Ignore the Click Bait

Ignore the Click Bait

Several times per month I receive an email from a client with a link to some very scary article with a completely captivating headline.  Something like: “The man who predicted the 2008 global recession warns investors of a complete financial collapse in 2023” or “Man...

Unprecedented Times … Again

Unprecedented Times … Again

If I tell you that I have been a financial advisor in five different decades, it makes me seem older than I am; but the fact remains that I have been helping clients formulate their wealth plans and investment strategies since the 1980’s.  Over that time, I have...

Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?

Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?

According to Harris Poll published August of this year, the answer to the above question is 60% of Americans.  Six out of ten American adults want to become a billionaire one day.  Since I work with people and their money every day, and I am pretty good at math, I...

And Now for Something Completely Different…

And Now for Something Completely Different…

I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and have been a reader of the paper since my senior year in college, when I was given a discounted student subscription.  I have never read it for insights into particular stock investments or investment ideas, but more for a...

“Those Were the Days”

“Those Were the Days”

What were you doing in the late 1970’s?  I was across the street from my office at the Traverse City Junior High School.  I was tiny and cute.  I was painfully shy and excelled at math.  When not in school you would find me traipsing through the woods, building forts...

Streaming Music and the Destruction of the Mona Lisa

Streaming Music and the Destruction of the Mona Lisa

I’ll tell you one thing I just rediscovered, and it really surprised me.  Long ago, way before music was digital and streamable, I used to listen to albums; entire records… as they were intended by the artist.  I listened to many of them so frequently that as one song...

Creative Expression

Creative Expression

Do you have an outlet for creative expression?  Remember when you were five years old, and you were an artist?  What happened to you?  My guess is that someone at some point told you to stay in your lane and that you were not an artist.  I could be projecting my own...

Discipline Equals Freedom

Discipline Equals Freedom

I came across the quote by former Navy Seal, Jocko Willink, and it was one of those quotes I had to repeat multiple times before I could figure it out.  Often you see or hear words crammed together in a sort of word stew, with no real meaning.  I believe we are...

A Walk in the Woods Leads to Planning

A Walk in the Woods Leads to Planning

I kicked off my annual planning retreat with a walk in the woods.  The image that you see was taken just as a I entered the trail system at the end of our drive.  I gaze upon the majestic trees from my perch up on the hill at Copper Ridge often enough.  I feel...

Fear is Not Your Friend

Fear is Not Your Friend

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” -Marcus Aurelius “Fear is not your friend.  Making decisions in a state of fear will never serve...