Tag: financial behavior

The Turnaround Decision

Summit fever has a financial cousin – and the cure is the same in both places. Decide what would make you turn around before you’re standing there.

There’s a phrase climbers use for the thing that gets people killed, and it isn’t weather or altitude or bad rope work. It’s summit fever – the pull that takes hold when the top is close and every reason to keep going suddenly sounds more convincing than it did at breakfast.

Stefan Gruber described it well in a recent On Adventure conversation. He’s turned back from the Grand Teton twice. What stayed with us wasn’t the turning around; it was how he thought about the times things worked out anyway. There’s a certain store of luck, he said, and it runs out eventually. Surviving a bad decision doesn’t make it a good one.

We’ve thought about that line a lot, because we watch a version of it play out at desks and kitchen tables all the time.

The Financial Version

Summit fever in a financial life doesn’t look dramatic. It looks like reasonableness, which is exactly what makes it hard to catch.

It’s the concentrated stock position that has done so well that selling any of it now feels like quitting early. It’s the business someone meant to step back from three years ago, still going, because this year is finally the year it all pays off. It’s the rental property that stopped making sense a while ago but has become part of how a person describes themselves. It’s the goal set at forty-five that nobody has re-examined at sixty, still quietly driving decisions.

In every case the pattern is identical. The commitment was sound when it was made. Conditions changed. And the reasons to keep going are being generated by the part of us that has already decided.

That’s the tell. When we notice ourselves reaching past the original reasons for new ones, something has usually shifted.

Why It’s Hard in the Moment

Standing a few hundred feet below a summit is the single worst place to evaluate whether you should be there.

You’re tired. You’ve spent real money and real time. Everyone around you has too. The thing you came for is right there, and the effort already sunk feels like an argument for continuing rather than what it actually is – gone either way, and irrelevant to the decision in front of you.

Financial decisions inherit all of it. Add in the fact that turning around usually means admitting the plan changed, which people hear as admitting the plan was wrong. It wasn’t. Conditions changed. Those aren’t the same thing, and conflating them is what keeps people on routes they’d never choose fresh.

Then there’s the quiet distortion Stefan named: if the last three times you pushed through it worked out, the lesson you absorb is pushing through works. The sample is too small and the stakes are too asymmetric for that to be a lesson at all.

Set the Criteria Before You’re Tired

Here’s the part climbers actually do, and the part most of us skip.

Serious parties set a turnaround time before they leave camp. Not a feeling – a time. If you aren’t at the summit by then, you go down, whatever the weather is doing and however good your legs feel. The whole point is that the decision gets made by the version of you that’s rested, unhurried, and not staring at the top.

The financial equivalent is the same move. Decide in advance what would change your mind, write it down, and let the calm version of yourself bind the tired one.

That might sound like:

“If this position passes a set share of our investable assets, we trim on a schedule – regardless of how it’s performing or what we think happens next.”
The business. “If I’m still working past a certain date, or if these specific conditions are met, we run a real conversation about transition – not a mental note, a meeting on the calendar.”
A property or venture. “If it hasn’t cleared this bar by this date, we sell. Not because it failed, but because that’s what we said.”
The plan itself. “We revisit the assumptions every year on a set date, including the ones we’re most attached to.”

The specifics belong to the family. The structure is what matters: a condition, a date, and an action, decided while nothing is on the line.

Turning Around Isn’t Failure

This is the piece worth saying plainly, because a lot of capable people carry the opposite belief.

Changing course is not the same as being wrong. Stefan will go back to the Grand Teton. The two attempts he walked away from didn’t cost him the mountain – they’re the reason he’s still available to climb it. Alex Potts, in another recent conversation, made the related point from the other direction: being fit enough to push harder isn’t the same as knowing whether you should. Experience is largely the accumulated ability to tell those apart.

The families we see handle change well aren’t the ones who never adjust. They’re the ones who built permission to adjust into the plan from the beginning, so that when the moment comes, it reads as judgment rather than defeat.

