What We’re Thinking

In case you missed it, we’re re-publishing the note we wrote originally on August 5, 2024, when the S&P 500 stock index declined by 3%. Stocks have been up and down since, with the S&P gaining 2.3% on August 8. This is yet another example of why it’s impossible to make short-term predictions about market movements, and why it’s therefore best not to react to large declines, since you might miss an eventual recovery.

The US and other world stock markets have declined significantly over the last few weeks. We have no way of predicting what will happen, of course, but we think it’s helpful to put these declines in context.

We hope this provides some comfort going forward. As always, we’re available to discuss any of these topics at your convenience.

• Broadly diversified stock indexes and funds have fallen since their recent peaks on July 16. The S&P 500 index is down 8.5% in this period, while Vanguard’s total US stock fund has declined 9.1% and Vanguard’s total world stock fund (including US, developed and developing country international stocks) is down 7.7%.For 2024 year-to-date, however, all three of these indicators are still up between 6% (world stock) and 9% (S&P 500). Despite recent less-good news on employment and consumer spending in the US, which appear to be a significant factor in the recent sell-off, the US and world economies have seen declining inflation and positive economic growth for the year.
• While stock prices have declined, bond prices have risen significantly in 2024. Bond prices rise when interest rates fall, and the benchmark 10-year US Treasury has gone down from 4% at the start of the year to 3.78% currently. The declines are more dramatic compared with the 4.9% level in October of 2023 and 4.7% as recently as April of this year.There are many factors involved in falling interest rates, including reduced inflation and expectations of upcoming rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. In any case, the rising bond prices have served to cushion diversified portfolios against the stock price declines, as also happened during 2000-02 (“dot com bust”) and 2007-09 (“Great Recession”).
• Stock price declines happen regularly. The most recent market correction (generally defined as a decline of 10% from a previous high) occurred from August through October of 2023. No one likely remembers that now, since it happened in the middle of a year when stock markets around the world rose more than 20%. Stocks fell more than 30% in the early months of the pandemic in 2020, but quickly recovered to gain around 20% by the end of that year. Recoveries from the larger declines in 2000-02 and 2007-09 took longer, but generally occurred within a couple of years.The key point is that you only benefited from the recoveries if you stayed invested in the markets. Anyone who sold during these admittedly difficult, often scary periods had to decide when to buy back into the markets, and potentially missed the recoveries completely.
• This brief history highlights a few important investing concepts:

1. 1. Trust your asset allocation. All of our Park Piedmont clients have customized plans for investing in a diversified portfolio of riskier (generally stocks and high-yield income investments) and less risky (generally bonds and cash) assets. These are designed to meet your specific long-term needs and goals, and account for your time horizon and risk tolerance (see discussion in Jeff Sommers’ article, “Why You Should Be Taking a Hard Look at Your Investments Right Now,” in The New York Times on August 2). That means the allocations are supposed to help you to live through the occasional downturns, with the understanding that you’ll participate in recoveries and do well when the markets rise. If that’s not the case, please let us know and we can revisit your asset allocation.
   2. Re-balance as appropriate. The Sommers article mentioned above highlights the importance of regular re-balancing, or returning to your target allocation when one asset class has drifted significantly from its target. The stock market gains since 2022 might have pushed your stock allocation above your targets, for example, while the recent declines might have brought the stock allocation back into line. We review re-balancing opportunities regularly on your behalf.
   3. Re-invest over time. If re-balancing does make sense for you, we recommend making any changes over time instead of all at once. This is referred to as “dollar cost averaging” and represents an attempt to mitigate the risk of making a large change all at once.

Again, your Park Piedmont advisors are here to discuss any of these topics and answer your questions, as they arise.

Estate planning is a vital piece of any financial plan. No matter how well a person has saved and invested their money over time, inaction or procrastination when it comes to wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations can have disastrous consequences. Without valid, up-to-date documents in place, one’s assets may be distributed in suboptimal ways – either because the intended beneficiaries don’t receive them and/or because they are subjected to unnecessary fees.

