To Inform: Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend a meeting of a group of astute investors who run an investment partnership. After enjoying fantastic food, we started reviewing the holdings in their stock portfolio and made an interesting observation – the stocks which had been the leaders in the portfolio last year […]

To Inspire: Enjoy this inspiring excerpt from the article, “From Homeless to Johns Hopkins,” published in PassItOn.com, a service of The Foundation for a Better Life. Chris Smith looked like any other high schooler: bushy hair, a wide smile, and enough freckles to charm a grandmother out of a jar of cookies. But because of […]

To Inform: As January comes to a close, many New Year’s resolutions may already be fading, but it’s not too late to get your financial house in order. Acting now can help to ensure a strong finish to the 2025 tax year and set the foundation for a successful 2026. This week we’re sharing a […]

To Inspire: What will you do when you retire? If you are retired, did you think about what your retirement days would be like? We plan for our financial and physical health in retirement, but few prepare for how to matter, to continue to feel seen and needed. Mattering is the deep human need to […]

To Inform: On the ropes in the 1990s, Apple was casting about for a slogan to power a marketing campaign. “We’re back” was tried, but the recently returned Steve Jobs said, “the slogan was stupid because Apple wasn’t back [yet].” The idea of “Think Different” came to a member of the company’s external marketing team. […]

To Inspire: In a recent LinkedIn post, Harvard Professor and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Arthur Brooks shared the 7 factors that most reliably predict happiness and health as we age: Don’t smoke Limit alcohol Eat well Exercise regulary Keep learning and staying mentally curious Have a practiced way to deal with suffering Love […]

To Inform: Earlier this week The Joseph Group’s CEO Travis Upton and I conducted what has become a tradition – our annual “themes outlook” Portfolios at Your Place event. Travis regularly likes to cite one of the famous quotes from the late founder of The Leuthold Group, Steve Leuthold. Around this time of year, Steve […]

To Inspire:   Englewood, a community on the south side of Chicago, is like many urban neighborhoods, with its share of abandoned homes and businesses and overgrown vacant lots. While many people avoid these neighborhoods because of their problems, Quilen Blackwell moved there because of them. Since 2017, Quilen has turned vacant lots into eco-friendly […]

To Inform: Next Wednesday afternoon, TJG Partner and Chief Investment Officer Alex Durbin and I will be hosting our beginning of the year “investment themes” event which we are calling TJG’s Picks for 2026. We have been receiving some questions ahead of the event, so we thought we would tackle a couple of those questions […]

To Inspire: Happy New Year to all our clients and friends! I (Matt) am a “resolutions” guy, so I’ve been working on those. Perhaps you are doing the same. But rather than resolutions related to health or work, this year I’m making some resolutions about aspects of me that I want to improve. I think […]