politics, policy, and the power of the fed
September 2025
September 2025 marks a pivotal moment for the Federal Reserve. With interest rate decisions looming, political pressure mounting, and inflation risks still lingering, the Fed faces a delicate balancing act. This blog explores the historical context, current challenges, and potential market implications of the Fed’s next move—and why its independence matters more than ever.
From Chips to Copper: How AI Is Powering a Materials Revival
August 2025
Artificial intelligence is driving a surge in data center construction, significantly increasing demand for raw materials like copper due to its essential role in power and cooling infrastructure. Favorable tax code changes and historical performance trends suggest the materials sector, particularly copper, may be poised for a comeback. However, risks such as geopolitical supply concentration, tariffs, and technological efficiency improvements could impact future returns. Read this month’s blog from Brady Raanes to learn more.
Halftime: Reviewing 2025 So far
July 2025
If the first half of 2025 left you feeling whiplashed by headlines—tariffs, market swings, and political curveballs—you’re not alone. Brady breaks down what’s really driving the economy as he reviews the first half of the year and what he’s watching closely for the rest of the year, because understanding the “why” behind the numbers matters.
Tax Reform: What can history tell us
June 2025
Policy changes have been a key theme for markets this year. Aside from the tariffs (which dominated the conversations in April), investors have shifted their focus to the proposed tax bill that is on its way to the Senate. What can we learn from past landmark tax reforms to help us understand what is needed today?
GDP: there’s More to the story
may 2025
Economic data from the first three months of the year was recently released, and the numbers weren’t encouraging. On the surface, the numbers are somewhat alarming because the readings in the first quarter of the year didn’t include the impact of the tariffs. But that’s not the whole story… there’s more encouraging data beneath the surface.
Navigating tariffs: How We Manage Investments in a Changing Trade Landscape
April 2025
At the time of this writing, the S&P 500 is down about 5.5% for the year and about 10% below its all-time high in late February. Thus far, the market pullback has been a “garden variety” drawdown; the 26th such decline of 5% or more since the March 2009 low following the Great Financial Crisis of 2008/2009. Read on as Brady explains how we manage investments in a hectic market.
Behavioral Incentives Behind the Tax Code
March 2025
It is tax season and as we each pay our tax bill we wonder if there are simpler ways for taxes to be handled or why certain circumstances have deductions while others don’t. Brady explains why we have certain deductions due to behaviors the government wants to reward.
An Interview with ai
February 2025
I (Brady) pose questions to AI-chat searches (ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-Pilot, or Perplexity) from time to time. While I’ve found the information to be mostly correct, it’s still more of a novelty than a necessity. Many questions remain about the use case for artificial intelligence adoption. Can AI be monetized by “regular” companies in such a way that justifies the massive amount of investment dollars being spent? What kind of impact with AI make on corporate profits in America? What are the risks of broad AI adoption and how concerned should we be?
In order to dig deeper, I decided to go straight to the source and have a conservation with an AI search engine to see what it can tell me about itself.
New Years Resolutions: Savings Edition
January 2025
For many Americans, saving for the future can seem daunting with the current cost of goods, personal debt, and the likelihood that many Americans will outlive generations before us. According to a Federal Reserve study in 2022, the typical American has $8,000 in their bank account. This encompasses savings, checking, money market, and CD accounts…
An Unlikely Year
December 2024
If I had to use a single word, to sum up 2024, it would be “unlikely”.
At the start of the year, few would have predicted the twists and turns of the presidential election (Biden’s debate performance and subsequent decision not to run, Trump’s attempted assassination, the red wave, etc). Equally as unlikely was the stock market’s amazing year….
RATES FELL. NOW WHAT?
OCTOBER 2024
For the first time since 2020, the Feds cut interest rates. This wasn’t surprising, but the .50% cut was larger than many predicted (there was only a 45% probability of a .50% rate cut the week before the meeting). What does this mean for stocks, bonds, real estate, and commodities?
addressing presidential myths
september 2024
If you scroll social media for more than a few minutes then you’re sure to see politically charged posts about gas prices, inflation, and interest rates. But does the president have any real control over those issues? Let’s address some myths.