The Master’s Minute

I am a basketball fan. I’ve enjoyed playing the game (mostly in the past), following the NBA, and, college basketball’s March Madness tournament, of course! In basketball, a player pivots when they plant one foot, but then quickly spin to go the opposite direction. It happens many times during the game. Two weeks ago, my wife and I were planning to fly to Florida for a week-long vacation in beautiful… Read More

At Master’s, you hear us talk a lot about connecting your personal values with the use of your capital. We want to help you align your financial decisions with what is most important to you. Why do we believe this is so important? Because the more resources you have, the more difficult it is to be sure that they are all being optimized for your personal goals and values. Think… Read More

As I write this, headlines are dominated by news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, soaring inflation rates, and dropping stock markets. These scary headlines can, understandably, lead to a sense of anxiousness on the part of investors. Times like these illustrate why the Master’s team recommends positioning money using a bucketing strategy. A bucketing approach to asset positioning involves deciding when money will be needed to fulfill a goal or… Read More

The 2022 Winter Olympics have come to a close.  There are many aspects of the Olympics that I enjoy and one of those is the athlete’s journey to compete in the Olympics.  I like to reflect on their story and how it can parallel our journey through life as we work to achieve our goals.  There are several great stories from the Olympics, and one of my favorites this year… Read More

Last week my mother-in-law, Carol Horning, passed after a several month struggle with cancer. As I have spent time reflecting on her life, I’m struck by how well she achieved balance in her life. Her family, friends and clients were extremely important to her, but she also prioritized golf, tennis, shopping, and the things she wanted to do. She seemed to have a great balance between work and play, giving… Read More

As a child, I was always highly active. I liked playing whatever sport was in season at the time, either by myself or with others. I recall many times getting injured during my activities; crashing my bike into the mailbox, being hit in the face with a baseball, getting brush burn from falling on macadam playing football, and many others! Each time an injury would occur, I remember vowing in… Read More

When it comes to picking investments to comprise a portfolio, what method makes the most sense? For some people, it is as simple as locating the investment products that have performed the best over the last few years and, if the fees are reasonable, simply selecting those products. All that person is doing is making their decisions by looking at what worked in the past. Taking this approach is often… Read More

We recently received our first snow of the season. I am not one to count down to the first snow of the year. For me, it primarily serves as a reminder that it will be quite some time until golf season starts again! Our 3-year-old son, however, was much more excited about the snow. He stared out the window, fascinated by the weather, thinking it was Christmas again already. Later… Read More

From time to time, I take a class at the gym called Grit. It’s a half hour of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). It’s called Grit for a reason. Usually after about 10 minutes of the class, my brain is telling me that I really don’t need to be working this hard and it would be fine to stop. Most of the things that have value in our lives are only… Read More