Winter Commentary – 2021
By Contessa Archuleta on January 20, 2021
*This transcript is from our client tea, held on December 9, 2020*
Rob: Thank you for joining us. November was the best month for the Dow Jones since 1987. That is good news, but it also raises cautionary flags. Stock investors and real estate investors in certain parts of the country have done exceedingly well in this market. Maybe too well!
There’s a divergence between the stock market and the economy. The employment situation is about 50% recovered from where it was in March. Before COVID hit, there was unemployment of around 3.5%. It went up to 14% when things shut down in the spring. Now, we are at 6.7%.
We have higher unemployment and likely higher chronic unemployment, as it is very likely that the number of restaurants and hotels and airlines will shrink permanently. Also, we have a certain amount of the working population that has left the workforce and is not looking for work anymore. There are several reasons for that. Some people are resigning themselves to staying home or making do in an underground economy.
Kyle: We’ve seen a consistent decline in the labor participation rate since 2010. We have an aging population, and since 2010, it has decreased from over 64% to around 61%.
Rob: If you look at U.S. economic activity, the government has spent so much money to keep consumer confidence high that there actually has been an increase in personal household income since March. This is the first time ever, except during a recession, that people have more money to spend and some of that is being spent in the housing market and on home improvements. New house construction builds are up in most of the country.
Kyle: With the decline in interest rates, which I’m sure we will talk more about later, we have seen historically low mortgage rates. In turn, we basically see people buying homes at an unprecedented pace. We see existing home sales increasing rapidly and then also housing starts, which are new houses being built. The thing is, we don’t seem to be building houses fast enough. While existing home sales are increasing rapidly, new home sales are not keeping pace.
Rob: The government stimulus size is unprecedented. Three trillion dollars so far and the current bill in front of Congress is close to a trillion dollars. There is an assumption that government spending stimulates economic growth, however, what we are seeing is that every additional trillion dollars is doing less and less. Since the 1970s, they have tracked the effect of government stimulus and it is diminishing. As the size of the deficit gets larger, the actual creation of manufacturing or other job opportunities is not advanced as much. We are down to about from 70 cents per dollar of stimulus effect in the 70s to about 30 cents today. In places like Japan which have a higher deficit than the U.S., they only get a 15% or 15 cents per dollar boost in real economic activity by their government’s pandemic spending.
Kyle: I think it is really fascinating to see that there was a two trillion-dollar stimulus that went out to people and corporations. We only saw increases in May and June. That fire really has to continue to be stoked in order to keep it going.
Rob: There was a question of how to invest safely in China. If you are part of the power structure in China, then you have a way of investing safely. The Chinese economy, certainly from the perspective of trade, is doing very well. While the U.S. is still recovering, the Chinese exports have boomed back. They are stymied in some ways politically by the Trump administration’s blacklisting of Chinese companies, but they are still making real headway towards becoming equal with the U.S. The last year has seen a very real change in China’s status as a world economic power and in a positive way for China. Earlier this year, Trump started talking about a trade “war” with China and implemented some restrictive policies, however, bringing manufacturing jobs to the U.S. or changing the balance of trade with China has not happened. I think it is telling to look at the recent impact of China on Hong Kong in terms of forcing and squashing the principles of its agreements. This has happened without a negative impact in the world community because people are caught up in the pandemic. China has arrested most of the dissenters. They have done what they wanted to do, which was to take control, and without any real blowback. China has used COVID as a cover to increase both their economic and political strength. I do not think there’s a safe way to invest in China, because the government there controls the market.
Kyle: We’re working with other managers, people that specialize in Asia or in Chinese companies. There is a constant theme when you speak with these companies that invest in China, that their goal is always to invest in companies that are not controlled by the central government of China. It leads to another type of risk, but when we look at it, they seem to favor the autonomy of these companies much more than those that are controlled by the by the government.
The Shanghai index is up around 11% this year, but lately they have been stuck in a holding pattern. When we review the recovery coming out of COVID, China was the real economic superstar.
Rob: Investors worldwide still favor the U.S. even with our interest rates being close to zero, which is not necessarily the same thing as inflation. This has contributed to the decreased attraction of the U.S. to international bond investors because you cannot earn anything in cash or in short term bonds. To invest for five or ten years in a 1%-3% bond is a difficult thing to stomach. The impact of deficit spending and the stimulus programs is that the U.S. government has found ways to issue these new bonds at very low interest rates with pension funds, insurance companies and agencies of the U.S. government as the buyers. The huge national debt that continues to grow and likely will grow even more under the Biden administration. As you know, Trump was a spender: a borrower and a spender. That is how he ran his real estate empire and that is how he ran the economy.
