The Lowry Letter®

Today’s Letter is devoted to the dollar. We are often asked about the implications of debt, inflation, gold, the rise of cryptocurrency, and how all of these relate to the US Dollar and more broadly to our economy and markets.

We’re going to look at a few perspectives that reflect our opinion (just so our bias is clear) that the dollar will remain the dominant currency for the foreseeable future.

Spring has sprung…for some. While warm temperatures cover Florida, many western states expect even more snow in what has been a record season. Regardless of the weather, we hope that you and your families are well.

Also, the markets and our office will be closed on Friday, April 7^th in observance of Good Friday. To those who observe them, we wish a Happy Easter and Joyous Passover!

We once learned a helpful definition of wisdom: the correct application of knowledge. What do we know? We know that our personal goals and needs should continue to be the overriding factor for our investment choices. Difficult periods, like this one, are nothing new and we believe will continue to be temporary and necessary parts of a functioning market.

Many of you use the Investor360 web and mobile apps. We are excited to let you know that our Investor360° overview video has been revised to include recent updates, such as multifactor authentication, that we’ve made to the platform. Here is the updated Investor360° video tour.

Also, if you are using TurboTax and trying to link for tax forms, make sure you select Investor360 and not NFS/Wealthscape.

Many people are on Spring Break this week. In rare coordination, all of our local public schools and higher education institutions are on the same break. If you are traveling, we hope things go smoothly for you!

If you need any assistance with tax forms for your investment accounts, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Market pressure continues, as Federal Reserve policies weigh on investor expectations. During times like this, it is important to remember that the working life of your money is much longer than the current period of uncertainty. 10 or more years from now, we can expect that the timing of our current investments will not be as important as it feels today.

That doesn’t mean we ignore time frames. Short-term money should be in short-term solutions. But in many cases, current concerns should not be the determinant of our investment approach.

Our Client Appreciation picnic is on Saturday. The weather may be a little uncooperative, but we’ll be there, rain or shine! We have reserved large pavilions and will have great food. We hope to see you there.

Until 2017, The Lowry Letter® was a quarterly publication. We decided it would be interesting to revisit our 1^st Quarter edition from 2013.

Read on for some highlights that fit with today very nicely.

Check out this week's Lowry Letter® to see how the yield curve inversion works, and why it matters. 

We were pulling for the Kansas City Chiefs and enjoyed the game. We have a nice contingent of KC-area clients and congratulate their team for another Super Bowl victory.

Super Bowl ads were a little underwhelming, though we did like this one, the Pepsi spots, and some of the others. This fake Saturday Night Live ad is more memorable than most that we saw. 

Some interesting research from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows a strong correlation between couples that pool their money in joint bank accounts and higher levels of relationship satisfaction. Pooled resources are probably an indicator of other helpful relationship traits.