What Is the Probate Process?

When a person dies, their estate is “opened,” and the probate process begins. This process involves the disbursement of the deceased’s assets to creditors and beneficiaries under a judge’s supervision. If the deceased has a valid will, their wishes will typically be honored by the judge, unless the repayment of debts or taxes depletes what is left for heirs. A will may also be contested by anyone who believes they are entitled to more than what the will provides them, which can complicate and lengthen the process.

Probate law varies from state to state, but in general, assets that are subject to probate include anything left to an heir via a will or when no valid will exists. Additionally, any assets where the ownership is classified as sole ownership, tenancy in common (TIC), or community property (CP) will be allocated to heirs via probate.

The Downsides of Probate

While probate can fulfill a deceased person’s wishes for how their estate is dispersed, there are a few downsides – it can be very expensive (due to legal fees) and time consuming (if there are many competing claims from creditors and heirs, or many assets to sort through, etc.).

Additionally, the court proceedings are public record, so there is no privacy for the deceased and heirs in how property is doled out. So, it is often in one’s best interest to keep as much property out of probate as possible.

How to Avoid Probate

Common methods of avoiding probate include passing property “via contract” to named beneficiaries, as well as titling property in certain ways. Examples of contracts that bypass probate include life insurance, annuities, retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401ks, trust accounts, and transfer on death (TOD) accounts. A TOD account is essentially an individual investment account that has a beneficiary. If there is no living beneficiary named for these types of assets, they will be brought back into the probate process.

Another way to avoid probate is to change the titling of property to be owned jointly. With this form of ownership, when one property owner passes away, the other joint owner(s) automatically receive the deceased’s portion.

All these methods of bypassing probate allow the deceased person’s property to pass directly to their beneficiaries without the need for a court order. It is important to note that with these same methods, the beneficiary designations supersede the deceased’s will. If a will provides instruction for the disbursement of specific assets that are held in accounts that bypass probate, the will will be ignored when it comes to that property. Instead, it will pass directly to the named beneficiaries outside of the probate process. For example, if a person’s will says that they intend to leave their 401k to their son, but the named beneficiary of the 401k is their daughter, the daughter will ultimately receive the account if no changes are made.

How Park Piedmont Can Help in the Estate Planning Process

Some of the most important parts of any estate plan are wills, trusts, and powers of attorney. While Park Piedmont cannot assist with drafting these documents, there are a variety of ways in which we can aid in the estate planning process.

First, we can advise on the optimal way to set up and title accounts to best align with your needs. We can also help with converting individual investment accounts, which are a form of sole ownership, to TOD, Joint, or Trust accounts to avoid probate.

Finally, we can add, remove, or update beneficiary designations on the accounts we manage. Please reach out to your advisor to verify the beneficiary designations on your accounts are up to date and reflect your wishes. Or, see below for instructions on how to add or update a beneficiary in Schwab Alliance on your own.

[Note: Check out our Tax Cuts and Jobs Act update for insights into how federal legislation set to expire at the end of 2025 may impact estate planning and the income tax system more generally.]

How to Add or Update a Beneficiary in Schwab Alliance

Log in to your Schwab account at SchwabAlliance.com.

Click on the “Profile” tab in the top right corner, then select “Beneficiaries” from the drop-down menu.

Scroll to view your accounts. Click “Edit Account” to add or update your primary and contingent beneficiaries for each account.

“Our approach to investing flows from a single, bedrock principle: the future is unpredictable and uncertain. Indeed – and this is actually quite interesting – even having knowledge of the future doesn’t provide actionable insight as to how markets will behave given that future.”

So begins our book, Thinking About Investing: Two Decades of Reflective Commentary on Markets and Money.

Each of the book’s ten chapters represents a core investing principle and features a selection of commentary previously shared through our newsletters since the firm’s founding in October 2003.

