The tragic events in Ukraine these past few weeks have demanded our close attention, and probably like many of you, we follow the news with heartbreak for the suffering of the Ukrainian people and admiration for their remarkable fortitude. Obviously, we are keenly interested in the financial repercussions as well. With President Biden following up […]
Like the turn of weather, the stock market has a way of changing and casting a new brightness or gloom that can pervade our mood and quickly have us forget the recent past. For those like your author, living in the marine climate of Puget Sound, we are accustomed to frequent weather changes and have […]
National ranking of the most successful mothers working in financial advising today SEATTLE, WA, January 12, 2022 — Kutcher Benner Barsness & Stevens principal Cameron Barsness is among the 500 “Top Wealth Advisor Moms” in a 2021 nationwide evaluation conducted by Working Mother magazine in partnership with SHOOK Research. This is the fifth national ranking of […]
The fiscal quarter that ended September 30 was supposed to be the off-ramp to normalcy for the economy. It now seems a long time ago, but early summer 2021 was a time of low Covid case counts and great optimism. (We pause here as you, our reader, may sigh upon thinking this is another story […]
We hope you’ve been outside this summer and fall, and perhaps had the chance to hike, enjoy nature and let free the mind for thought. In the nearby Cascade Mountains, many trailheads start at a creek bed and, as the elevation increases, the path switches back and forth up to a ridge and even beyond. […]
Our newsletter for the third quarter is a departure from custom as we use the reasoning and analysis for a recommended trade to illustrate what we see happening in financial markets. We will follow under separate cover with a request for trade approval if you own the relevant funds. Among the many cognitive errors that […]
All families, and many of us individually, have memories of what things cost in the past as evidence of inflation. When your author’s parents were married in Billings, Montana in 1963, they had $110 between them and needed $107 the following week to pay tuition for my father at the local community college. They marked […]
Dear Clients and Friends of the Firm: In looking back at the year, as we always do in our customary January newsletter, the Covid-19 pandemic was obviously the big event, and it caused a cascade of subsidiary effects, some of which will have enduring consequences for our economy, and investment and financial planning, as we […]
President Lincoln began his second inaugural address with an enormous caveat: “The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it […]
Greetings, By now we’re sure that all of you have read about the historic $2.2 trillion stimulus package that was passed by Congress and signed by President Trump on March 31, 2020. The CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act has broad, sweeping measures aimed at supporting our nation’s economy, companies and citizens. The […]