We all know the fairy tale of the wandering girl who stumbles into the home of three bears and tastes the bowls of porridge trying to find one that is the perfect temperature. This “too hot, too cold, just right” parable has been told to countless children over the generations and has also served as […]

Activist investors have been in the business news in recent months, as they have staked claims in household names such as Disney and Salesforce. A client recently asked what exactly makes an investor an activist investor and what I thought about their role and resulting impact on the companies they target. Let’s dive in! What […]

A research service I subscribe to recently shared an article about decision making. If you are an investor like me than you know all too well the level of decisions you are required to make to stay sane (and invested!). A fresh perspective on decision making is always welcomed. The article discussed a recent book […]

I’ve been meeting with clients to review 2022 reports this week. During some of those discussions, I’ve been referencing a chart from a renowned investor that really captures the powerful shift in markets over the past year. The chart is from Howard Mark’s most recent quarterly memo. (Howard Marks is a legendary investor and his […]

I’m in the midst of year-end reporting right now, and needless to say, reports from 2022 will not make the best seller list! It was a challenging year across virtually all asset classes. Even supposed “safe” assets such as bonds declined double-digits. After a down year, it is easy to get concerned about the investment […]

I’m writing this on another grey and gloomy January day in Wisconsin. Perhaps that is why I chose this title. Or perhaps it is because today’s inflation report may finally be giving markets, investors, and this ever-optimistic financial advisor a glimmer of hope that we are approaching lighter and brighter investing days ahead. December CPI […]

If you were watching the news media over the holidays, you undoubtedly saw many images of airports as the Southwest flight cancellation was extensively covered for quite few days. As I observed the repeated images of passengers waiting in airport boarding gates it occurred to me that there have been a lot of parallels between […]

Holiday season – the perfect time to bake cookies, put up decorations, enjoy time with family and friends – and of course check on the funding status of your retirement plans! I recently worked on this with a client and thought it would be helpful to share. There are a variety of retirement plans that […]

Something tells me you are already familiar with the sudden collapse of crypto exchange FTX and the related fallout. It has certainly received its fair share of media attention. How could it not, when a $32 billion company seemingly vaporizes overnight? I’ll leave the summary of what happened, how it happened, and what is likely […]

Years ago when Windermere was just starting out, my dad and I met with an owner of a successful investment advisory firm in Boston. He was sharing his perspective on a variety of things along with best practices for building out a large-scale advisory firm. Many of him comments and lessons have escaped my consciousness […]