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Vacation Announcement


Next week I will be on vacation while my kids are on spring break. Our 2020 trip to Ireland which was scuppered by the pandemic is finally back on! I’m around the rest of this week, if I can be of assistance. Otherwise, I look forward to connecting again starting Monday, March 20th.

Artificial Intelligence

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Have you tried OpenAI’s Chat GPT? My son thought it regurgitated passable summaries of different Star Wars plots. My daughter was surprised by its ability to produce sample recruiting emails to college coaches. A friend of mine got an amusing result from the prompt, “explain basketball’s 2-3 zone defense using Lord of the Rings characters.” Gandalf, a tall and mighty wizard, would play center. I’ve asked Chat GPT to write a paragraph for this newsletter. Can you figure out which one? Let me know if you can sniff it out.



Tax Time

It’s tax season. Do you have everything you need to file for 2022? If it's helpful, I can get 1099s from Schwab over to your tax preparer. I also enjoy collaborative tax planning discussions with you and your tax professional at any time of year.


Remember, too, that you have until April 18, 2023 to make any IRA contributions for last year.


And please always practice safe handling of your sensitive data. Your tax returns and tax forms are a gold mine for identity thieves. Never use email to transmit sensitive information.


And have I told you lately how much I love irs.gov? No kidding. It really is a helpful site for all kinds of tax-related issues.

Where I've Found Wisdom

Atomic Habits by James Clear is a treasure trove of wisdom for anyone looking to improve themselves and their lives. The book provides practical insights into the science of habit formation and offers actionable steps for creating positive habits that can lead to significant improvements in our lives. Clear's writing is clear and concise, and his advice is backed up by research and real-world examples. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on small, consistent changes and avoiding the trap of relying on motivation alone. Instead, he encourages readers to develop a system for achieving their goals, one that is sustainable and aligns with their values. The wisdom found in Atomic Habits is relevant not just to financial planning, but to all areas of life, and it is a must-read for anyone looking to create lasting change.

Gloomsday Predictions

Perhaps there will be a year when I don’t think about it. But in early March every year for the last fourteen years I remember how bad everything felt in March of 2009. I like to revisit the Wall Street Journal article “Dow 5,000? There’s a case for it.” It opens:


“Just how low can stocks go? Despite Friday’s small gains . . .”


It goes on to suggest that the ugliness for the economy and the stock market was probably just getting started. But “Friday’s small gains” were the green shoots of what would be an unprecedented bull market. This doomsday article literally appeared on the first full trading day of the longest bull market for equities in U.S. history. But I remember reading the article on March 9, 2009. I remember the feeling in my stomach at the idea of more losses. Nothing felt bullish that day.

The lesson here is that nobody has the perspective to know what will happen next. We’re always too close to the action to see where we are within the big picture. That fact really should liberate us from worrying about or trying to predict the future.

When you’re in the woods, all you see are the trees. It helps to have a compass and a map--or you know--a GPS. Are we in a recession? Will we have a soft landing? What will unemployment look like next month? I don’t know. But I do know how to plan based on your circumstances; how to create a map and how to help folks stick to it. Let's chat if it's time to review or update your plan.

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The best economic advice ever dispensed came from the dimwitted gardener in the 1979 movie Being There. Mistaken for a sage because of his vague and spacey comments, Chauncey Gardiner (Peter Sellers) finds his way into the President's inner circle. He reminds us that, "There will be growth in the spring." His prediction is no better or worse than anyone else's.

Thank you for reading. Did you catch the AI paragraph? You can always reach me by replying to this email or at 704-323-6872.

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