The Lowry Letter®

Welcome to 2021! A New Year is an interesting event. Like the stock market hitting a notable number or reaching a birthday, there is nothing inherently magical or transformative about the milestone outside of the psychological impact.

Fortunately (and sometimes unfortunately) the psychological impact really matters and the opportunity to make resolutions and improve our lives is very welcome.

Our Ask the Joes® has an important item in this area.

The new year is a great opportunity to make changes to improve our lives. If you have any resolutions, we would love to hear them. We are often inspired by the interesting and uplifting things that our clients accomplish.

Last week we held an informative webinar on cybersecurity. We have attached a helpful list of steps you can take to improve the security of your information and your money. This is especially important given how frequently all of us transact business online. If you have any questions or would like to review the material together, just let us know.

Our final event of this year is a Cyber Security Webinar presented by Dave Allen with Goldman Sachs. We hope you can join us! 

Next week we will host our final event of this year, a Cyber Security Webinar presented by Dave Allen with Goldman Sachs. It will take place at 12 eastern time via Zoom.

For those who are unable to attend we will provide a helpful summary. More thoughts on this topic are below in “Ask the Joes.

Our November market recap is available here, and the month was one of the best on record. We welcome the improvement, especially after a tough September and October, but expect the normal ups-and-downs that are a normal part of the markets.

Welcome to December! We hope you had a peaceful and safe Thanksgiving.
In spite of the unusual circumstances, we look forward to the holiday season and hope it provides some enjoyment to all of you.   

We hope that you and your loved ones have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Our office will be closed on Thursday, November 26 th in observance of the holiday. We will be working remotely on Friday, November 27 th, checking phone messages and responding to time-sensitive requests.  

We want to celebrate Nicole Cothern’s 5 year anniversary with our firm. As our planning associate, Nicole focuses on the creation and maintenance of financial plans. Her attention to detail and enjoyment of the work are a great asset. We are so glad to have her on our team!

Mark your calendars for December 12^th, 12pm Eastern time. We will have a presentation on Cyber Security provided by our friend Dave Allen with Goldman Sachs. More information to follow.

We really enjoyed Mac Stone’s talk last night. We hope to make a replay available to you as we know many of you could not watch due to other commitments. During his talk, he mentioned a film that was made to record their search for the pollinator of the rare Ghost Orchid. You can see it here on YouTube.

 
We recently added Deb Fleming to our team as an administrative assistant. If you have called the office in the last few weeks you have probably spoken to Deb. We are glad that she could join us!

The big news to start this week was the announcement of Pfizer’s 90% effective (in early tests) Covid-19 vaccine.

This letter is always prepared a day or two before sending. As we write this, the day after election day, we wait with many of you to see who will be president of the United States for the next four years. Just as important as the presidency is the composition of the Congress. Energy policy, taxes, health care policy, and other important issues will be shaped by our government and will affect our lives. Engagement in the system should extend beyond voting day and into the ongoing political process.

We are very grateful to live in a country with strong institutions. It was reassuring to see the long legacy of peaceful voting continue and we trust that established policies will allow the process to continue.

When we talk about how the markets have performed well under both parties, it is because we know that participating in the markets means participating in the growth of the economy. We believe economic growth will continue and that long-term financial success is possible in every scenario.