First Quarter Review: Bank Stress and The Case For Private Lending

Most of us, thankfully, only know what a bank run looks like from movies and television, most famously from the film It’s a Wonderful Life, a holiday staple of broadcast television in the past.  George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart), desperate as a young man to leave his hometown of Bedford Falls, is waylaid in […]

2022 Year in Review & Investment Landscape

The turn of the year marks the start of many rituals. In our financial planning practice, we report to clients and their tax accountants about their investment income and expenses in the previous year. And of course, we write letters like this one summarizing the year past in financial markets and giving reflections and observations […]

Third Quarter Review: “How Long Until We Get There?”

Whether we’ve been the driver or a passenger—perhaps as a child in the back seat on a family road trip—we’re all familiar with the question “How long until we get there?”  Now, following the third consecutive quarter of market declines in both stocks and bonds amidst the Federal Reserve’s campaign to hike interest rates and […]

First Quarter Review: Rate Hikes & Russia

The first quarter of 2022 was a uniquely challenging one for financial markets and investors, as both stocks and bonds generally declined.  As a consequence, the boost, or at least store of value, from bonds that normally accompanies a stock decline didn’t happen, causing a mixed stock and bond portfolio to exhibit results much closer […]

Reduction in Corporate and High-Yield Bonds – Q2 2021

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 […]