The opening selection, written in February 2014 by our late cofounder Victor Levinson, supports our bedrock principle. It is as relevant today as it was then:

The financial media and most professional investment organizations (advisory firms, brokerage firms, mutual funds) spend a great deal of time and effort providing their views of the future, either related to the general economy, the prospects of specific companies, or the movement of market prices.

And many in the investing public want to believe that someone out there knows what is going to happen. Unfortunately, the markets prove over and over that they cannot be predicted in advance, frustrating professionals and amateurs alike.

Over the years we have discussed this viewpoint many times. But most people remain skeptical, continually asking the same basic question, even though the terminology of the questions is ever-changing.

The question they want answered is: What is the market likely to do over the next “fill-in-the-blank” time period?

And when we answer that we simply do not know – and what is more, that no one knows, and to think that anyone knows can be a real disservice to a person’s financial well-being – there is always lingering doubt on the part of the questioner.

However, we think we are only stating the obvious: that no one can predict the future and that future stock prices, bond prices, interest rates, or economic growth rates are all subject to unpredictable future events.

Financial media and financial organizations wanting you to believe that someone knows the future is of course in their interest, so you will buy their reports, or research, or investment products, but unfortunately these efforts are all, in our view, an exercise in futility.

Since we recently expressed gratitude for the generations of advisors and clients at Park Piedmont, we wanted to highlight one family we’ve been working with for decades.

Bernard (Buddy) Rosenbaum is an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist with a doctorate degree from Columbia University. Buddy began working with Park Piedmont co-founder Vic Levinson before Park Piedmont existed. Though the firm wasn’t founded until 2003, Vic was already advising clients with the same investment philosophy that guides Park Piedmont today.

Buddy Rosenbaum and Vic shared a love for Central Park. “That was our office,” Buddy said recently. “We had a bench in Central Park, and that’s where we would have our meetings.”

Over the years, three generations of Rosenbaums – Buddy and his wife Linda, their three adult children and partners, and now several of their grandchildren – have worked with three generations of Levinsons, making the relationship a special one.

We caught up with Buddy Rosenbaum the week of his 87^th birthday, and he charmed us with stories of his life with money – and his remarkable life on a motorcycle.

What is your earliest money-related memory?

My earliest memory of money is getting a wooden vegetable box from Mr. Horowitz, the local vegetable store man, and taking the vegetable box and 30 or 40 old comic books to the local underground subway station.

I set up my stand – the wooden vegetable box – right at the top of the steps where people were coming out of the subway. For new, the comic books would have cost 10 cents, but I was very entrepreneurial. I must have been about nine or 10, and I was selling them for four and five cents.

The following week, another fellow from the neighborhood – Brucey was his name – came with comic books that were in somewhat better shape than mine. He was selling them for the retail price of 10 cents, and he couldn’t understand why mine just flew off the vegetable box and his didn’t. So that’s my earliest money memory.

What is one purchase you’ve made that felt especially weighty – or filled with possibility?

I had a consulting firm, and I brought some partners into the firm. I made a decision at that point that I would treat myself to a luxury item that I had wanted all my life, and I bought a motorcycle.

I was 41 or 42, and it was one of the greatest decisions because my wife accompanied me on many, many tours. We were adventure travelers from that point on. We toured a good part of the world – most of Europe, Nepal, parts of India, Patagonia, South America – all on motorcycle.

A motorcycle opens the world to you, and it opens people to you too. You’re very approachable on a motorcycle. In a car, you’re protected – you have to roll down a window if you want to talk to somebody. But you’re very accessible on a motorcycle, so you get to meet people that normally you would never interact with. And that’s true in the most remote places as well.

Wow, that’s amazing. Was your wife immediately on board?

I wouldn’t say she was immediately on board, but she wasn’t negative about it. We did some local touring – we went up to Nova Scotia, and that was a big distance at the time.

