Weekly Memo

  The US has a happiness problem.    According to the 2025 World Happiness Report, Finland just ranked as the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, followed by Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden. (1)   Despite the war with Hamas, Israel came in at eighth. Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10

  Let me start by saying this is probably the most boring memo I will ever write.  That said, I think it’s worth understanding what is driving some of the recent market volatility.  Got any ideas?  Here’s a few hints: 1.  It’s not just the threat of a government shutdown

 In 2017, 59% of Americans said that the lowest point in our nation’s history is “right now.” It got worse. In 2024 67% of Americans believed we were at the lowest point in history.[1,2] What this tells me is that a majority of Americans believe that things are worse today

 If anyone yelled those words at me, I could almost guarantee that I would toss my hands up in the air, surrender, freeze, and slowly back up.  Perhaps it’s my catholic upbringing that makes me compliant.  Or maybe it’s the veracity of the recent news.   Either way, we need to

  Just how great will “The Great Wealth Transfer” be?   The Baby Boomer generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, hold roughly 50% of all household wealth in the U.S – an estimated $78 Trillion. (1)   For years, economists and analysts have been predicting a large portion of that will fall to

  It’s Super Bowl Sunday!  Time to whip up the guacamole and the superstitions.  There is a nonscientific Super Bowl predictor that says if the AFC wins, the stock market will decline and if the NFC wins, the markets will have a bull run in the upcoming year.  Does that

 Yes. We just don’t know when.  Markets correct.  They always do. Corrections, also referred to as “drawdowns,” occur each year.  Let’s go back five years and look at the maximum drawdowns for the S&P 500(1)   2020    -33.9% 2021    -5.2% 2022    -25.4% 2023    -10.3% 2024    -8.5%   What’s remarkable

  Lately, the markets have been acting like a petulant, over-reactionary teenager.  One day it’s full of joy and excitement, and the next day it’s rolling its’ eyes and sending chilling death glares our way.  It doesn’t take much to go from one extreme to another and the mood swings

  When was the last time you fell to your hands and knees and kissed the ground because you got an insurance renewal bill in the mail?   I don’t know about you, but if I do get my renewal in May, that is exactly what I will be doing!   Prior

  Hearing that the world is headed for disaster and chaos is by far more interesting thanforeseeing a world that is steadily progressing.   The odds are the second statement is more accurate than the first.   Just look back at the way your parents, grandparents, and even your great

  I’ve attended a fair amount of holiday gatherings over the past month. Oftentimes the conversations were pleasant – but could be defined as surface level, contrived, and trite.  I found those conversations to be tolerable and, at times, it was hard work to keep them going.   There were

  I’m doing a premature happy dance over the news about the Social Security Fairness Act. I fervently hope that our teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public servants get a Social Security gift very soon. (1)      How?   Are you aware that retired public servants have been blocked

  I’m loving your account balances these days!  Are you aware that, thus far in 2024, more than20% of all trading days have ended at an all-time high?   [1]   That’s an average of more than oneper week.  I think this is a good time to take a pause

  One of my clients recently had an auto repair quote for $7,100 on his 1992 Toyota pickup.The truck has 272K miles. The body of the vehicle is in good shape – for its age.   What would you do? Keep it? Or send it to the graveyard?   Joe

  It’s a good question.   Let’s say that you are looking at buying a car for $37,500. You put 20% down and finance$30K at 8% interest for 48 months. That’s a high interest rate!   Now let’s take the $30k cash and invest it in a safe, 5-year treasury

I’ll never forget the magic show that I went to, and got to participate in.  The magician had a large jar filled with jellybeans. The challenge was to figure out how many jellybeans were in the jar.  He chose 5 people from the audience and asked each of us to

In October 1994 Peter Lynch gave a commentary about the markets: “The markets will go up and the markets will go down.  Human nature hasn’t changed much in 25,000 years. Some events will come out of left field and the market will go down or the market will go up.  

  For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to cancel a subscription, and it was not easy!  An unsubscribe button didn’t exist.  The search bar took me to unhelpful articles. After a fair number of searches, I finally unburied a phone number where I had to call in to