To Inform: To paraphrase the Wizard of Oz, “Impeachment, Iran drone strikes, Recession, oh my!”  The financial markets have been dealing with a lot over the last few months.  The 3rd quarter ended on Monday, and despite the swings, it was a positive quarter for many asset classes and most portfolios.  However, as I’m writing […]

To Inspire: We continue our focus on great daily habits that help us live great lives and become the best version of ourselves.  Below are excerpts on an article on how to bring more joy into your life written by Mark W. Merrill, also known online as the All Pro Dad.  Perhaps one or more […]

To Inspire: Last week’s CBS Sunday Morning shared a heartwarming story about 3-year-old Quinn Waters of Weymouth, MA.  Aside from immediate family, no one is allowed in the house to him.  More importantly, Quinn can’t go out: Quinn’s natural immunity was temporarily wiped out after he got a stem cell transplant a few months ago […]

To Inform: With interest rates across the world continuing to decline, a curious thing happened here in the U.S. this week.  The interest rate on a 30-year Treasury, also known as the “long bond” dropped below the dividend yield on the S&P 500. While not unprecedented, stocks paying more in dividend income than the long […]

To Inform:  Earlier this week a capacity crowd attended our Portfolios & Pints event and we pulled topics out of a German hat (with a feather in it) to discuss with the audience.  We covered current events such as the inverted yield curve and Chinese currency devaluation as well as big-picture topics such as The […]

To Inspire: I (Matt) am just back from a week’s vacation in Yellowstone National Park with our youngest daughter, Mary Grace.  It was an awesome father/daughter trip! We both were struck with the incredible beauty we witnessed.  From the Grand Teton Mountains on the southern edge of the park; to the deep gorge through which […]

To Inform: On Wednesday, for a brief period in the bond market, the interest rate on the 2-year Treasury note was higher than the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury note creating a rare bond market occurrence known as a “yield curve inversion.”  (Note:  yield curve is just a fancy name for a graph of […]

To Inspire: Last week I (Matt) shared a story from Dr. Henry Cloud’s book, Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality.  I shared Cloud’s story of a man that became a surgeon simply because his father and grandfather were surgeons and wanted him to be one too.  Not having any real passion for […]

To Inform:  Last week’s “To Inform” piece of Wealthnotes was titled “What a Week in the Financial Markets!” and we could say the same thing about this week.  China’s response to President Trump increasing tariffs last week was to allow their currency, the Yuan, to weaken and to ask Chinese state-owned companies to suspend imports […]

To Inspire: I (Matt) recently read Dr. Henry Cloud’s book entitled, Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality.  Great book.  I’ll share one story from it in this issue of WealthNotes and another story from it next week. Cloud, a psychologist, shares that one client he counseled was a surgeon but had chosen […]