The summit will still be there. The point was never to reach it on this particular day. The point was to keep being someone who gets to go back.

If you’re carrying a decision like this right now – a position, a business, a goal you’ve outgrown but haven’t said so out loud – we’d be glad to sit down and think it through with you.

Ridgeline Wealth Advisors

This material is for general educational purposes and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. It is not a recommendation of any particular strategy or security and does not account for any individual’s circumstances.

When the Market Feels Too High

What to do with the sense that this can’t keep going – and why the answer is usually a calendar, not a forecast.

We’ve been hearing a version of the same sentence in a lot of conversations lately. It comes out differently depending on the person, but underneath it’s always the same thing.

This feels too high. It can’t keep going up like this.

Nobody says it as a prediction. That’s the interesting part. It arrives as a feeling – a kind of low-grade unease that sits in the background of an otherwise good year. People aren’t asking us to confirm a thesis. They’re asking whether they’re the only one who feels it.

They aren’t. And we don’t think the feeling is irrational or something to be talked out of. But we do think it’s aimed at the wrong question.

The Feeling Is Real. The Question Underneath It Is Better.

When someone says the market feels too high, the literal question is about market levels. The real question, almost always, is closer to this: if something goes wrong, does it reach me?

That’s a much better question. It’s also an answerable one, which the first question isn’t.

Nobody knows where markets go from here. We don’t, and neither does anyone who tells you otherwise with confidence. What we do know – with a fair amount of precision – is what a given family needs to spend over the next several years, and where that money is currently sitting. That second thing is entirely within our control. The first never has been.

So when the unease shows up, we tend to stop talking about markets and start talking about a calendar.

Matching Money to When You Need It

There’s a way of thinking about portfolios that institutions have used for a long time, usually under a name that does it no favors – liability-driven investing. Pension plans use it because they have to. They know roughly what they owe and roughly when they owe it, so they build the portfolio around those obligations rather than around a benchmark.

Strip the jargon away and the idea is simple enough to explain on a napkin. Money you need soon shouldn’t be exposed to things that move a lot in the short run. Money you don’t need for a long time can be.

Families have obligations too. They just don’t call them that. Tuition in three years. The roof. The gap between retiring and turning on Social Security. A parent who may need help. A business that will need working capital before it needs anything else.

Once those are on a timeline, the portfolio starts to organize itself. The near-term needs get funded with cash and shorter-term bonds, where the point isn’t return – it’s certainty about the number and the date. The long-term needs get funded with assets that can grow, because they have the one thing growth assets require: time to recover from being wrong.

Everything in the middle gets sorted accordingly.

Why This Answers the Feeling

Here’s what changes when a plan is built this way.

A decline stops being an event that threatens the whole structure and becomes an event that affects one part of it – the part you weren’t going to touch for a decade anyway. You’re not selling into it, because the money for the next several years of living was never in there to begin with.

That’s the whole mechanism. It isn’t clever. It doesn’t require predicting anything. It just means that when markets do what markets periodically do, the household’s actual spending doesn’t depend on the timing.

Experienced parties in the mountains don’t manage risk by predicting the weather. They manage it by carrying enough food, fuel, and daylight that bad weather becomes an inconvenience instead of an emergency. The forecast is interesting. The margin is what gets you home.

How much margin is right depends entirely on the family – on what’s being spent, what else is coming in, how the rest of the picture is built, and honestly on how a given person is wired. Some people sleep fine with less. Some need more, and that’s a legitimate input rather than a weakness to be corrected. This is a conversation, not a formula.

What This Doesn’t Do

Two honest caveats, because we’d rather say them out loud.

This approach doesn’t make you more money when markets rise. Holding several years of spending in cash and short-term bonds has a cost, and the cost is opportunity – in strong years, that money would have done better elsewhere. What you’re buying isn’t return. It’s the ability to not be forced into a decision at the worst possible time.

