To Inspire: Earlier this week, Catholic Christians all over the world celebrated the life and legacy of Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest who died at Auschwitz in 1941. His life can inspire all of us in many ways. Father Kolbe is best known for the actions he took after being arrested by the Gestapo and […]

To Inform: I fully realize I’m not following the first rule of investment management by focusing on the short term. I’m hoping clients and friends will do as I say and not as I do by focusing on the long term! That said, there has been a lot of volatility the past couple of weeks […]

To Inform: A couple of years ago I wrote a Wealthnotes piece titled, “The Trees Keep Growing” (you can read it here). In it, I related my experience visiting a handful of commercial timber sites managed by an investment fund. At the time, markets were digesting a handful of hot inflation reports and realizing that […]

To Inspire:   Have you been keeping up on Kristin Faulkner, 31, the Harvard rower turned cyclist who has captured two gold medals for the United States? She and three teammates won our country’s first ever Olympic gold in the women’s team pursuit cycling event. And earlier this week she won the road cycling race […]

To Inform:  My oldest son, Spencer, is currently in grad school pursuing his dream of becoming a physical therapist. Several years ago, when Spencer was in high school, he had the opportunity to take a personal finance class, something I strongly encouraged him to do. One day after school, he said to me, “Dad, we […]

To Inspire:   Florence Meiler, known as Flo, is a regular at Burlington High School’s athletic fields. The Vermont 90-year-old is in training. Her sport? The decathlon. She pulls a wagon full of gear, then starts practice, training to compete in 10 events over two days. Decathlon events include the 100 meters, discus, pole vault, […]

To Inform: We’re often asked where we think markets stand in relation to the business cycle. While we believe in the statement, “the stock market isn’t the economy,” we think it still makes sense to have a picture as to what is going on in the economy and how developments today may be affecting markets […]

To Inspire: Communication is the foundation for human relationships. Communication is all around us, and with today’s technology we are surrounded by means of instant communication – email, text messages, group chats, posts and messages on social media. Yet studies show that approximately 50 percent of American adults feel lonely. This pervasive loneliness is on […]

To Inform: Roth conversions are an amazing tool to transfer pre-tax IRA dollars into a Roth IRA where the investments can grow, and any withdrawals can be done tax free. And the most common time to think about doing a Roth conversion is during periods of very low income, especially during retirement. The reason for […]

To Inspire:   My colleagues Jodi Picetti and Angie Eversole joined me earlier this week in hosting 35 women (clients and friends) for our firm’s annual bus trip to the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville. There we spent the day with 35 remarkable women – many of whom are serving long sentences for very […]