What we see come out of all this are things like bitcoin and gold to a lesser extent. Bitcoin has gone crazy this year because it is supposed to be free of confiscation. It is portable, liquid, anonymous, and a way of avoiding the inflationary impact of profligate government spending.
Kyle: A store of value is what we like to call it.
Rob: The question is, is Bitcoin something that you should be interested in as an individual investor for a store of value? When we talk about the deficit, which includes the spending deficit and the trade deficit, the question that the country faces is, “what do you do with your money?” There were some things that we bought pretty much across the board for everyone in a disciplined fashion.
Question: Considering the declining labor participation rate, is this a trend or is it just an anomaly?
Kyle: We think that it is a trend. We have an aging population, and some people are opting for early retirement. Part of that is fueled by the rapid expansion of the stock market. Then there is the starting and stopping of the economy this year, which is an anomaly. People, rather than returning to work, decide to no longer participate in the workforce.
As a nation, we know that there are millions of jobs in the technical area, in coding especially. I saw an article about how they are looking for ways for software to write software because there are not enough skilled individuals to write new software. That is one of the constraining factors about productivity growth. In the U.S., there are jobs waiting for people, but there are not enough skilled people in those fields. The goal is to keep people productively and meaningfully engaged in society.
There are economists who feel like the thing to do is stimulate demand. Consumer spending is 75% of the U.S. economy. Our national debt is 128% of our gross domestic product well past the typical level at which economies should be penalized by having to pay higher interest rates. It is hard to believe that some can borrow at zero percent when they are a bad credit risk.
Question: Can you address Biden’s tax policy proposals and what that means for savings or retirement plans?
Rob: I think there will be changes to retirement plan policies that will favor savings. They suspended required minimum distributions (RMD) in 2020 due to COVID which allowed people to keep more money invested in their IRAs. I think the estate tax is going to go back to five million in 2025. I do not see the Biden administration or anyone reducing it below the five-million-dollar threshold. Income tax rates will go up.
Kyle: There’s a lot hinging on the Georgia elections.
Rob: Exactly. Without two Democratic senators in Georgia, there is likely very little that is going to happen.
Kyle: Everything I have read seems to indicate that we’re going to see some incremental tax cuts. Previously, there was the change that was put in where you couldn’t deduct your state taxes anymore. However, there seems to be bipartisan support to remove that and be able to deduct your state taxes again, which would be a sort of stimulus for some people and create some incremental economic activity.
Rob: This would be particularly good for the states of New York, California and New Jersey.
Kyle: The old law was intentionally made to negatively impact them, but it also was a tax increase across the country.
Question: Can you speak to the effect of the development of water futures?
Rob: Water is something that I believe people see as their natural inalienable right, like air. I do not see it as being a commodity in the long-term where people will be making money on this. It is a public resource.
Kyle: Let’s talk about the dollar’s decline. It has been really fascinating to see over the past year the decline in the strength of the U.S. dollar.
There is a give and take between interest rates and currencies. The U.S. in 2018 and 2019 had a much higher interest rate than most countries around the globe. Many countries have negative interest rates, and the U.S. has around 0.9% today for a 10-year U.S. Treasury. Put your money away for 10 years and get less than one percent annual interest back. What happened was, we had a rapidly strengthening U.S. dollar as interest rates were high, and that acts as a counter to foreign dollars coming into the U.S. Now, we’ve had a push to lower interest rates, I think, as low as 0.5% on a 10-year. What coincided with that was a weakening of the U.S. dollar because it slows the inflow of outside dollars into the into the U.S. and so it creates a weaker U.S. dollar. That was very much intentional. Rob and I were talking before the call started about the impact it has had on U.S. manufacturing. We had a big dip in prior years because of the strong U.S. dollar and now with a weaker U.S. dollar, we are seeing better U.S. manufacturing numbers.
As we look to the Feds to do another stimulus program, there’s probably a further weakening, but we could also see that countered with the higher interest rates.