And it doesn’t eliminate the feeling. You may still look at a statement and think this can’t last. You’ll just be looking at it from a position where the thought doesn’t require you to do anything about it.

That, in our experience, is most of what people are actually after. Not certainty about markets – nobody’s selling that – but the ability to hold an uncomfortable thought without it turning into an action you regret.

The Question We’d Ask Instead

If the feeling has been visiting you lately, try trading the question in.

Instead of is the market too high, ask: how many years of my actual life are already funded, no matter what happens next?

If you know that number and it sits comfortably against your timeline, the feeling loses most of its teeth. If you don’t know the number, that’s not a market problem – and it’s a much easier one to fix.

We’re always glad to walk through it. If you’d like to see what your own version of that number looks like, we’re here and happy to help.

Ridgeline Wealth Advisors

This material is for general educational purposes and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. It is not a recommendation of any particular strategy or security, and it does not account for any individual’s circumstances. Allocation approaches involve risk, including possible loss of principal, and no approach guarantees a particular outcome.

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Legacy Is Caught, Not Taught: Raising Kids Who Can Carry What You Build

There’s a line from a recent On Adventure conversation that we haven’t been able to shake. Talking about his own children, ultrarunner Aaron Saft said that legacy is something children catch rather than something we teach. He wasn’t talking about money – he was talking about the way his kids absorbed a love of the outdoors by watching, not by being lectured. But the more we sat with it, the more it felt like the truest thing anyone has said about passing on wealth.

Most families we work with have thought carefully about the mechanics of transferring assets – the wills, the trusts, the beneficiary designations. Far fewer have thought about the harder question underneath it: will the people who inherit this be ready to carry it? And that readiness, it turns out, is caught long before it’s ever formally taught.

The Quiet Curriculum

Children learn how money works in a household the same way they learn a first language – by immersion, years before anyone sits them down to explain it. They watch whether money is a source of tension or calm. They notice whether generosity is a habit or an afterthought. They pick up on whether work is something you resent or something you take pride in. By the time a family is ready to talk openly about the estate, the deeper lessons have usually already been absorbed, for better or worse.

This is good news and hard news at once. The good news is that you have far more influence than a single conversation could ever carry. The hard news is that you can’t outsource it to a document. A beautifully drafted trust can protect assets, but it cannot manufacture judgment, gratitude, or a sense of purpose in the person who receives them.

What Actually Gets Passed Down

When we ask families what they most hope to leave behind, almost no one leads with a dollar figure. They talk about work ethic. About generosity. About the sense that the family stands for something. The money is real and it matters – but it tends to be the vehicle, not the destination.

That reframing changes how a plan gets built. If the goal is simply to transfer the largest possible sum, the plan is an exercise in tax efficiency. If the goal is to transfer capacity – the values and the competence to steward what’s been built – then the plan has to include the people, not just the assets. That might mean bringing adult children into age-appropriate conversations earlier. It might mean letting them practice with real decisions while the stakes are still small. It might mean being honest about how the wealth was built, including the setbacks, so the next generation inherits the full story and not just the balance sheet.

Small, Repeated Signals

Because legacy is caught, the signals that matter most are usually small and repeated rather than grand and occasional. A family that gives together, even modestly, teaches generosity more effectively than a one-time gift ever could. A parent who talks openly about a financial mistake teaches resilience and honesty. A household where money is discussed calmly, without shame or secrecy, raises children who can do the same as adults.

None of this requires a fortune, and none of it happens on a deadline. It’s the accumulation of ordinary moments – the same way a hundred-mile race is really just one mile run a hundred times.

Where a Plan Fits

This is where the financial and the personal meet. The structures still matter enormously – thoughtful estate planning, clear documents, and a shared understanding of who does what and when can spare a family real pain down the road. But the structures work best when they sit on top of a family that has been quietly prepared to receive them. One without the other tends to disappoint.

If you’ve been thinking about what you want to pass on – and, just as importantly, to whom, and how ready they are – that’s a conversation worth having out loud. We’re here and happy to help you think it through.

