2023… Good Things Came To Those Who Waited
That ended well. Thank goodness. It was a year to be patient. Financial markets struggled to regain ground from the prior year’s losses for much of 2023, swooned in the fall and then came back to make (most) things right during the last quarter – at least for those who held their financial assets the […]
The Bill for Artificially Low Rates Must Be Paid
Decisions were made. Some were reasonable, others less so. With the world’s economy collapsing in the wake of the COVID outbreak and the resulting clampdown on activity, governments flooded their economies with cash while central banks pushed rates as low as possible. It worked: there was no Great Depression of 2020. Then, like addicts, well […]
My American Experience
When I was eight, I found myself at an acreage outside Wilber, Nebraska sitting on a retaining wall peering through the night sky at the moon. It was a warm July night, and upon the surface of the moon inside the Lunar Module Eagle sat Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Shortly, I would be called […]
What is Money?
When Cheryl and I were still in the child rearing phase of our family life, we made time for dinner most every night. Despite a hectic schedule of work, school, soccer, dance and music, the four of us found the time to share the evening meal and some conversation. While still quite young, one of the girls asked […]
Troubles in Banking
Here in West Des Moines, at the corner of 19th and Vine is a four way stop. In the mornings it handles traffic heading north to Dowling Catholic High School and west to Valley High School, while east feeds into heavily trafficked Grand Avenue. It’s a busy place, but the only requirement it places upon […]
My Annual “No Prediction For the New Year” Letter – 2023 Edition
So, one year is set aside for the history books while a new year begins. Like lemmings to the sea, Wall Street firms are once again publishing, distributing and rushing towards every cable TV camera that will have them to prognosticate where financial markets are heading. Want to know how well they predicted last year? […]
If this feels so bad, why do we keep doing it?
These have been difficult days. That was a bad quarter, and it’s been a bad year. This is what these things look like, or more importantly, this is what these things feel like. While the causes for market declines, bear markets and even recessions vary and each one is unique, how they feel is always […]
Hockey Fight
Growing up, I played some hockey. Most kids in our neighborhood played pond hockey (probably the best kind of hockey), with those wearing galoshes relegated to playing goalie. Some of us went on the play house league and eventually high school hockey. My brothers were all very good, and I was… well, I made the […]
The Limits of Preparing for Evil
A long time ago, when I was a broker trainee at Securities Corporation of Iowa, I would end my week by taking a ten-mile run on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail with a portfolio management intern. We were the two youngest members of the firm: I, a recent graduate of the University of Iowa and […]
My “No Prediction For Next Year” Letter: 2022 Edition
Was it just me, or did 2021 go by fast? Now that it’s January, about all the investment industry firms are posting their predictions for financial markets in 2022. Not at Iowa Wealth Management, though. We don’t make predictions on the direction of financial markets, the economy or what numbers to play in the lotto. […]