Rob: When Kyle talks about 0.7% on the 10-year Treasury, what he’s referring to is when the U.S. government wants more money, they hold an auction, and they create these 10-year bonds and then they offer them to banks and insurance companies. If no one will buy them, then they offer them to the U.S. Treasury itself. The government can create bonds and then sell them to another branch of the government, who can then move it to a bank, the central bank, who then can move it to the commercial bank.
The U.S. dollar has the support of the world until there’s an event that makes confidence go away. It brings us back to the Bitcoin concept. When the number of Bitcoin reaches twenty-one million, it stops and it can’t be depreciated by overspending. This is the problem that people have with paper bonded currencies–as when the U.S. dollar went off the gold standard.
There are problems with Bitcoin, that it can be stolen and hacked, and it has happened in the past. It also takes a tremendous amount of energy to make Bitcoin. If you’re green oriented, you know, the mining of Bitcoin takes the same amount of electricity every year as half of the Argentinean economy.
Kyle: We have a question about oil and gas in the future. We have seen an incredible run up in energy over, you know, so far this quarter. The S&P 500 energy is up 32% so far this quarter, while they remain down 34% for the year, it is still up 32% in this quarter. It is an improving situation now.
Rob: Exxon and Chevron are cutting their projections and their capital budgets; this has had a huge impact. The reduction in travel and retail has definitely changed the character of the energy environment. The oil and gas industry in the U.S. has provided energy independence in that we produce more than we consume. We actually export energy.
Some people feel that we will go on an all-electric system. That is why Tesla’s stock is doing so well. Unfortunately, like Bitcoin, Tesla’s main market has been China. Most photovoltaic cells on solar power equipment come from China because the Chinese have targeted photovoltaics as an area that they want to dominate–and they are. If you’re buying a solar system, your solar equipment probably comes from China. Additionally, China is one of the biggest producers of Bitcoin. In a way participating in the Bitcoin economy, your family, your money is making that connection to the Chinese government and supporting them.
Kyle: We can relate to that, to something that’s occurring in the market which is that we are seeing trading speed up faster than technology. What we end up with is a lot of speculation around some of these companies. If your company had the name “renewable” in it or it said battery or lithium or solar, your stock was going to go up whether or not you were a good company. We have seen a lot of trading activity in those areas which are moving forward faster than the actual technology companies themselves. I think that the run-up has created a lot of additional risk in the market just because of the enormous valuations of these companies.
There is a question about marijuana stocks. Generally, we do not see many good, traded marijuana stocks in the U.S. markets. A lot of investors that are buying marijuana stocks are really buying Canadian companies and not U.S. companies. As we see the liberalization of marijuana policy in the United States, we have seen a run up of Canadian owned marijuana companies.
Rob: Let’s talk about biotech stocks in connection to COVID and how that relates to the market. There has been tremendous cooperation between countries in terms of producing various types of vaccines. It is very interesting to look at individual countries who have instituted social controls that effectively curtail the spread of COVID and are not necessarily rushing to apply for the vaccines. Whereas Britain, has a very strong economic reason to try and use vaccines to jump start their economy, which is about to go through some wrenching changes with Brexit. Britain also has one of the smallest national budgets for medical care, because of the nationalized medical system. They were very ill-equipped to deal with the actual hard medical costs of a COVID infected population. Companies like Johnson and Johnson that have a manufacturing capability and a district distribution capability are likely to benefit as will the large pharmaceuticals in the biotech industry.
Kyle: COVID has been interesting. It is sort of like the water futures conversation we talked about earlier. There has been a lot of talk with companies about the greater public good, almost as if your ability to live without COVID-19 is a human right. We see that some companies will be foregoing the outsized profits in which they could earn on the vaccine versus what they will actually realize. Our focus is looking at companies that make good acquisitions as it relates to new biotech companies, but also choosing companies that were well-run and managed before, which then stand to capitalize in this situation.
Question: Can you speak to the popularity of stocks like Tesla and why they have run up as much as they have and maybe where they go from here?
Rob: I think Kyle already touched upon that in the sense that there is an over enthusiasm for all things electric, and we think it is overvalued. We do not think it will continue its present trajectory. I think the same thing could have been said for marijuana stocks.
Kyle: We are always looking at and examining trends in the market and looking to the future and saying, “OK, what do we believe is going to be a strong investment philosophy moving forward?” We are long-term investors. We do believe in alternative energies, electric vehicles and solar in the long-term. There is no question that we think that those are trends that will continue to grow into the future. It is just a question of, “OK, is the trading activity and the run up in prices that we are seeing today justified?”