This article is for general educational purposes and is not intended as legal, tax, or investment advice. Please consult your own advisors regarding your specific situation.

Ridgeline Wealth Advisors

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The Owner’s Long Trail: Planning the Years Before You Sell

Ask a seasoned hiker about a big route and they’ll tell you the summit gets all the attention, but the descent is where people get into trouble. Ed Viesturs, the mountaineer, put it plainly: getting to the top is optional; getting down is mandatory. We think about that a lot when we sit with business owners, because selling or handing off a company is a lot like the descent. The years of climbing – building the thing, making payroll, growing it – get all the glory. The way down gets far less planning than it deserves, and it’s where the real risk lives.

For many owners, the business is the single largest asset they’ll ever hold, and often the least liquid. The transition from owning it to having sold it is one of the biggest financial and personal shifts a person can go through. It rewards the people who start early, and it tends to punish the ones who wait until a buyer is already at the table.

The Trail Starts Years Before the Sale

The most common regret we hear isn’t about price. It’s about timing – specifically, about how little runway an owner left themselves. The moves that most improve an eventual outcome tend to take years, not months: cleaning up the financials so the numbers tell a clear story, reducing the degree to which the business depends on the owner personally, building a management team that can run things without you in the room, and documenting the systems that live only in your head. A buyer pays more for a business that can thrive without its founder – and, not coincidentally, that same work makes the business easier and more enjoyable to run in the meantime.

Starting early also creates options. An owner with a five-year horizon can be patient, wait for the right buyer or structure, and walk away from a bad deal. An owner with a five-month horizon is at the mercy of whatever offer appears. Time, on this trail, is leverage.

Liquidity Is a Different Animal

There’s a particular disorientation that comes with turning an illiquid asset into a liquid one. For years, wealth has been tied up in something you could see, touch, and influence. After a sale, it becomes a number in an account – and suddenly the questions change entirely. How much is enough to support the life you want? How should proceeds be positioned when they arrive all at once, rather than earned gradually over time? What are the tax implications of the deal structure, and how do they ripple across the years that follow?

These aren’t questions to answer in the closing week. They’re far better handled in advance, when there’s still time to shape the structure of the sale itself rather than simply react to it. The decisions made before the transaction often matter more than the decisions made after.

The Question Nobody Puts on the Term Sheet

Then there’s the part that no valuation captures: who are you when the business is no longer yours? For many owners, the company isn’t just what they do – it’s a large part of who they are, the thing that organizes their days and their sense of contribution. We’ve watched financially successful sales leave people unexpectedly adrift, simply because no one planned for the identity transition alongside the financial one.

The owners who navigate this well tend to have thought ahead of time about what the next season is for. More time with family. A cause they want to pour into. A different kind of work, or the freedom to explore. The money is what makes those things possible, but it isn’t the thing itself – and knowing the difference ahead of time makes the descent far steadier.

Where We Come In

A good transition plan pulls all of these threads together: the operational work that makes a business more valuable and more sellable, the financial planning that turns a lump sum into lasting security, the tax and structural thinking that’s most powerful when it’s early, and the personal question of what comes next. None of it has to happen at once. But the sooner the trail is mapped, the more control you keep over how it ends.

If a transition is somewhere on your horizon – even a distant one – it’s worth starting the conversation now, while time is still on your side. We’re here and happy to help you think it through.

This article is for general educational purposes and is not intended as legal, tax, or investment advice. Please consult your own advisors regarding your specific situation.

Ridgeline Wealth Advisors

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Q3 Letter to Clients

The Economic Landscape

If Q1 felt like driving into a headwind, Q2 was the stretch of open road that followed. Markets staged a powerful recovery, more than erasing the losses that rattled investors earlier in the year. For the quarter, the S&P 500 gained roughly 14.5%, the Nasdaq Composite surged approximately 19.7%, and the Dow advanced around 11%. Small-cap stocks were the quiet standout: the Russell 2000 returned approximately 20.8%, capping its strongest first half since 1991.

