the right call in my opinion as inflation is down to 2.6% year-over-year and unemplo...

The S&P 500 Index hit its last all-time high on July 16th at 5,669. Since then, the market (as of this writing) is down about 8%. However, some stocks, namely Mega cap tech stocks, are down far more. The SPDR Technology Index ETF (XLK) is down 16% since its July 10th high.  

What is driving this mo...

So far it has been a good year with the S&P 500 up 15.3% in the first half.¹ However, there are some dangers lurking beneath the surface, which we will discuss. We will also dive into the interest rate environment and inflation and how it forms the basis for managing portfolios.

One thing I’m watch...

The short answer is: that’s not what you should be focusing on. Instead, investors should be asking, “at today’s valuation, is it a good time to invest?” 

Investing at all-time highs may seem scary for investors. We are told to buy low and sell high and buying at all time highs feels like the oppos...

One of the largest issues this election cycle will be the deficit. In my opinion, it hasn’t received nearly enough attention even though it has received a good amount. The fiscal situation in this country trumps (pun intended) anything to do with the border or democracy.

The problem comes down to a...