Was That a Speed Bump or Sink Hole? In just 14 trading days from mid-July to early August, the S&P 500 sold off over 8%. Although periods of negative returns never feel good, market corrections are inevitable and part of the process of achieving attractive long-term returns. It is times like these that remind us of the importance…

Forty Thousand. That’s the level the Dow Jones Industrial Index passed last week—an all-time high. The S&P 500 is also at record levels. All seems good. Maybe too good. The stock market, as defined by either the Dow Jones Industrial Index or the S&P 500, seems to push higher on a weekly basis. This may lead to complacency and…

“In the physical world, great buildings are linked to their architect while those who had poured the concrete or installed the windows are soon forgotten.  Berkshire has become a great company.  Though I have long been in charge of the construction crew; Charlie should forever be credited with being the architect.” – Warren Buffet This…

Every few years, we find ourselves inundated by presidential election-related news, noise, and campaign ads. It can be a deafening drumbeat of scare tactics, exaggerations, and unattainable promises, all aimed at swaying voters one way or another. In the last presidential election cycle (2019-2020), the Federal Election Committee reported that presidential campaigns spent $4.1 billion,…

“You don’t have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long, time.” – Charlie Munger                                                                                                                                                Happy 2024!  We are grateful to roll into this new year with you and pleased to report strong portfolio results for the year just ended. At the end of…

“Speed is irrelevant if you are going in the wrong direction.” – Mahatma Ghandi Is it just us, or does everything just seem to move faster these days? We’ve long known the world (and hence markets) to be a noisy place, full of all sorts of things vying for our attention, but our always-on media…

“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.” – Julia Child   I love the taste of an ice-cold Diet Coke. Especially with Mexican food. Apparently, the World Health Organization thinks I should not have too much of it though. Something about the artificial sweetener, I guess.…

“To be a consistent winner means preparing not just one day, one month, or even one year – but for a lifetime.” -Bill Rodgers, Four-time winner of the Boston Marathon As I begin writing this, waves of runners are launching headlong into a rain-soaked beast of a marathon course in Boston.  From its first running…

Good morning!  Many of you likely saw news over the weekend around the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).  This is a good example of when the media noise gets turned up loud and we must keep cool-headed in our assessment and response.  First and foremost, we want you to rest assured that we have…

“A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” -Herbert Simon, Artificial Intelligence (AI) pioneer This quote was buried in an article I read last month related to the launch of ChatGPT, an AI-driven chatbot that has received its fair share of media attention.  For those of you curious about what it means for the…