September 29, 2022
This week, I had to travel and decided to fly using Jet Suite X (JSX). If you haven’t heard of it, Jet Suite X is a small commercial airline that flies out of a limited number of private airports. My particular flight was taking off from Phoenix and landing in Burbank. It was my first time flying JSX, and I found it to be quite a departure from the typical air travel grind. With Jet Suite X, I could arrive just 15 minutes before the flight. There were no long TSA lines or mobs of frustrated people. We boarded the plane right from […]
September 22, 2022
A prospective client called me the day before we were set to meet. “Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday,” he said. “But I am not signing anything now – just looking to learn more.” No problem, I respect the honesty and there’s no rush at all for me. He and I sat down at a nice local restaurant and talked about his planning, his situation, and what was most important to him. We got to know each other well and had a great conversation about his financial future but also about life, family, kids, and the lot. Soon, he asked […]
September 15, 2022
What’s the difference between loyalty and blind loyalty? I’ve given this topic a lot of thought lately. We all value loyalty: in friends, teammates, coworkers, and certainly in relationships. But at what point do we hold loyalty above all else? Is there a point where our allegiances become unhealthy, the price we have to pay just not worth it? First off, what is loyalty? (Because the word may mean different things to different people.) According to Dictionary.com, the definition of ‘loyalty’ is: “The state or quality of being loyal; faithfulness to commitments or obligations.” Or “An example or instance of […]
September 8, 2022
In the year 2000, the New York Yankees did something remarkable: they won the World Series. Out of 30 teams in baseball, through the grind of a 162-game regular season and another 16 games over three rounds in the playoffs, they came out as champions. What made it even more amazing when they recorded the final out of the World Series (against their crosstown Subway Series rivals, the Mets, no less) is that it was their third World Series win in three years: a Three-Peat! Now, it isn’t easy to win. In fact, the Yankees only won 87 regular season […]
September 4, 2022
Stock market In August, the US stock market stumbled to the finish line with a four-day selloff. For the month, Wall Street’s major indexes performed as follows: The Dow -3.9% S&P 500 -4.2% Nasdaq -4.6% Year-to-date (as of the conclusion of August 31st), the stock market’s benchmark indexes have performed as follows: The Dow -13.29% S&P 500 -17.02% The Nasdaq -24.47% The best and worst-performing stocks in August Despite a mid-month rally, the stock market lost ground by the end of August, with the S&P 500 posting negative 4.2% growth. For the month, these were the top 5 best-performing […]
September 1, 2022
“Honestly, I would have given it only a 20% chance that Andy would have any interest at all,” my prospective client, Todd, said. “But you sure did pique his interest.” Todd was the Chairman, CEO, and President of a publicly traded newsgroup. He was 65 years young, successful, wealthy, and generous. He also understood that one person couldn’t possibly know everything these days, nor could his advisors. “He and I have worked together for 40 years,” Todd went on, speaking of his financial gatekeeper, Andy. “Andy is our family’s CPA, attorney, our consigliere. He knows where every dollar of our family’s […]