Question: If we want to guard against a dollar drop, maybe not a calamitous one, but a significant drop, what would you recommend?
Rob: There are alternatives to the dollar. Bitcoin and gold are two obvious alternatives to the dollar. Buying other currencies is another way of hedging, but the transaction costs are very high. That is why we have done a fair amount of specializing in outside assets. Diversification is the best protection.
Kyle: If you have follow-up questions, please feel free to email them to any of us on the team. All of us remain available to answer any additional questions that we did not answer.
The Markets – Kyle Burns
2020 has finally come to an end and it has been one of the most interesting financial years experienced in recent memory. For all the turbulence and volatility experienced in the markets, economy, and our personal lives, most owners of financial assets were rewarded in 2020. For everything we experienced this year the markets proved to be incredibly resilient, buoyed by government stimulus, low interest rates, and optimism for a return to normal that includes massive amounts of pent-up demand that could lead to a newly expanding economy in 2021. We can easily lay out the numbers and returns that show where we ended 2020, but there are almost too many numbers available to describe all the movements in the markets and the economy over the past year.
At one point during the peak of the pandemic, we saw around 95 % of the world’s economies under some form of lockdown and global stock markets reacted with swift downturns. On March 23, the U.S. stock market hit its low point with the S&P 500 down 30.4%. At the end of March, the government passed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that provided support to business and individuals. The CARES Act, combined with low interest rates, and government bond buying, relieved some of the stresses in the financial markets and started a turnaround that never seemed to look back. By the end of 2020, the S&P 500 finished up 18.4%, an amount far outpacing the average annual return of 10% experienced over the past fifty years.
The technology markets proved to be once again the biggest beneficiaries in the markets and their advantages in a COVID environment created additional benefits that could not be mirrored by the slower moving corporations. The technology sector finished the year up 42% driving much of the return in the technology heavy Nasdaq 100 which finished 2020 up 47.6%. Aggressive investors who could ignore valuations saw many opportunities for outsized returns. Tesla became the hottest trading stock in the markets with its stock rising 743% in 2020 while only increasing sales by 25%. The year also had several high flying stay-at-home stocks such as Zoom Video which returned 395% even after dropping close to 30% at the end of the year. Other highflyers included Docusign up 200%, Etsy up 301%, and Carrier Global up 217%. While the companies offer high potential, investors should use caution chasing the hot names with outsized valuations.
While there were many areas of the market that performed well, many sectors suffered due to the pandemic and reduced consumer demand. The energy sector finished 2020 down 37% even after recovering 30% since the election with the promise of vaccines and a recovering economy. Crude oil finished the year down 24%. At one point the price of crude oil was down as much as negative 86%. The publicly traded real estate market was down 5.2% in 2020, impacted by the exodus from major metropolitan areas, work from home trends, and the loss of retail tenants. The traditional financial industry also saw a decline, down 4.1%, as they were faced with declining interest rates and increased risk in their loan portfolios. It is likely that disruption of the traditional financial industry was accelerated by the pandemic and companies will be forced to lean into financial technologies more into the future.
The international markets saw mixed results. Asian stock markets led returns through their handling of the pandemic. The Taiwan market returned 22.8% and China, 13.9%, in 2020. Japan’s stock market returned 16% and saw its first new all-time high in over 30 years. The length between new highs is a good reminder of the importance of holding a diversified portfolio where downturns can be countered by other assets held in an account. Europe struggled to control the impacts and spread of COVID and saw the impacts on their economy linger throughout 2020. European stocks lost 4% in 2020. The UK faced not only the pressures of the pandemic, but were also faced with dealing with their decision to break from the European Union and saw their market decline 14.3%.
Government spending increased greatly across the world as they tried to support their economies throughout the pandemic. The U.S. saw its national debt rapidly increased with the passage of the CARES Act in which the government issued a stimulus of $2.2 trillion into the economy. Increased spending, combined with a worsening trade imbalance, caused the U.S. national debt to increase to over $23 trillion. The increase in debt created increased concerns over inflation, and after years of underperformance, we saw commodities change course. Items from soybeans, copper, and corn all returned over 20% in 2020. Precious metals that typically act as a hedge against inflation and currency uncertainty improved in 2020 with gold and silver returning 24.6% and 47.7% respectively. Worries around government debt and inflation also led to return of Bitcoin which increased from around $7,000 in January to a level over $29,000 to end the year.
