To Inspire: Yesterday was Veterans Day. Begun on November 11, 1919, it was originally called Armistice Day and was chosen as the day to honor the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, which signaled the end of WWI. It was commemorated in 1921 with the burial of an unknown […]

To Inform:  Some things are hard – like open heart surgery, learning a new language, and negotiating with a hungry toddler. Charitable giving shouldn’t be hard, and a donor advised fund (DAF) can make it even easier. The saying “cash is king” doesn’t hold true for charitable giving. You can make a bigger impact – […]

To Inform: One of my favorite quotes is by Bradley Vinson, and it goes like this: Money is a tool. Used properly it makes something beautiful – used wrong it makes a mess!” This begs the question, who were some of the people that influenced your experience and path with savings and investing? For me, […]

To Inspire: You’ve probably heard the saying “it’s never too late to learn something new,” but actually diving into new hobbies or trying to learn new skills as adult can seem challenging. According to Tom Vanderbilt, author of Beginnings, one thing that often stands between us and learning a new skill is mindset, and embracing […]

To Inspire: Let’s continue our reflection on beauty as an important part of a great life. There are so many ways to experience beauty in our lives – allow me to offer five: Get outside. Every morning I take Ike, our 3 year old Bernese Mountain dog, to Wolfe park for a walk. It’s an […]

To Inspire:   I (Matt) came across this March 2019 blog post from a freelance journalist, Eric Carlson and thought you would enjoy it. Entitled Why Beauty is Important for our Lives and our Cities, Eric touches on a theme we’ve often reflected on – the importance of beauty in living a great life – […]

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 […]

To Inspire:   One afternoon in March 2021, Ekiben restaurant in Baltimore got an email. But instead of an order, or catering request, it was a man asking for a recipe. The man, Brandon Jones, was writing for the recipe for tempura broccoli topped with fresh herbs, diced onion, and fermented cucumber vinegar. Brandon was […]

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 Inspire:  Years ago, one of my college-age sons invited his girlfriend at the time to our family Christmas gathering. After dinner, we all sat around playing Catch Phrase. Are you familiar with it? You divide into two teams and when it’s your team’s turn, one of your teammates gets 60 seconds to offer clues […]