The Lowry Letter®

Happy New Year!

2022 is certainly starting out in an interesting way, with the omicron variant causing significant upheaval for many people. It’s not all bad news, as our first item explains.

We will be open but working remotely on Dec 23^rd and December 31^st. We will be answering the phone and emails as needed. Our office will be closed on December 24^th, as will the markets, in observance of the Christmas holiday.

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas and thought you might enjoy this 2018 oldie from the Joe’s (and Chris).

It is hard to believe that only 2 weeks remain until 2022. We hope you are anticipating a positive end to your year.

Time is almost up for any tax-related actions, so please get in touch if there is anything on your mind. We are glad that we don’t have to divide the year into 2 different tax code periods.

The November Market recap is live and available here. Commonwealth’s Sam Millette has some other economic data releases showing a fairly typical mix of data.

Don’t forget about our webinar, 10 Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid, taking place tomorrow, December 9^th, at 5pm ET. 

As promised, we will hold our next educational webinar on December 9 at 5pm, 10 Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid. You can register here.

Joe Jr and family recently traveled to California to visit Lacy’s family for Thanksgiving. Air travel is not back to normal, although airports are busy. This is especially evident in the airport layover experience. Many restaurants and stores remained closed or have limited menu options. 

Thank you for your responses to our webinar poll. Unfortunately, there is no perfect day, but we plan to hold it on Thursday, December 9th, at 5pm. We will make any materials available after the webinar. To register, visit this link: 10 Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid.

Joe Jr. was recognized by the Community Foundation of North Central Florida as the 2021 Professional Advisor of the Year*, “recognizing outstanding work in promoting philanthropy.” Both Joes have a passion for education and financial literacy, and a lot of our community involvement has focused on those areas. They produced a nice video for the event.

ALSO, we are planning a webinar of the Top 10 Estate Planning Mistakes for early December, and would like your feedback. If the topic interests you, please visit this 2-question survey to help us find the best date and time.

This award is not specific to financial services and does not imply an endorsement, recommendation, or otherwise reflect the performance of the advisor or any account

Cooler temps in Florida have arrived, and we are grateful. We enter Thanksgiving thankful for your continued confidence and support. We’re also thankful for a year of continued economic growth and positive stock market returns (so far!).

Brad McMillan’s update and market video for this month is available here. Labor demand remains strong (and supply tight) which does restrain some growth. We’ve noticed this in some of our favorite restaurants (like the newly-expanded Blue Highway Pizzeria in the Tioga Town Center) where they have to limit capacity due to limited workers. It has also come up in conversations with builders, where demand significantly outstrips the supply of required labor

October has been National Financial Planning month, and we were recently reminded of an exchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where--" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"-so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

As we explained on our YouTube channel a few months ago, a fundamental part of financial planning is making sure that you are oriented correctly, to the destination that makes sense for you and your goals. Increasing complexity, in products and information, makes Achieving Simplicity® in your financial lives more valuable than ever.  We’re grateful that we can help orient you in your journey.