But then I saw an ad – the one and only motorcycle ad probably ever run in New Yorker Magazine. This tiny ad said, “Ride your motorcycle in the Alps.” And I said, “Oh my god. Can you imagine that, Linda? Riding a motorcycle in the Alps?”

So we signed up, and it was a European touring company located in Austria. When we arrived at the airport, Werna was waiting for us, and I said, “Werna, how did the other tours go so far?” He said, “We’ve had no problems.” Great! I later found out we were the first ones he ever did this with.

Linda was involved on a part-time basis at a local travel agency. And it was her idea to represent this motorcycle company in America, so motorcycle touring became her specialty at the travel agency. They’re the world’s biggest in motorcycle touring now – it’s a company called Edelweiss Bike Travel – and she helped to establish them in America. So that was her involvement. She knew more about motorcycles than I did at the end.

Do you have a favorite destination?

Nothing is better than the Alps for riding. We’ve done that many times. But if you expand it to not just the riding challenge but the touring interest, everywhere. We’ve done most of Europe. The longest was with a friend for six weeks. We rented motorcycles and started in Heidelberg, then went up to the northerly most point in Europe, Nordkapp in Norway. We came down through Finland and into Russia, then back through Lithuania and Estonia and so on. But I can’t pick a favorite. We did Patagonia, Nepal, Bhutan…

What do you wish you could tell your 20-year-old self about life with money?

At 20, I knew what I wanted to do with money. It wasn’t the pursuit of money unto itself, but I wanted the freedom that some degree of financial security would provide. The freedom to make choices – not necessarily the choices for survival but for the choices of enrichment.

And I did have a foundational need for security. I got married at a very early age, and we had kids at a very early age. So economic security was very important to me. And all this avocational activity – like the motorcycling – came at around age 40. But up to that point, I was kind of obsessively involved with building my consulting firm. And by the nature of that activity, there was a lot of travel. I was away two to three nights a week for most of that time. And that’s when I brought partners into the business.

Was there ever a decision you made, or a step you took, that made your life with money less stressful?

I think making the decision to bring my partners into the business, which I made pretty early on – somewhere around age 40. It sounds odd: the business wouldn’t necessarily grow in exactly the way I wanted it to, though close enough, but I would also have, early on, some degree of economic security to diversify some of the things I would be doing. I was itching to do some discretionary travel.

What is the best gift you’ve ever received?

Well, I’m thinking about where I am right now [in East Hampton] … A few years ago, my oldest son bought me the world’s greatest beach chair. It had a little umbrella, it had a place for your drink, it had all kinds of different seating positions. Great beach chair! It made going to the beach so much more comfortable. I could strap it onto my back and bicycle to the beach. Terrific gift!

Is there anything else you want to share about life with money?

Meeting and working with Vic allowed me to focus far more on the satisfying and gratifying things in life, rather than checking the New York Times finance section every day. Vic’s investment philosophy squelched the question, “Is the market up or down today?” It was so gratifying, and even liberating, to not have to think about that. So in that sense, there was a liberating dimension of life that came from working with Vic, and now Park Piedmont.

As Park Piedmont moves into its third decade serving our clients, I wanted to share a few personal reflections on our family firm.

First, we’ve been very fortunate to see the firm grow significantly over the years. Initially, in 2003, Vic and I worked just with Lynette, who many of you will remember as our longtime, beloved Client Service guru. Tom joined in 2014 and has been a key firm leader while also bringing an important focus on life planning to the more technical work of money management. The advisory team expanded further with the addition of Samantha in 2021 and my son Nate in 2022.

To complement this additional capacity on the advisory side, we’ve added staff to provide outstanding client service. Ana now leads the Client Service team, which includes Leslie, Kathryn, and, most recently, Heather. We have Amanda focusing on operations, and Corenna on education and marketing. We also continue to work closely with our three CPAs/advisors, Richard, George, and Stu.

Even as we’ve grown, we’ve worked hard to retain the feeling and values of a small family firm. The entire team is committed to providing thoughtful, unbiased, comprehensive financial advice to all of you.

