To Inform: As the sun descends toward the horizon of 2023 (yes, that’s a daylight savings time reference), many of us are trying to balance holiday plans, year-end planning for family, work, finances, and more. Despite the myriad tasks and concerns of this time of year, we also enter a season of gratitude, fellowship, and […]

To Inspire: This Veterans Day, I want to share some of the incredible story of Phil Bucklew. The Xavier University grad, now recognized as the father of Naval Special Warfare, was so humble that many have never heard his name. In 2015, Xavier’s men’s basketball strength and conditioning coach Matt Jennings was reading a history […]

To Inform: I’ve always been fascinated by the weather and thunderstorms have always caught my attention. There is one thing I’ve never been able to understand about thunderstorms. Why is it that the skies are always at their darkest before the storm hits, while during the storm the sky tends to lighten? While undoubtedly there […]

To Inspire: Earlier this week, Steve Lawson spoke at our Fall Wealth Summit. A talented and passionate young business and life coach, Steve has spent time immersing himself in monastic life to see what habits and disciplines allow monks to live with great peace while also being some of the most productive people in the […]

To Inform:  Earlier this week Alex Durbin facilitated our regular Investment Committee meeting. As part of the agenda, we discussed asset class views which form the basis of positioning for the objective based portfolios we have the privilege of managing for clients. We then did a deep dive, comparing those views to those of various […]

To Inspire: What follows is an article many of you may have seen in the New York Times, edited it a bit for length and content. At The Joseph Group we encourage our clients, no matter what age, to find purpose and passion in their lives. We believe retirement years provide the opportunity to do so. We […]

To Inform:  Dr. Ed Yardeni, a fixture on Wall Street for decades, is credited with coining the phrase “bond vigilante” in 1983. Bill Clinton’s political adviser James Carville said in 1994 that if he could be reincarnated it wouldn’t be as president, or the pope, or a .400 baseball hitter, but as the bond market […]

To Inform: September was not a good month for the financial markets. Looking at broad indexes, the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index (bonds) was down -2.5% for the month and the S&P 500 Index (U.S. stocks) was down -4.5%. The rough September translated into a rough third quarter. The chart below shows the performance of major […]

To Inspire: What book are you reading right now? I ask because the older I get, the more convinced I am that reading is a practice that provides tons of benefits. Consider the following: Reading improves brain health – Reading is great workout for the brain, stimulating our brains to process, interpret and store what […]

To Inspire: Think about the way a child reacts when they see something for the first time. An animal at the zoo, a colorful flower, or a big fire truck – they are full of wonder for everything they encounter. Why do we lose that wonder as adults? “A sense of wonder speaks of our […]