To Inform: If you pick up any newspaper or turn on a financial news channel you won’t have to wait very long to see something about inflation, supply chains, and shortages. We’ve all heard about the spectacular increases in used car prices, shortages in super markets, and a housing market that has defied expectations over […]

Is Debt a Four-Letter Word? Imagine delivering a word association exercise with “debt” as the subject word. Would you expect responses like “opportunity”, “easy”, “cheap”, or “investment”? Probably not. Debt can carry a negative connotation due to our association with bad debt, such as high-interest credit cards or payday loans. What can be lost is […]

To Inform:  Earlier this week, I had a client ask if we could talk later in the day about the recent market volatility. When he sent his email that morning, the Dow was down -400 points… when we talked a few hours later, all of the market indexes were showing green and the Dow was […]

To Inform: China watchers have noted a marked shift in the attitude the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has taken towards the business class in China. Chairman XI has been using the phrase “common prosperity” to describe the CCP’s philosophy of narrowing the country’s wealth gap between rich and poor. This philosophy of common prosperity has […]

To Inform:  One of the biggest tailwinds to the strong stock market returns in the US over the past decade is the expanding profit margins in publicly traded US companies. Expanding margins, the result of lower interest rates, steady input costs (materials and labor) and modest price increases have contributed to this rise in profit […]

To Inform: We’ve seen a few personalities in the financial media call this month “The September to Remember” because there is a lot going on in the world. Let’s take a look at a non-exhaustive list: The Federal Reserve is meeting next week and talk is they will preview a “tapering plan” to reduce bond […]

Last year we talked about Health Savings Accounts Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as a tax saving and wealth building tool (read that article here). Now let’s explore how folks can utilize their HSA account, especially in their retirement years, if they have been using it as a wealth savings vehicle. If you have been fortunate […]

To Inform: Last week, Alex Durbin and I were privileged to facilitate a lively discussion at our Portfolios at Panera event. We covered a multitude of topics and in this issue of WealthNotes, we review the two key issues that generated the most discussion. Inflation Inflation is clearly a hot topic and something we as […]

To Inform: When talking to people about stocks, the topic of dividends usually comes up. “What’s the dividend?” is usually the question being asked, and it is a reasonable one. Dividends are tangible ways for investors to understand that owning stocks is a claim on the cash flows of a business. That being said, paying […]

To Inform:  When investors look at the returns on their portfolios, they want to know, “How am I doing?” Although it’s a simple question, from experience, we know there could be multiple meanings behind the question. “How am I doing?” could mean: Am I making money? Am I reaching my goals? Are other investors doing […]