It is hard to say what 2021 will look like in the markets. We believe there remains a lot of opportunity for investors while still using caution. There is a current momentum that could carry forward with optimism for a post-COVID world and recovering economies. The momentum that exists in the market should be approached very cautiously due to greatly increased valuations in U.S.-based companies to levels that haven’t been seen since the dotcom bubble in 1999 and 2000. The potential for increased globalization and lower valuations internationally may create opportunities abroad as investors look for new places to place their dollars. We look forward to figuring it all out in 2021 and helping you meet your investment objectives.
New Year Housekeeping Items – Keren James and Contessa Archuleta
It is the time of year when people turn their minds to New Year’s resolutions, and often that includes estate planning. For many, the pandemic may have accelerated these plans and brought them even more to the forefront. We encourage our clients to review their beneficiaries and agents who have power of attorney on their investment accounts to determine if these designations should be updated. When reconsidering these important items, people often revisit their wills and health care directives. Circumstances can change over the year, and it is important to keep these documents updated. By naming beneficiaries on one’s investment account(s), it may allow the family to avoid probate when the account owner dies. However, if assets are held outside of a revocable or living trust, and no beneficiaries are listed on the account(s), the assets will go through probate. Therefore, we strongly urge our clients to consider adding beneficiaries to their brokerage accounts. Please contact us if you would like to make any updates to your beneficiaries or power of attorney agent designations.
Staff Updates
Rob: The late fall and early winter of 2020 was a time of renewed travel and involvement in building projects. Most notably, a new metal building to be used as a Lithography/welding shop has sprung up behind the office in Santa Fe. This was no small feat, as absent municipal powers lay behind an impenetrable COVID veil and gaping budget caused by the absence of tourists. This building will be used part time as the site of an art school, led by an 81-year-old sculptor friend and a few younger Tamarind Institute of Lithography graduates who will work one on one with young people who would otherwise have no access to arts instruction. My family members continue to work hard and are adjusting to the challenging social environment but thankfully everyone is well. We look forward to seeing many of your faces in person, hopefully in the near future!
Kyle: I finished the year feeling particularly grateful for all the comforts that my family was afforded in 2020. While there were many aspects of the year that were not ideal for any of us, my family was very fortunate to have the comforts of steady employment, shelter, and food access. There are many people out there that really struggled through 2020 and I hope to not lose the perspective of all our blessings as we move into a new year. At the Rikoon Group, we not only managed to keep the entire team employed, but we also found ways to keep everyone safe, healthy, and busier than ever while working both from home and in office. Everyone on the team is due for a long overdue vacation after their strong efforts throughout the year. Ideally, we will have the opportunity to let loose a little more in 2021, but it is good to have adjusted to the situation and know that we are prepared for whatever this new year brings.
Gayle: While completing whirlwind end of the year activities, the month of December was spent working remotely from Denver, to help care for my 2 ”grangirlz”. Families working remotely while homeschooling their kids, have my utmost respect. I am humbled by how different 1st grade math is these days; and proud that Claire loves math and school in general. However, some things haven’t changed, as evidenced by 3-year-old Violet; anything to do with bodily functions (think poo) results in a puddle of giggles. And they still believe in Santa Claus, so Christmas morning was exciting. And yes, I enjoyed time with my daughter and her hubby as well (they believe in the power of Amazon delivery vs Ole St Nick).
I write this the morning after the assault on our Capitol. Truly saddened and at the same time optimistic, my prayer is that we as Americans will unite and move forward to benefit what is still the greatest country on earth.
Have you received or signed up for your COVID vaccination? Though not necessarily a proponent of mandated vaccines, I signed up and am awaiting notice that it’s time to roll up my sleeve.
Many of you know I transitioned to a Consultancy role this year; not retiring, and still here for you, just working less after 22 delightful years due to our amazing clients. Wishing you a 2021 that is so amazing, we can file the past year away, gone but not forgotten. All the best.