Second, we continually strive to honor Vic’s legacy. He was a great advisor and teacher, and demonstrated a total commitment to helping clients achieve their goals throughout their various stages of life and wealth. He set an example for us, both professionally and of course personally, and we know he would be thrilled to see that a third generation of our family is now part of the Park Piedmont team.

Speaking of Nate, we were overjoyed to celebrate his wedding last month! We spent a great week with family and friends in Minneapolis, where his wife Nuria grew up, culminating in a really fun ceremony and party. Nate and Nuria have been together since sophomore year of college, and are moving to Cincinnati, where Nuria has an internship as part of her clinical psychology training.

Finally, as Park Piedmont started and has continued as a family firm, we also celebrate the opportunity to provide advice and peace of mind to multiple generations of many client families. We spend a lot of time making sure that the transitions among generations of Park Piedmont advisors and clients go as smoothly as possible and continue to serve your needs. We are especially excited, for example, to see Sam and Nate beginning to advise third-generation clients.

This family continuity was a primary goal of ours when we founded the firm, and we’re honored that so many of you, of all generations, continue to place your trust in us.

We’re thrilled to share that Park Piedmont has been named a finalist for RIA of the Year in the “Under $1 Billion in Assets Under Management” category by RIA Intel. (As of the end of May 2024, PPA manages just under $1 billion for our clients.)

“RIA Intel is delighted to announce the finalists for its third annual RIA Intel Awards.

“We had close to 300 nominations across 12 categories, from massive RIAs to entrepreneurs just starting out. Our finalists were chosen from an extremely talented pool of candidates who represent companies and people that are changing the face of wealth management …

“This year’s was the largest pool of candidates ever, with almost 300 nominations from the best and brightest of wealth management.”

To read the full announcement and view the list of finalists, visit the RIA Intel Awards website. Award winners will be announced in June.

We’re honored and grateful to receive this recognition. We want to extend our gratitude to our team for their dedication to our clients and to our clients for placing your trust in us for over two decades.

It is our immense pleasure to serve you and your families. We look forward to continuing to offer principled, personal, and practical financial guidance to help you gain clarity and peace of mind in your life with money.

Amy Gallo, a client of Park Piedmont, has dedicated her career to helping people improve their lives at work, asking and answering questions such as:

How can we make our work environments and relationships more positive and less stressful?

Amy is a workplace expert who writes and speaks about gender, interpersonal dynamics, difficult conversations, feedback, and effective communication. She is the best-selling author of Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) and the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict, as well as hundreds of articles for Harvard Business Review. For the past four years, Amy has co-hosted HBR’s popular Women at Work podcast, which examines the struggles and successes of women in the workplace.

Amy is frequently sought out by media outlets for her perspective on workplace dynamics, conflict, and difficult conversations. Her advice has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and NPR.

We caught up with Amy to talk about her work as well as her own life with money.

We spend so much time at work – and yes, it’s to earn money – but work is such a huge part of our lives beyond that. Given your focus on the workplace, do you think of your work as helping people navigate life with money?

Amy: I do think about it that way – in two ways, actually. One is that conversations around money involve a lot of conflict – or perceived conflict – in terms of asking for raises, negotiating a salary, trying to figure out what your bonus is going to be, or even talking to your friends or partner or colleagues about money. There’s a lot that I talk about that is very relevant to those conversations.

And also, for a lot of people, if you ask them why they work, they would say it’s to earn a living. And if that’s your only reason, it’s going to be a pretty soulless endeavor. But many of us have other reasons for working, and one of them is having relationships with people. And I feel as though having those be as positive as possible is helping set people up for success.

My overall mission is to make work less stressful for people and to normalize conflict and disagreement as an inevitable part of interacting with other humans. And I think in all my work – whether it’s with Harvard Business Review, my own speaking, my books – that is really what I’m trying to do: help people have fewer sleepless nights and enjoy work and their relationships with their colleagues more.