Importantly, the rally was not built on hype alone. S&P 500 companies reported first-quarter earnings growth of about 28% on revenue growth of nearly 12%, and market leadership broadened meaningfully, with Consumer Staples, Real Estate, and Healthcare joining the conversation by late June. Inflation, however, remains elevated. The Consumer Price Index hit 4.2% on an annual basis in May – its highest since April 2023 – driven largely by energy costs. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, was more encouraging at just 0.2% for the month, suggesting the broader pass-through from the energy shock is still limited.

Making Sense of the Headlines

The conflict between the U.S., Israel, and Iran has been the dominant macro story of 2026, disrupting roughly one-fifth of the global oil trade and pushing average gasoline prices as high as $4.56 per gallon in May. By mid-June the picture shifted: the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17 to extend the ceasefire and begin reopening the Strait of Hormuz, sending crude oil down roughly 20% from its 2026 peaks. That is real progress, though the situation remains fluid and a permanent deal is still being negotiated.

On the monetary policy front, the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at 3.50%–3.75% at its June meeting – the fourth consecutive hold and the first under new Chair Kevin Warsh. The updated dot plot told the bigger story: half the committee now envisions at least one rate hike before year-end, a sharp reversal from March projections that still implied a cut. The Fed also raised its 2026 inflation forecast to 3.6%, up from 2.7% just three months earlier. The message is clear: the central bank is not in a hurry to ease.

Staying the Course in a Noisy World

Wars, inflation, and Federal Reserve posturing are not comfortable topics. We know the headlines can feel heavy. But if the first half of 2026 has reinforced anything, it is that markets reward patience more than prediction.

In late March, after the worst of the oil-shock selloff, the S&P 500 had pulled back to around 6,344 – roughly 7% below where it began the year. Investors who stepped to the sidelines would have missed one of the sharpest quarterly recoveries in recent memory. Those who stayed invested, rebalanced, and leaned into the discomfort were rewarded with a double-digit rebound in a matter of weeks.

This is not a new lesson, but it is one worth revisiting in every market cycle. Volatility is not risk. Volatility is the price of admission to long-term compounding. Risk is permanently impairing your capital by abandoning your plan at the wrong time. We continue to believe that a disciplined, diversified approach – across asset classes, market capitalizations, and geographies – is the most reliable way to build and protect wealth over time.

Protecting What You Have Built

So much of our work together focuses on growing and investing your wealth. But the plans we build only work if the foundation underneath them is solid – and that brings us to a topic that does not get enough attention: your insurance coverage.

Summer is a natural time to review your property, auto, and umbrella policies. Home values, replacement costs, and liability exposures can shift meaningfully from year to year, and your coverage should reflect the life you are living today, not the life you were living when you last renewed. If you have not looked at your policies recently – or if you have questions about whether your umbrella coverage is adequate given changes to your net worth, real estate, or vehicle situation – we would love to help. Just reach out and we will walk through it together.

As always, we are grateful for the trust you place in our team. Half the year is in the books. There will be more headlines, more volatility, and more reasons to worry between now and December. But there will also be more reasons to be thankful – for the progress we have made together, for the plans we have built, and for the lives those plans are designed to support. We hope your summer is full of rest, adventure, and time with the people who matter most.

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Stewarding Significant Wealth: Navigating Complex Financial Decisions

At a certain point, the financial conversation shifts.

For most people, the early stages of building wealth are focused on accumulation. Growing a business, investing consistently, and creating a sense of security. But when wealth reaches a level of real significance, the questions change. It becomes less about whether you have enough and more about what you do with it, how you protect it, and whether it continues to reflect what actually matters to you.

That is the work of stewardship. And it looks very different from standard financial planning.

The complexity is real

Ultra-high-net-worth families face a different set of decisions than most financial plans are built to address. A portfolio may span public investments, real estate, private companies, philanthropic structures, and multigenerational planning. Each layer adds another decision point. Taxes matter more. The structure of asset holdings matters more. Family dynamics matter more.

