“It’s deja-vu all over again”  Some of you may recognize this as a quote from the one and only Yogi Berra.  Others of you may feel it should be the title slide for this year’s market.    You’re both right! Watch the business news on any given day and you will likely be left with the […]

What is something worth?  That’s a simple question without a simple answer.  You could argue that something is worth the value stated on the price tag, or the price the purchaser is willing to pay and a seller is willing to accept, or even the quantitative price plus an implied value for the associated qualitative […]

Each quarter, we will share three things that we are keeping Top of Mind Here’s our latest list:   1.) Tax time – Deadline for 2017 tax filings (or extensions) is fast approaching!  This year’s deadline is Tuesday April 17th.  In addition to any 2017 remaining payments, this is also the date by which you must make […]

Predictability and consistency.  Who among us doesn’t thrive under such conditions?  Most of us like things we can count on.  We enjoy feeling as if we are in control of what comes next.  We don’t like unexpected surprises (good or bad).   2017 was such an environment for investors.  A welcome calm passage in the investing […]

View fullsize Market pullbacks.  We certainly didn’t miss them when they were seemingly on vacation in 2017 –  a year in which the S&P 500 rose 19% and did so with only 8 days of +/- 1% moves and a maximum intra-year drawdown of 3%.   January 2018 seemed to indicate that we were in for another […]

Mirror Lake, at the start of my Yosemite backpacking trip I covered a lot of hiking trail this year.  A 3-day backpacking trip in Yosemite (with ~3,000 feet of vertical elevation gain),  a one-day 30 mile hike in Devil’s Lake for Cystic Fibrosis, desert hikes in Arizona, and a multi-day fall getaway to Jackson Hole, Grand Teton, and […]

Each quarter, we will share three things that we are keeping Top of Mind Here’s our latest list: 1.) What will the future bring? None of us know the answer to that question.  However, that doesn’t mean we can’t look forward and form our own best guess of what tomorrow may bring.  Many investment/market thought leaders […]

By now, you have undoubtedly read about the data breach at Equifax, one of the nation’s three largest credit reporting agencies.  The breach, which actually occurred in late July 2017, is believed to have impacted 143 million Americans and is reported to have included significant amounts of public information, including names, social security numbers, driver license […]

Each year, Charles Schwab hosts a conference for the advisors that use its institutional platform (like Windermere).  There is a lot of valuable content shared in the form of keynote speakers, breakout education sessions, and small group conversations with others in the industry.  Below are five things Windermere took from this year’s conference 1.) Market […]

We are living in a different world.  It wasn’t that long ago that we lived our lives “offline” – speaking to people on the phone, visiting bank branches when we needed funds, receiving key financial information in our mailboxes, and having face-to-face conversations with trusted professionals. Things have changed.  We now live a large portion […]