Jeff: Our big news is that our daughter, Stephanie, moved back to Santa Fe from Colorado this past November and so we have added on considerably to the creatures living at our property. Previously it was my wife, Barbara, and me and our very, very old cat named Betty and our wonderful silly dog, Rosita, who is now 15 months old and still acts like a puppy though she is as big as a house, about 80 pounds. Now to the mix we have added 2 humans (Stephanie and her girlfriend, Nina), 3 horses, 3 dogs, 2 lambs, 5 chickens, 2 ducks and 3 geese. All that seems to be missing is a partridge in a pear tree. We have been preparing for this and so we were ready. We built a guest house, a horse barn and corral, and lots of animal sheds with fencing for the arriving menagerie. We now have lots of activities and fun at our little ranch and we are getting to know the interesting and quirky personalities of the various animals.
Contessa: At the beginning of each new year, I find myself thinking the same thing. Where did the last year go? At times, it felt like some days in 2020 crawled to their conclusion only to morph into a week gone by. Before I knew it, the school year ended, began, and ended again with Winter Break. In between those three milestones, my family and I celebrated several birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and other special events while surrounded by what felt like complete chaos. As I reflect upon certain moments, good and bad, I can’t help but feel more thankful for all the blessings in my life including my family, home, career and health. I’m also thankful for the goodness and compassion of others – most especially all the doctors, nurses and health care providers who place themselves at incredible risk each day in order to treat the people afflicted by this disease. It’s also worth mentioning my appreciation for all the grocery store employees, who despite the danger, made certain so many of us didn’t go hungry. With all this gratitude, I hope to make 2021 great by creating new memories and traditions with family and friends, working hard for our clients, and giving back to the community that I love.
Keren: My son and I spent our first holiday season in ten years here in Santa Fe. Despite not being able to take full advantage of all that makes Santa Fe magical during this time of year, our holidays were sweet and peaceful. Much as we missed seeing family, it was also nice to be at home and not caught up in holiday travel. We baked cookies, trimmed a Christmas tree, played games, and spent time with family via Zoom. My son’s school spends the last weeks of the year making crafts, and our tree is trimmed with many of his handmade ornaments. Being home also allowed us to be of service to our community, and we delivered meals for Kitchen Angels on Christmas Eve. It was a blessing to share this act of service with my son, and a new tradition that I would like to continue in the coming years. As this incredibly challenging and historic year comes to a close, I am profoundly aware of how fortunate we have been. I am grateful for my health and that of my family. I am grateful for my job, and for the opportunity to be of service to our clients. I look forward to a new year, to what I hope will be a safer world, and to possibilities. Happy New Year!
Anthony: The holidays were especially quiet this year as unfortunately we were not able to spend time with family and friends. This time however allowed for my family and I to start some new traditions of our own at home, which certainly made for a more intimate experience. Beginning with Thanksgiving, we avoided a big home cooked meal as there were only the three of us, and instead ordered out from a local restaurant, and spent the day watching movies and decorating for Christmas. To add some additional holiday spirit to our home, my wife and daughter asked if they could do a second Christmas tree and decorate it pink, which was a fun addition. My wife was also able to share some of her late grandmother’s baking recipes with our daughter, which was a special new tradition they began together. Christmas Eve we spent the evening driving around looking at everyone’s outdoor decorations, and getting the final preparations ready for Santa’s big arrival. Then come Christmas morning to see the joy light up in my daughter’s eyes as she opened her gifts, made the stress and worries of 2020 go away. Finally came New Year’s Eve which was celebrated at home with a special dinner and a toast to end the year making sure to count all of our blessings.
Nizhoni: The holidays this year were certainly different. Normally, I would have family coming to visit from Arizona, or I myself would be going that way. My family gathers in large numbers. For Thanksgiving, I just stayed home with my mom and my partner, Destinee. Despite having a small gathering, we still made a very large dinner. With both a turkey and a ham, we had leftovers to go around for quite a while. Christmas was different this year. We decided to visit some family in Texas and had a wonderful gathering. We were able to meet Destinee’s five-month-old nephew, who is such a sweetheart. Missing the big milestones this year have not been easy, and that was a really nice way to get back in touch with family, even though it will be the last time for a while. We saw New Years’ Eve from quarantine at home. I have never celebrated New Year’s Eve, in fact, most years I would actually work through midnight. This year, I am really looking forward to growing at the Rikoon Group. I cannot wait to see where this position takes me. Having just graduated from college this last year, I will see a lot of changes in my life moving forward. Hoping all is well for you all and your families.
Upcoming Tea
Please join us for our quarterly virtual gathering to discuss economic and market related events on Thursday, March 4, 2021 from 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. (MT).