And here is something that surprises many people: the margin for costly mistakes does not shrink just because there is more money on paper. In some ways, it grows. Complex wealth requires more coordination, more intentionality, and a plan that is built around your specific situation, not a template.

Tax planning is not an afterthought

For families managing significant wealth, tax planning is often where the most valuable work happens. Not because every decision should be made to save taxes, but because the tax consequences of major decisions deserve to be considered before they are made, not after.

The most effective planning weaves together investment strategy, estate considerations, charitable giving, and liquidity needs. When those pieces are coordinated, families can be much more deliberate about timing, ownership structures, and how different assets fit into the larger picture.

Beyond a traditional portfolio

Many families at this level begin exploring opportunities outside of a standard investment portfolio. Real estate, private companies, alternative investments, and family-office-style structures can all offer meaningful diversification and long-term potential. But they also entail greater complexity, more due diligence, and a need for clarity about how each piece fits the overall plan.

The question worth asking is not just “What is the return on this?” It’s “How does this serve the life and legacy we are building?”

Using wealth well, right now

One of the most common patterns we see is this: families who have worked hard to build significant wealth end up waiting too long to use that wealth intentionally. There is always a reason to hold off. Another milestone to hit. Another uncertainty to resolve first.

But wealth is most powerful when it is engaged with intention now. That might mean funding the experiences that matter most to your family. Supporting causes that align with your values. Helping the next generation understand both the opportunity and the responsibility that comes with what they will inherit. Sometimes it simply means giving yourself permission to live fully into the life your planning has made possible.

Good stewardship is not about being cautious to the point of paralysis. It is about making decisions that are values-aligned, tax-aware, and built to last, while also actually living.

The real work

At the highest levels of wealth, financial planning is not primarily about performance. It is about making sure the decisions you make today reflect who you are and what you want your wealth to do.

That requires a plan that accounts for complexity, a team that understands the landscape, and the clarity to know what you are building toward. Not just financially, but in life.

Wealth creates opportunity, but it also creates responsibility. If your financial picture has grown more complex and your planning has not kept pace, it may be time to revisit whether your strategy truly reflects the life you’re building. Reach out to our team to start the conversation.

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Q4 Letter To Clients

As we reflect on the past quarter, I want to emphasize our commitment to your overall financial well-being. This not only includes helping you plan for your goals but also protecting the assets you’ve worked so hard to build. Our focus this quarter is centered on enhancing your cybersecurity protection. With cyber threats increasing globally, protecting your personal and financial information has never been more critical. According to a recent study, cyberattacks have increased by 125% over the past year, and 64% of individuals have experienced some form of a data breach. In 2023 alone, there were over 1.8 billion data breaches globally, with financial accounts being a key target. The Federal Trade Commission reports that identity theft cases grew by 15% last year, emphasizing the need for vigilance.

Given this rise, we’re dedicating more resources to ensuring your financial data is secure, and we strongly recommend you take steps to safeguard your online information. To assist with this, we are hosting a webinar this month on proactive cybersecurity strategies tailored for our clients. Please join us on October 23 at 12pm -1pm EST to learn more about how to protect yourself and your family. Registration is required and can be found here.

In terms of market performance, the past quarter has seen mixed movements across key asset classes. Equities rallied early in the quarter due to continued optimism around cooling inflation and central bank policies, though rising interest rates brought some volatility by quarter’s end. Meanwhile, bonds saw more stability as yields increased, providing attractive opportunities for income-focused portfolios. In the alternative asset space, real estate has faced headwinds with higher borrowing costs, while commodities have seen strength due to geopolitical tensions and supply chain pressures.

As always, we take a holistic approach to your financial plan, ensuring that market shifts are viewed through the lens of your long-term life goals. Market movements will come and go, but our focus remains on helping you achieve financial peace of mind and purpose-driven financial life planning. We are here to guide you through each phase, adapting strategies as needed to support your goals and priorities.