Thinking about your own life with money, what is the best gift you’ve ever given?

Amy: My husband turned 50 during the pandemic, and he is an extreme extrovert. He would have loved a huge party, which we obviously couldn’t throw for him. So, I asked friends and family to send pictures and a little toast to him, and I put it all together in a book.

It cost me very little – it had little to do with money, but it was just a representation of his life. And this is a bit morbid, but he always jokes that his biggest regret after he dies is not hearing the eulogies at his funeral. So I sort of thought of that: “Please eulogize him so he can actually hear those things!” And it’s true! Oftentimes we don’t say those things until someone has died, and that’s the saddest thing.

What is your favorite savings tip? How do you make saving easier for yourself?

Amy: Honestly, the thing that has helped me most was being raised by a single mom who had to be very careful with money. And I really saw – and I think she was explicit about this – be independent financially. And from very early on, that had me thinking, how do I maintain that independence? No matter how much I rely on the people around me, how do I make sure that no matter what happens, I feel safe and secure? So that’s sort of a mindset thing that I think has really helped.

And then another thing is, my family always jokes that I’m squirreling away money in my savings account. Sometimes I say, “Even if I just transfer a tiny amount every week or every month, at least it’s building.” And I like numbers, I like seeing it build. Even in my 20s when I was making very little money, just putting a little bit away gave me the sense that 1) I was building my security, and 2) it’s just nice to see that number grow.

And also, I have a couple accounts that I don’t even think about. I try to have experts who are thinking about them, but those are just off to the side for later. It can be easy to just think short term, and there are expenses that will come up that would be lovely to spend money on, but I also just think – not thinking about those accounts, not regularly interacting with them in a way that they become part of the calculation around my spending is really helpful.

In all my work, there’s short-term versus long-term goals. If you engage with the long-term goal on a regular basis, you’re going to quickly turn it into a short-term goal, right? You have to give it space and time. And I’m a huge fan of outsourcing, right? I’m not an expert in investing and in money. That’s why I have experts to do that.

What’s the last thing you purchased that brought you joy?

Amy: I actually have it right here! It’s a candle. When I go to London for work, which I do once or twice a year, I always stay in the same cute boutique hotel. And I love this hotel. It’s super well-designed, the staff are amazing, and I love being there. This time when I was there – I was just there two weeks ago – I thought, how do I bring some of it home? And they have these candles which actually smell like the hotel – they must scent the hotel with this scent. So it’s a small thing. It really didn’t cost much, but it helps me tap into this nice memory.

Speaking of stress, is there a decision you’ve made, or a step you’ve taken, that has made your life with money less stressful?

Amy: This is going to sound as though I’m pandering to you all, but it’s so true. The first time I hired a financial advisor – the one I worked with before Park Piedmont – I thought I didn’t have enough money to work with a financial advisor. But once I started working with him, I realized you can have twenty dollars or you can have 20 million dollars, but you might not know what to do with it. And it just took my stress level down. And especially since transitioning to Park Piedmont, the level of expertise and trustworthiness has reduced my stress enormously.

What led you to transition to Park Piedmont?

Amy: I had outgrown my previous financial advisor, and I knew the fees they were charging were actually quite high. And Park Piedmont, Tom in particular, had come highly recommended from a friend. Actually, two different people in my life know Tom in different ways. And I’m an obsessive researcher when I’m making a decision, and my research about Park Piedmont was glowing. I felt like everything I was finding out was so positive.

What do you wish you could tell your 20-year-old self about life with money?

Amy: I think what I would tell her about life in general is, “Don’t worry so much. You’re doing the right things, you have the right mindset. Things will work out.” And I think I’ve been pretty good about this, but also just making decisions that are driven by values, and not necessarily by finances. And that has really paid off for me. I have a career that I love that supports me and my family. And it’s so aligned with my values and what I care about in the world.

