Monday Morning Memo

Good morning & happy Monday! “Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” – Miles Kington, British journalist / humorist, 1941-2008 Our world is full of knowledge, there are smarty pants all over the place 😉, but I fear there is far less wisdom.  In school we are taught knowledge:  2 + 2 = 4, World War 2 ended in 1945, water boils at 212 degrees.  On and on we were taught knowledge. Then we get out into the “real world” and that knowledge takes on a whole different perspective. I worked at Dairy Queen in high school (a great job!) and I remember one time when I was around 16 years old some older co-workers (probably 18 or so) were talking about how a former employee had started down a bad drug path which included marijuana use.  Now, I grew

Good morning & happy Monday! “It’s easy to lie with statistics.  It’s hard to tell the truth without statistics.” – Andrejs Dunkels, mathematician, 1939-1998 Last week I commented on how government bond rates are the starting point of an investment conversation. Quick review: If an investor can get a guaranteed 5% through U.S. government bonds, any other investment opportunities must be above that rate or the investor will just go with the guaranteed rate available through the U.S. bonds. From there an investor is going to look at how much they believe they can make on an investment and how much risk they will have to take on to get that return. In the investment world, we quantify the risk through a statistical evaluation called standard deviation. Standard deviation is how we determine the amount of risk we are taking for an investment.  As a general rule, the higher the

Good morning & happy Monday! “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin Today, let’s go back to the beginning. What’s the starting point of an investment decision? How do we as investors determine if an investment is a good one or a bad one? Well, it all starts off with what we as investors can get on a fixed or guaranteed basis. We must be careful when we use the word guaranteed in an investment conversation, so please allow me to explain just a little further. Let’s say that you have an investment opportunity that you believe will provide a return of 4% annualized rate of return … but it is a volatile investment.  Let’s also assume that you can get 5% in your FDIC insured bank account.  Which would you choose – the 4% volatile investment or the 5% bank guaranteed return? This one goes

Good morning & happy Monday! “When things go badly, people become cautious.  Then their caution causes things to go well, and when things go well, they become incautious.  I think that’s the forever cycle.” – Howard Marks Last week for Labor Day I made a few comments around why we work, why we labor. That got me thinking (danger! 😉) about WHY we as investors invest … and more specifically why we invest in stocks (equities). As equity investors we understand that there is volatility involved.  It can feel like our portfolio is more like a pinball being bounced around a pinball machine, being operated by a teenager who drank 4 Mountain Dews.  So, why the heck do we do it?  Why do we allow ourselves to be subject to such mental torture? If you’ve been hanging around me for a while you will know I will undoubtably point to the

Good morning, happy Monday, and happy Labor Day! “Find your why and you’ll find your way.” – John Maxwell As we celebrate Labor Day today, I would like to briefly (like Jonathan briefly 😉) talk about the WHY behind our labor. Why do we labor?  Why do we toil?  Why do we sacrifice? Is it just a paycheck or is there more to it? I love my career as a financial planner.  I engage in impactful work, with an incredible team, for amazing clients.  It’s truly a dream come true.  Thank you for allowing me to serve you!  But, when the alarm goes off before the sun rises, I’m not exactly motivated to rush into the office.  But I do it.  And I know you do too (or if you are retired, you did).  So, why? Obviously, a paycheck is a requirement, but I hope there’s more to it than just

Good morning & happy Monday! “Our mobile phones have become the greatest spy on the planet.” – John McAfee Last week I shared with you about Jim Collins and the insights he shared during the Global Leadership Summit I attender earlier this month.  Today I would like to share some significant takeaways from another speaker at that same conference, Arthur C. Books.  This dude is a Harvard professor and author who specializes in the neuroscience of what makes us happy.  A fascinating topic and his thoughts have changed the way I live my life in the near month since I heard his talk on August 6th.  We are all seeking happiness, but few of us truly understand what will truly make us happy.  What we tend to think will make us happy oftentimes falls short.  What is true happiness?  Does such a thing even exist?  Can it be consistently attained? 

Good morning & happy Monday! “Strength does not come from winning.  Your struggles develop your strengths.  When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger My friends, on August 6th & 7th, I had a chance to attend The Global Leadership Summit virtually.  Some of the most well-respected voices in leadership caused me to burn through 16 pages of notes in two days.  It was an exceptional conference! (I already signed up for next year’s summit.) It was so valuable to me that I would love to share a bit of the learning with you this morning.  My wife warned me recently, “Your Monday Morning Memos are getting a bit too long” … so I’ll try to keep my comments concise (but I do get excited about these topics).  😊 Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great (a great book!) and 8 other books,

Good morning & happy Monday! “If we don’t change, we don’t grow.  If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” – Gail Sheehy My friends, I have some exciting news! Starting January 1, 2027, I will be the lead pastor of my church, CenterPoint Community Church. Before I go any further, I want to clearly state that I will be serving in that role on a bi-vocational basis … meaning that I will still be fully engaged in my activities here at Intentional Wealth. I love my career, I love my clients, and I love the work we have done together … Lord willing, we will work together for many years and decades ahead.  I view my financial advising role as ministry.  I seek to honor, serve, and glorify Jesus in all that I do, that includes managing money and serving as your financial advisor.  I am a pastor’s kid,

Good morning & happy Monday! “Perhaps the biggest myth about markets comes from the name itself.  We tend to think of a market as a thing when in fact it is people engaging in economic transactions among themselves on whatever terms their competition and mutual accommodations lead to.” – Thomas Sowell I’m not a big social media guy.  I’m virtually never on Facebook, but I do scroll X (formerly Twitter) for a few minutes a day to see what’s going on in the world (from a variety of different voices) … and try to find a joke or two. 😊 I came across this meme last week on X … I love a good analysis and this one is especially interesting to me as it covers basically my entire life (I was born in January of 1980). December 31, 1979, the S&P 500 closed at 107.90.  December 31, 2025, it

Good morning & happy Monday! “My system in life is to figure out what’s really stupid and then avoid it.  It doesn’t make me popular, but it prevents a lot of trouble.” – Charlie Munger My friends, I came across a headline on CNBC’s website on Wednesday that made me want to cringe: “It’s a big 48 hours for the bull market starting now.” I didn’t click on the article, because that is click-bait at its finest, but undoubtably the article would have gone on to comment that the Federal Reserve meeting and the earnings announcements from some big-name companies were to occur on Wednesday and Thursday.  Sure, those are important decisions and announcements, but give me a break … does anyone think that the next 48 hours are going to change our lifetime portfolio strategy? When we invest, we are taking an ownership stake in some of the most