We are here to support you and answer any questions you may have.

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What Does Financial Independence Mean to You?

According to a recent poll of 2,000 U.S. adults, “financial independence” equates to earning $94,000 per year, or about $20,000 more than the median income in 2023.

Some folks might feel like they’re just a promotion or two away from achieving that kind of independence. Others might not feel like $94,000 isn’t enough to feel truly free. And still others might wonder how they’d ever spend that much money in the first place.

That’s because true financial independence isn’t a number. So if it’s not a number, then what is financial independence?

It’s feeling confident enough in your money to do things that will improve fulfillment in your life, such as:

1. Spend without worrying

In our experience, it’s true that money can’t buy happiness. But it’s also true that being able to treat yourself and your family without worrying about paying your credit card bill at the end of the month is a pretty great feeling as well.

No matter how much you’re earning, setting a monthly spending budget can help you cover your necessities, contributes to your retirement goals, and have a little fun along the way. A budget can also help you plan ahead for responsible “big ticket” splurges, like a dream vacation or adding a pool to the backyard.

2. Enrich your children

Unless your kids love spending a lot of time at the local library, enrichment isn’t free. According to Lending Tree, parents spent an average of $731 per child per year on extracurriculars. You might spend thousands of dollars every year on a good athlete or ballerina through their teenage years … which is when the bills really start rolling in. The average cost of a year of college for the 2023-24 school year is $10,662 at an in-state public school, and $42,162 at a private school. This is for tuition ONLY…room and board will be in addition, and if you haven’t noticed, rent cost is much higher now than it used to be!

Parents might not feel truly free until they’ve passed that big COLLEGE goal until the last payment has been made. But with that goal in sight, we can help you start planning a combination of savings and investments that will reduce some of the sticker shock when the time comes. And by including some of your children’s activities in your budgeting and long-term plans, you might be able to sign them up for a few extra classes that round out their development or allow them to dig more deeply into their passions.

3. Change careers

Once upon a time, your high school guidance counselor might have challenged you to imagine what you’d do for a job if you didn’t need money. Setting aside your teenage dreams of being a rock singer or astronaut, do you have the means to make that switch right now?

Well, if money isn’t stopping you, then what is? Is it time to re-train and re-tool for Career 2.0 or 3.0?

Taking a lower-paying job at a company or charitable organization that does work you admire could give you an opportunity to put your professional skills to their highest uses. Rather than trying to climb a ladder or earn a bigger paycheck, you can focus on the mission at hand and the people and causes you’ll be impacting.

4. Retire

Or maybe you’re feeling independent enough to stop working all together.

Folks who plan their retirement around hitting some arbitrary financial number often put off retirement longer than they need to. Remember, financial independence isn’t a number.

Seeing how your plan can make your retirement possible while also providing for long-term goals like vacationing or relocating could give you the security you need to feel financially independent. Want to discuss this further? Reach out to me and let’s start planning more fulfillment in living and more freedom from your money.

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Q3 Letter To Clients

Do you ever stop to smell the roses, literally? As we transition from the vibrant days of spring into the warmth of summer, it’s a wonderful time to pause and reflect on the beauty that surrounds us. Whether it’s the blooming gardens, the long sunny days, or the simple pleasure of an evening walk, I encourage you to take a moment to appreciate the small joys of the season. These have a way of putting the world’s crazy into perspective, which is necessary if we are going to stay happy, healthy individuals for all our days.

Market Overview

So let’s talk a little ‘crazy’…As we enter the third quarter of 2024, we find ourselves in a financial environment marked by both challenges and opportunities. Year to date, it seems that diversification is missing out on huge gains coming from just a few stocks. Not only have many broad markets delivered gains from acceptable to amazing, but there has also been the usual assortment of sizzling stocks like NVIDIA (NVDA), and tantalizing new products like crypto ETFs to distract us with their dazzle.

