Dear Client, Partner, Prospective Client,
The past year was the third consecutive year of double-digit gains in the market after a rough 2022. That’s happened several times in history including most recently from 2019-21. So, as you can see the market has been roaring here for twelve plus years with one-year stumbles in 2015, 2018 and recently 2022. It’s been good and fortuitous to be an equity investor. Can this run-up continue? We are cautiously optimistic because streaks of strong performance are usually followed by periods of increased volatility or market correction. The S&P 500 is not an equally weighted index and if you have not owned companies like Amazon, Apple, Meta, Nvidia, Microsoft, Tesla and Alphabet, you have likely missed out on some huge gains. Most growth-oriented funds and money managers have had to own these, whether they liked the valuations or not. Otherwise, it’s tough to keep up with the performance of the S&P 500. We’d also say it’s been important to our owning companies such as: Palantir, Booking Holdings, Royal Caribbean, Corning, Caterpillar and Seagate Technologies. Some of these are directly related to AI & Data Centers or Cybersecurity and Defense Contracting, which is all the buzz and media attention now. We believe there will always be the case for the human element or human interaction in professional services, but there may be other industries that could be severely impacted by AI technologies. Exciting to see how it evolves!
We’ve owned EXAS (Exact Sciences) and ABT (Abbott Labs) for many years, both being strong winners and gainers for Barking Sands. EXAS made an estimated fifteen times our investment, so we know the company and their Cologuard product well. Abbott Labs has announced a few months back that they are acquiring Exact Sciences. Wow, we didn’t see that one coming. Great for both companies though with many synergies!
The economy has been a little unpredictable. The Federal Reserve has done their part in decreasing rates but there continues to be large corporations announcing layoffs. Job seekers say it has been tough. The December jobs report showed employers adding only 50,000 non-farm payroll jobs, falling short of expectations. The unemployment rate dipped slightly to 4.4%. Here’s to a great 2026!
Cheers,
J.B L’Esperance, ChFC
Founder/Chief Investment Officer
Estate Planning/End of Life Checklist
Dear Clients:
Over the last several years we’ve dealt with our share of clients passing away and with end of life issues that many of you may or may not have experienced with family members and friends. While it does come with the territory of providing advice in the investment management arena and insurance solutions, it is difficult all the same.
We wanted to remind you of the importance of planning for some of these items to the best of your abilities. Here is a short list to aid in having your own financial house in order:
- Beneficiaries of retirement accounts including: IRA Rollovers, Roth IRA’s, Solo K’s, 401(k)’s 403(b)’s, Deferred Compensation Plans, Pension Plans, and SIMPLE IRA’s-Make sure you check that these people are whom you intended as beneficiaries
- Brokerage accounts including Trust accounts-make sure you have the proper people listed on these accounts and that the trustees and successor trustees are who you intended. **Sometimes these people you have chosen change or precede you in death and they need to be updated
- Life insurance and annuity policies-make sure you have the beneficiaries’ names as you wished or intended
- Power of Attorneys-Financial and Health Care/Health Care Directive-sometimes it’s wise to have these as separate people
- Wills and Revocable of Irrevocable Trusts– Your will is a public document to go through probate and a Trust is a ‘private’ document designed to pass on assets efficiently and avoid probate. It also gives a person some control beyond the grave
- Long-term care policies-Make sure your respective spouse/partner know about these and how to file a claim. You can also designate a 3rd party for premium payments if you worry about memory loss or anything else down the road