News From the Control Tower:

I’m currently reading and really enjoying Lauren Hough’s book of essays, “Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing”. When I saw she had a new piece published in Texas Highways, I stopped to read it. Her story, which explores her grandfather’s (tall?) tales of growing up in the Texas panhandle, turned out to have great parallels to today. He grew up in the Dust Bowl, where his family lost their farm to a bank. In his view, it was the bank who stole his horse. He grew up daydreaming of robbing a bank, and told stories of aiding Bonnie & Clyde.

A lot of financial news this week given the bank run on Silicon Valley Bank. First, if you’re worried about your own bank, I’ve included a link to Bauer Financial’s website, where you can search your bank to find its financial health. There has been some great reporting around recent events and I’m sure there’s more to come. I’ve included a pair of articles from The Wall Street Journal: one on what CEO Greg Becker was doing (or not doing) leading up to his bank’s failure, and one on what the regulators were doing (or not doing) as Silicon Valley Bank crashed. We will see how the politics of this bank failure shakes out, and potential impacts on banking regulations going forward. Meanwhile, some other companies have been dealing with their own political maelstrom. Walgreens entered the fight over abortion pills, and major credit card companies fell to pressure on firearms codes. Finally, I’ve included a satirical open letter to the billionaire Powerball winner who bought a $25 million mansion in Los Angeles this week, which actually contains some decent financial advice.

News from the Control Tower: Our weekly curated list of news stories affecting you and your finances. Some people know very young what they want out of life, and others can struggle their whole lives to find meaning. While it’s almost impossible to go through life without comparing yourself to your peers, many do find their own drum to beat. The post-Covid zeitgeist feels that more people are looking to beat their own drums and define success on their own terms, rather than by traditional metrics. I saw this feeling reflected in two separate articles recently: One from a 30-something and one in middle age. A similar sentiment seems to motivate communities beginning to reject the proliferation of dollar stores.

I was intrigued by The New York Review of Books' recent essay on forgetfulness. I found it a very interesting way to approach forgetfulness as we age. I personally experienced a period of forgetfulness after a medical procedure last fall that required painkillers for a number of days. I was warned about the forgetfulness, but I still found it incredibly disorienting. And the not-knowing if I’d forgotten something made me question almost everything that I did remember. I found solace in this piece that forgetting was necessary and part of healing. What does any of this have to do with personal finance? We often see clients who approach money the way that their parents did. I’d advocate that forgetting some of your parent’s approach is necessary to get ahead. Market conditions change, as do tax laws and retirement rules. More emotionally fraught, I also see this come up in inherited wealth. Not wanting to sell certain securities that the passed loved one had selected. Selling out of these positions is not about forgetting the person. It’s about your time horizon, risk tolerance, and your own objectives. Your loved one would more than likely want the funds to benefit you, not to become a drag on your own financial planning and circumstances.

News from the Control Tower: Our weekly curated list of news stories affecting you and your finances. Many people this week were talking about the Fleischman Effect, referring to the 2019 book by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, and now a TV series, “Fleishman is in Trouble.” The Fleischman Effect describes a type of privileged angst experienced by those with significant affluence who still feel they don’t have “enough”. This is not a new feeling - just a new name. It all comes down to what does money mean to you and your life? Do you want to play keeping up with the Joneses or do you want to find a drive in your life beyond money? These are evergreen questions for us all.

News from the Control Tower: Our weekly curated list of news stories affecting you and your finances. This week: a number of articles about getting your house in order. –Amanda Vaught The always insightful Mohamed El-Erian leads us off, highlighting the different approaches that global central banks are taking. The US approach is beginning to diverge from the rest of the world. The Wall Street Journal had a pair of articles this week on individual investors – one on how great Americans were who kept contributing to their 401(k)s during 2022, and another on the amateur investors who got burned during the market downturn. The takeaway? An automated system, like deposits to a 401(k) plan, combined with hurdles to withdrawals, can make a huge difference in investment outcomes.

News from the Control Tower: Our weekly curated list of news stories affecting you and your finances. Reading the tea leaves --Amanda Vaught As I recently wrote in our firm’s monthly newsletter, stocks and bonds became correlated over the course of 2022. Part of the reason for this was the Fed’s significant rate hikes in the face of a slowing economy. Will 2023 be the same? So far it looks like 2023 will be different, and The Wall Street Journal this week highlights how stocks and bonds are starting to decouple.

News from the Control Tower: Our weekly curated list of news stories affecting you and your finances. Now’s the time of year when the excitement of the New Year fades, and many lose track of their resolutions. (Unless you’re celebrating Asian New Year, then we wish you a happy new year!) I’m already seeing fewer people at the gym. This week’s stories reflect some of that feeling of having to “muddle through." I loved the success stories of the dog walkers who had to physically muddle through – day after day they walked those dogs and are now through to the other side with successful businesses to show for it. Finally, a piece on an apple hunter inspired to preserve the apple varieties of historic orchards. If you’re looking for some inspiration – nature is always a great place to start.

News from the Control Tower: Our weekly curated list of news stories affecting you and your finances. This week’s focus is on the quantity of things and how they impact our financial lives. Most of us are familiar with the concept of supply and demand, but scarcity or excess can have a wide impact. We’ve seen fewer eggs, drought out west, and births in China dropping. One thing we’d all like to see less of is inflation, and we welcome the news of wholesale prices dropping in the latest inflation report.

News from the Control Tower: Our weekly curated list of news stories affecting you and your finances. Sometimes it feels like we’re living in a culture of impunity. Bad actor after bad actor seems to get away with bad behaviors, but that’s not always the case. This week we see several articles where the chicken has come home to roost. Maybe the tides are turning? We wrap up with an article on literal roosting, highlighting a new trend of real estate developers converting empty office buildings into apartments.