Letter to Stakeholders, March 2024

Tuesday, March 12th, 9:32 am EST. The steady climb of your statement balances this year continues to reflect a strong economy. It was an economy that was set on a right path from abundant fiscal stimulus (government spending) and monetary stimulus (lower rates through 2021). This corrected the restrictive policy mistakes of the 2008 “Great Financial Crisis” recovery efforts. But the price we paid for a strong post-crisis economy? Inflation. But just the “transitory” kind.

Stock Market

 The stock market predicts the real economy we will have about six months in advance. A result of those two stimuli was high inflation beginning in 2022. The Federal Reserve Bank has since helped to counter the growth of inflation by reducing the supply of money (higher rates and quantitative tightening). So now we have low unemployment, greatly reduced price increases (inflation) and strong consumer demand. It’s all made for robust investment by some of the largest technology companies in the world. These and other corporations have reported outstanding earnings for the past year. All of these factors make the stock market go up. The returns over the past few months have been gracefully abnormal. They begin to offset the historically bad (stock and bond) market results of 2022. Although the past 18 months have been aberrations, from a long-term point of view, the volatility (ups and downs) are quite normal. Because volatility is normal, we do not expect the upswing (since last November) to stick around much longer. It might – which is why we’re not moving you to cash – but after these many weeks of “highs,” a drop in the price of stocks is normal; in fact expected.

Family Wealth Management (FWM) is Different

Family Wealth Management (FWM) for the long-term is different than pure active stock trading. FWM demands we ask questions about what your wealth is for (goals) and help clients make thoughtful decisions that reduce the risk of not achieving those goals. By reducing the risk – of inaction or action – we increase the likelihood of achieving goals (by default). Traditional and non-traditional investment allocations also help to manage risk. When we design your portfolio, we incorporate market risk (price fluctuation) into your model (at the beginning). And investing is merely one of seven elements of family wealth management that we advise upon. Strategic partners like estate planners, tax planners and insurance agents help too. To advise you well, we request from you timely lifestyle updates so we can adjust your plan accordingly. The rest is on us.  

Strategic Partners

Last month we mentioned our team of advisors approach to family wealth management. We talked about joint meetings to help reinforce that you have a team of professionals working for you (just like the centimillionaires). In this letter, I’d like to introduce you to a strategic partner who will work with us on a myriad of operational projects starting next week: Donna Camacho.

Donna hails from West Grove, Pennsylvania and has spent 20 years of her career honing her administrative and operational skills. She has spent the past ten years working specifically in the financial industry and now it’s our turn to leverage her expertise. Donna owns an independent virtual assistant company but is choosing to work with us exclusively, part-time. Both Doug and I are looking forward to leveraging her best practices in service to you and your family. You will soon receive an email from Donna sharing our updated Annual ADV and Privacy Policy disclosures. To that end, we have shared our Privacy Policy with Donna and in addition, we have received her signed acknowledgement of our Code of Ethics, Compliance Certification and Security policy. For good measure we also ran a background check. As soon as next week lookout for an email from Donna regarding appointment scheduling for “Spring Check-Ins.”

Donna’s email address is Donna@JasonHowell.com. Please welcome her.

But Wait, There’s More

Recently we have held conversations with family office style strategic partners with expertise in concierge medical care, daily money management, non-bank trust services and we’re always having conversations with non-traditional investment offerings. We are excited as we have ever been to serve you and look forward to the next time we meet.

Here’s to Spring!

Jason J. Howell, CFP®, CPWA®, CSRIC®

President

Jason Howell Company is a family wealth management firm that strengthens families making the transition from first generation success to family wealth. We envision a world where wealthy families give, grow and govern themselves in ways that enrich their local communities. We do this by reducing the fear, isolation and guilt associated with financial success.

Jason J. Howell, CFP®, CPWA®, CSRIC® and Douglas W. Tees, MBA, CFP® CAP®, CBDA  have spent a lot of time in the Washington, DC area, and are aware that many people who are first generation wealth suffer from a kind of "financial imposter syndrome."  Successful entrepreneurs and family businesses are always looking over their shoulder; government contractors worry about the next contract; former Capitol Hill staffers privately wonder if they should "feel bad" for the money they now make. Imposter syndrome is common among people who work for the many corporate headquarters based in this area as well. These feelings get in the way of properly managing family wealth. We empower them to get organized, build a team of advisors and make decisions.

Our typical "first generation wealth" families include dual income parents who work, save and have just the right amount of fun. For long-time, family owned businesses we focus on much family preservation as we do wealth preservation. 

First generation wealth success stories and family business owners realize that they:

• Need to “do something” with the cash in their checking/savings
• Need to eventually diversify their portfolio away from the family business
• Need an investment strategy for “up” and “down” markets
• Need a plan to mitigate market, credit, inflation, and political risks
• Need to start tax planning instead of just tax paying
• Need to be sure they are choosing the right work benefits
• Need to reduce financial miscommunications between family members
• Need to separate business finances from personal finances
• Need to separate family wealth from individual wealth
• Need a plan to provide space for both family and individual philanthropy 
• Need to plan for money while alive and for what happens after death