AWM Insights Financial and Investment News

Why would a founder raise money?  To turbocharge growth of the company. The company can grow faster from taking outside capital. In exchange, the founder is giving up partial ownership of the company.  What should investors be looking for? The majority of companies in venture fail. It is wise to be skeptical and thorough. It isn’t enough to see a teaser pitch deck and start writing checks. Access...

You’ve decided to jump in to private investing. You’ve already asked yourself if you should invest at all and discovered how to participate .  Now that you’re ready to invest - how does it actually work? Who is giving money to whom and what are they trying to achieve? First, you start with a venture capital founder - an entrepreneur that starts a company with an industry-disrupting idea. Think Zoo...

Last week, Brandon and Justin answered the question “ Should I Own Private Investments? ” In that episode, they gave a framework to consider before an investor jumps into the private markets. This week we continue our private markets series by answering the question of How to participate in the private markets. Private equity consists of all the companies that are not publicly traded. These compan...

Just because you qualify on paper for private investments doesn’t mean you should have them in your portfolio. Ignoring current spending and future income can lead to poor results that can and should be avoided. Just as Maslow created the “hierarchy of needs,” portfolio construction can follow a similar pyramid. Liquid assets reside at the bottom and illiquid (private investments) at the top. Inve...

Easy answer: Stay in your seat! If you are contemplating making a change, your financial plan is severely lacking. Now is not the time to adjust your plan. Any solid philosophy already has the game plan in place and is positioned for this adversity. Preparing for times like this is the most important part of your disciplined strategy to win the game.  Stock and bond markets can and do go down toge...

You have probably heard of the S&P 500, Dow Jones, or Nasdaq. These indexes are created to track the performance of a group of public companies. While you can’t invest in an index itself, you can invest in strategies that mirror the performance of an index.    Warren Buffett, the greatest active investor of all time, is a fan of index funds. Warren understands how difficult it is to beat the m...

The most recent SPIVA Report for 2021 was just released and once again the same conclusion is reached. “Passive” has beat “Active” and only 15% of active managers that are paid to beat the market, did not.    Passive investing, sometimes referred to as indexing, doesn’t engage active stock picking. Active management attempts to beat “the market” through the fund manager selecting the stocks.    Th...

All advisors are willing to try to help. The problem is many do not have the right ability. Vetting an advisor for competence is a must for those wanting to create wealth. It also isn’t easy due to the incredible amount of designations or certifications that can be obtained with little effort involved.  If you are serious about putting the right team around you, the minimum is to require a CFP®, C...

Russia has invaded Ukraine and war is the talk of the global news and financial media. Financial warfare has also been waged by countries around the globe with punishing sanctions placed on Russia. What does this crisis mean for your investment strategy? Brandon and Justin discuss what you should be thinking when it comes to unpredictable global events.  Have questions for an upcoming episode? Wan...

You are ready to hire a professional but with over 300,000 people calling themselves financial advisors, where do you start? Multiple studies have proven that a good advisor can add 3% or more in value per year to their clients. Finding a good advisor with the right competence and without conflicts of interest is harder than it seems. Brandon and Justin give you exactly what to look for once you’v...

Are you a Do it Yourself Investor? Are you ready to handle it all yourself?  Fear and greed drive many of the biases that hurt investor returns. Overconfidence bias and confirmation bias are two others that are proven to cost investors money. Big companies spend millions every year to influence and disrupt the focus of investors simply using human psychology.  You don’t have to play Wall Street’s...

Do you know how to buy a stock? How do you open a brokerage account and which account type should you select? Have you made an investment in private equity before?  In this week’s episode, Brandon Averill and Justin Dyer answer these questions in detail along with the expensive costs you may not know about, and what to watch out for to become a savvy investor.  EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (2:14) How do yo...

What is a Non-Fungible Token and should you be buying or creating them? NFTs and Web 3.0 have the vision to return ownership and value back to creators and their communities, but can that vision turn into a reality? After seeing news headlines like one of Beeple’s NFTs selling for $69 million, there are a lot of questions floating around this relatively new technology.  In this week’s episode, Bra...

So now you are ready to invest and become an owner or lender, but what do you buy and how? Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, hedge funds, and private investments all make up the universe you have an opportunity to invest in. To keep it simple, buying stock is ownership and buying bonds is lending. Both mutual funds and ETFs can be very efficient vehicles to access public markets but understanding...

To understand investing, you must start with ownership and lending. You can use your money to either buy ownership or lend it to borrowers. Investors are either owners or lenders, anything else is a speculator.    Ownership Participation in profits, growth, cash flow. You own the future of the business for good or bad. A stock, mutual fund, or ETF is your claim to the assets minus liabilities, but...

Why risk your hard-earned money? What if you don’t invest because you’re too scared to take any risk?  Every person has different priorities and investing money to meet those priorities is crucial to not just our happiness but the legacy we leave behind. Just making money for the sake of making money won’t lead to a satisfying investment experience.  Successful investors put themselves in position...

Money is such an important part of our lives, impacting mental and physical health. With so much information available immediately and through so many sources, sticking to the data of what works for a good investing experience can be difficult. Zoom out and look at your big picture first. This will always help focus on what’s actually important and to ignore or block the things that don’t actually...

Financial Structure is a household’s entire net worth, human capital, and tax rate evaluated in a comprehensive and holistic framework. No matter how many different accounts you have, you only have one effective tax rate .  A portfolio is only one part of your Net Worth . Other assets should not be ignored. Human Capital , often the greatest asset on a personal balance sheet, should also be counte...

Fundamentals are the science of investing. The data and evidence prove that long-term investors that stay tax-conscious win over the long term. Smart diversification, managing emotions, avoiding media pumping fear and greed, and letting markets work for you is the proven way to invest for wealth.  Gambling and speculation will always be more “fun” for the risk-takers. It is also a good way to have...

To get the best returns in Private Markets you need to have an advantage. Do you have more information or uncommon expertise about the company? Can you add value to the company to improve their chances of success? Do you have the time and team to evaluate 1000s or deals a year.  The best firms keep winning for the same reason Alabama dominates College Football. The best talent, coaches & playe...

To be able to invest like a pro for the long-term you must adopt three investment philosophies: Let Data Drive Investment Decisions  This means ignoring chasing the hot stock or crypto of the month and following the data that produces the best returns.  Anyone that has chased COVID stocks this year like Robinhood, Peloton, or Teladoc has lost a ton of money. The same is true for those chasing the...

The gifts you buy for other people define a lot about your relationship with money. Are you compensating for an insecurity? Are you showing off? Success with your money starts with your relationship with your money. What are you trying to achieve with your assets or income? Is your portfolio customized to your specific priorities and vision of success? Understanding the cash flow game creates the...

Congress is set to pass a large spending bill before the end of the year that will increase the tax bills of many. Tax planning is something every athlete deserves incorporated into their financial advice, yet few are actually getting.   An advisor that is making recommendations without looking at the tax impact is costing you money every single year. This is unnecessary wasted wealth that you can...

Public markets are efficient, meaning they price in all public information almost instantaneously.  This was proven once again this week when Peloton reported earnings and immediately dropped 25%. Then, Zillow reported they were exiting the house flipping business and promptly dropped 22%. These were unpredictable news events that were immediately incorporated into the stock price.  Private invest...

“Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.”  This is the expression commonly used to describe the reality that wealth is rarely sustained past the third generation. Building wealth is extremely difficult in the first place, and lack of planning for the next generation can destroy wealth in a hurry.  The families that have conquered this trend and sustained wealth for 5+ generations unders...