Strong market performance is welcome news. But at least in the wider investment world, we’re likely to see a different kind of response that isn’t as welcoming: Instead of fleeing the downturns, restless market players may be tempted to chase after speculative trends, no matter how closely they resemble past Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) frenzies. There’s almost always something alluring and allegedly unprecedented to fuel our FOMO. But before you go all-in on the most recent high-flyers, remember:

The latest innovations are often very real, remarkable, and potentially game-changing forces in our lives. But the manner in which capital markets absorb these forces and convert them into long-term returns is far more constant.

Which reinforces why our own refrain remains the same whether markets are up or down:

Neither hot nor cold streaks among stocks, sectors, or markets give us good reason to abandon an otherwise well-built portfolio.

Staying the Course

It’s natural to feel anxious during periods of uncertainty, but it’s crucial to remember that our financial plan is designed to withstand these fluctuations. History has shown that markets tend to recover and grow over time, despite periodic downturns. Our diversified approach to investing is intended to mitigate risk and provide a stable foundation for your financial future.

This is why we still advise building and maintaining a low-cost, globally diversified investment portfolio aimed at your personal long-term goals. This, despite the cognitive traps laid by the most recent rounds of FOMO. As Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman reportedly observed quite bluntly:

“If you think you’re an expert on picking stocks, then you should be fabulously rich. If you’re not, you’re probably not.” — Daniel Kahneman

Controlling What You Can

Now on to the ‘happy and healthy’ part…While we cannot control the markets or political developments, we can control how we respond to them. It’s essential to focus on the aspects of life that are within our power to manage. One such area is aligning our lives with our values and priorities. Living according to what truly matters to you can provide a sense of purpose and fulfillment that transcends financial concerns.

One way to foster this alignment is by integrating movement and adventure into your daily routine. Research has consistently shown the profound benefits of physical activity on both physical and mental health. It has become very clear that regular physical activity and engaging in adventurous activities can significantly enhance one’s healthspan—the period of life spent in good health, free from chronic diseases and disabilities.

The Value of Movement and Adventure

Engaging in physical activities, whether it’s trail running, hiking, or simply taking a walk in the park, can have a transformative impact on your overall well-being. Movement not only improves cardiovascular health, strengthens muscles, and boosts energy levels but also reduces stress and enhances mental clarity. Adventure, on the other hand, introduces an element of excitement and novelty that can invigorate the spirit and foster a sense of achievement.

Incorporating movement and adventure into your life doesn’t have to be a grand endeavor. It can be as simple as exploring a new hiking trail, trying a new sport, or setting aside time each day for a brisk walk. The key is to make it a regular part of your routine, allowing it to become a habit that supports your health and happiness.

Embracing Life’s Adventure

Beyond the physical benefits, adventure can also serve as a metaphor for how we approach life’s challenges and opportunities. Embracing adventure means being open to new experiences, taking calculated risks, and stepping out of our comfort zones. It’s about seeing life as a journey filled with possibilities, rather than a series of obstacles to overcome.

As you navigate the complexities of the financial markets and the uncertainties of the world, we encourage you to adopt an adventurous mindset. Approach each day with curiosity and a willingness to explore. Trust in the financial plan we have crafted together, knowing that it is designed to support your long-term goals. And most importantly, prioritize your well-being by staying active and embracing the adventures that life has to offer.

In closing, we want to express our gratitude for your continued trust and partnership. Let’s make this quarter a time of growth, both financially and personally. Embrace the beauty of the season, stay active, and approach each day with a sense of adventure. By focusing on the aspects of life we can control and maintaining a sense of adventure, we can navigate the uncertainties of the financial world with confidence and resilience. Thank you for allowing us to be part of your journey.

evidence-based investing financial behavior financial life planning Investments markets quarterly client letter

Top Outdoor Gear List for the Everyday Explorer

Outdoor Gear List for Everyday Adventures

Here’s a suggested gear list for everyday adventures, perfect for trail running, hiking, or casual outdoor activities. Each item includes a link to where you can purchase the gear online.