AWM Insights Financial and Investment News

The S&P 500 is up more than 20% since it hit its low last year. Market conditions have improved since then with CPI inflation coming in at 4%, and the Federal Reserve pausing rate hikes this week. There is a huge lesson to learn from the market’s short-term performance. Patience and persistence are key to any investor’s long-term well-being, and those qualities are rewarded. Markets are forwar...

As we wrap up our series on Private Markets and Venture Capital specifically, it’s important to highlight why Venture has been so impactful in building multigenerational wealth.  Historically, Venture Capital as an asset class has had remarkable returns due to its positioning on the cutting edge of innovation.  Returns always come from and with risk, but the long period of illiquidity, uneven retu...

Constructing a well-diversified portfolio is very similar to building a well-rounded baseball team. Assets must be distributed between current players and prospects to field a strong lineup while also investing in the future to fill any foreseeable gaps and improve key positions. Venture Capital aligns closely with the logic of investing in prospects. The benefit is deferred, but if done correctly...

Tens of thousands of Private Equity and Venture Investments are made every year. How can you sort through these opportunities in thoughtful ways to isolate and get in front of the best of the best? Private Markets are not as transparent as their public counterparts, which adds to the complexity of making investment decisions, but also creates opportunity. Building relationships with standout compa...

Private Markets, and specifically, Venture Capital, appeal to investors as they offer outsized returns for those that can accept illiquidity and risk. After we work through those factors for a client and build a dependable financial structure, how do we invest to maximize your opportunity for success? We are always present in the Private Markets, meeting with fund managers and business operators t...

Private Markets are not open to all investors. There are minimum thresholds that need to be met to qualify individuals to invest in this space. These rules are set to protect smaller, less sophisticated investors from the challenges and complexity of the Private Markets. On top of the regulatory requirements are implicit hurdles. In Venture specifically, having the funds to invest is not enough to...

Private Markets represent a broad range of asset classes and opportunities for investors. Historically, the best-performing segment of Private Markets has been Venture Capital, which has also significantly outperformed public markets. Investing in highly innovative companies early in their life cycles is a risky proposition, but if this strategy is implemented correctly, aligned with your financia...

Athletes and Founders are playing a different game that has its own unique rules and boundaries, from your unorthodox career path and service time to the magnitude of impact your earnings can have. With the distinct nature of your lives, it is vital to take these rules into account and use them in your favor to maximize your impact. In many cases, this leads to establishing wealth that will outliv...

The Dollar became the International Reserve Currency in 1944 to establish a common medium of trade in a war-torn world.  Since then, the Dollar has been trusted by non-US countries to settle transactions for goods, commodities, and services due to its stability, predictability, and broad usage. In recent years, larger countries around the world have been looking to settle transactions in their own...

AI is today’s buzzword, and for good reason. OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT to the public has started a wave of creativity in applications for the broad tool.  It has started disrupting major fields and industries from education to programming, and we are still in the infancy stage. As promising as any new technology can be, it is important to be diligent and stay true to the fundamentals of investin...

Private Markets come with a very different set of challenges and rewards when compared to Public Markets. Unlike the Public Markets, there are requirements that need to be met for investors to be able to access Private vehicles as they are illiquid. Private Markets are also much less transparent than their public counterparts and, for that reason, require significantly more due diligence. There is...

Markets rarely move sideways without fluctuations.  Although we may want a smoother path to success, fluctuations and volatility are signs of health in the financial markets and give investors the returns they seek over extended periods of time by weeding out short-term investors and “nervous capital”. Our role as caretakers of your financial well-being is to create a portfolio that meets your nee...

It has been a news-filled last few weeks, to say the least! On a positive note, the silver lining that is evident through the turmoil is that many of these issues can and should have been prevented through the use of proper financial logic and principles. Whether it was diversification, fixed income management, or market timing, it is clear that going against what we know to be true does not work...

Rewarded factors have been integral for investors that seek to outperform the market.  Instead of guessing and making stock picks, the use of these factors has beaten indices and stock pickers while keeping costs low and staying more tax efficient than active managers. Incorporating more small, valuable, and profitable companies into your stock portfolio over long periods of time takes advantage o...

Diversification is a key pillar of financial success.  Owning as many companies as you possibly can position your portfolio to pick up returns from generational performers, and increases your odds of not missing out on these best-in-class companies. This concept makes its way into Global Markets as well. Maintaining exposure to different economies and regions with different industries increases yo...

Your portfolio’s purpose is to be used to accomplish the goals that you value. This can range from lifetime spending, paying for schooling, buying property, and passing down wealth to future generations. These goals all come at differing times and with varying levels of importance based on what you prioritize. Your portfolio needs to be built around these goals as money is the tool that helps you...

In markets, risk and return go hand in hand. The more risk you can take with your portfolio, and the more time you can leave money invested in markets that generate a risk premium, the higher your expected return will be. Even through periods like the dot com bubble and the Great Recession, long-term risk exposure was not punished, it was actually rewarded if you stayed invested through all the ch...

As new economic data is reported and forecasts are updated, it’s easy to get lost in the constant flow of information. You will hear things from just about every source out there. But does it matter? What info is important to pay attention to? As entertaining as markets can be, it’s imperative to remember that markets serve you. It’s not the other way around as the rest of the industry sometimes p...

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were first launched on January 22nd, 1993 and have helped investors of all sizes save money on fees, diversify their portfolios, and reduce their annual tax bills. The structure and operating process of the ETF paired with a diligent, diversified, and rules-based investment approach enables investors to hold extremely efficient portfolios that could previously only be...

Does evaluating financial statements for publicly traded companies lead to better returns? This may seem like a simple question on the surface, but understanding the magnitude of the question is important.  There are roughly 60,000 publicly traded companies worldwide according to the World Federation of Exchanges. A company, like Apple, generates a summary of financial performance in a document ca...

Welcome to 2023! The New Year is always a natural time for reflection. We looked back on the year that was in our last episode.  In this week’s episode we take a look forward and set some foundational expectations for the year ahead, whatever it may bring.  The big topics in the financial media at the moment are 2023 predictions. And they are just that, predictions! No one has a crystal ball and n...

2022 has been a rough year for investors and brought in a long list of exceptional events. Meltdowns in SPAC’s and Crypto, an energy crunch, rising interest rates, and an unprecedented war overseas lead to market reactions and financial turbulence. Most Equity and Bond indices finished the year in the red. The S&P 500 also snapped a 3-year winning streak of double-digit annual returns.  Losses...

Tailoring a portfolio to your needs is very similar to designing and constructing a home for you. A general plan needs to be established based on how many rooms are needed, what style and functionality are desired, and what amenities and extras can fit in the most optimal and seamless way. It takes communication for the architect and designer to understand what is needed, and a plan needs to be dr...

It often seems like the world economy is not prospering, but instead heading toward a recession. Negative news frequently dominates headlines, and it tends to catch the attention of investors more than its positive counterpart. The unfortunate reality is that optimism is rare and hard to come by. If we went off headlines and article punchlines from the last two decades, we may think that the econo...

We all have our dreams, and while they might not always be realistic, it can be fun to get caught up in the hype of the newest product, market trend, or what you’d do with $2 billion if you won this week’s Powerball, it doesn’t always pan out.  However, what if you were told that some of your wildest dreams could be achieved with two simple secrets? Discipline and diligence. Hype cycles can challe...