I don’t know if I knew that was possible when I was 20. I think I thought you could make a lot of money, but you would have to hurt people in the process, or you’d have to do things against your values. And I was really struggling with that. So I think I would tell myself, “Just keep following your values. It will work out. You have to think about money – you know, I was still squirreling away – but just trust the process and it’ll happen.”

Park Piedmont clients are entrepreneurs and homemakers, world-renowned physicians and award-winning authors and directors, the founders of startups and the owners of closely-held businesses, and young professionals and retirees.

The common thread is that they are thoughtful, intelligent people doing good and interesting things with their lives.

Today we’re kicking off a new series to help our clients get to know other clients in our extended community – others who look to Park Piedmont for financial guidance that’s principled, personal, and practical.

We begin with Peter Brill and Wendy Lewis, who have been traveling the world together since January 2022 – by sailboat. We caught up with them as they prepared to pass through the Panama Canal and asked them to share a bit about their adventure around the world – and to reflect a bit on life with money.

The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Whose idea was it to travel the world by sailboat? Did either of you need convincing?

Wendy Lewis: We first went sailing together off the coast of Hawaii, and I was overwhelmed with joy because it was so much fun. And then later we were out on a charter in the British Virgin Islands, and I turned to Peter and said, “Have you ever thought about sailing around the world?” And he said, “Don’t mess with me because I have. It’s a dream.” And I said, “Really? Let’s do it.”

Peter Brill: Yeah, we shared it from the beginning. And the timing was right. Our children were adults and in a good place, and both sets of parents had passed away so we were no longer caring for them. And things were opening up after Covid. So we made the decision pretty quickly, but we’ve remained flexible in terms of making travel plans. There are different constraints to consider for traveling by boat versus over land – like hurricane or cyclone seasons, winds, and currents. And when you’re traveling the world, you’re also thinking about changing political climates, safety and security, and of course budgeting. Park Piedmont’s “How Long Might Your Money Last?” illustration has been helpful in that regard.

What is one purchase you’ve made that felt especially weighty – or filled with possibility?

Wendy: Buying the boat! We knew we wanted this particular boat because it’s set up for sailing in the way that we wanted to sail. It’s safe and it’s sturdy, but it moves fast and it’s fun to sail. So that purchase felt like a leap!

Peter: Yeah, we sold everything. The house, the cars – the boat is our home now. We purged a lifetime’s worth of stuff. We don’t have any possessions except for some artwork, books, and photographs – some personal stuff like that, but no furniture or anything. If we have it, it’s in the boat with us. And we’re just going to do this until we decide otherwise – I guess if it stops being fun, or if there’s a health issue, or if something else comes up that shifts our thinking.

Wendy: We’re thinking 5-7 years, or maybe 7-10.

Peter: And we’ve been aboard for over two already!

Have you discovered any tips for saving during your travels?

Peter: Yeah, here’s a big one: if you don’t purchase health insurance coverage for the US, you save an enormous amount of money. Colombia is an example of an advanced, modern, cosmopolitan country with good, affordable healthcare. There’s actually something called dental and medical tourism – people who fly from the US to Colombia to get first-rate, affordable healthcare. So we’ve saved a lot of money by paying out-of-pocket for minor expenses and by purchasing insurance based in London for major medical expenses we incur anywhere in the world – even in the US, though not for longer than a month.

What’s the last thing you purchased that brought you joy?

Wendy: We love artwork, and we recently purchased a little wooden sailboat that someone made in the Guna Yala part of Panama, an indigenous area. They make the sails out of anything – just sheets sometimes. And there are these beautiful traditional textiles that the Guna Yala make, called molas. They’re entirely hand stitched, and many of the women wear these on their clothing – like with a collared blouse. They’re so beautiful. So we bought one of those too. Both purchases have brought us joy.

What do you wish you could tell your 20-year-old self about life with money?

Wendy: It’s okay to follow your heart, and money will follow. I really bet that you’ll work it out. Another thing is that it’s okay to splurge every once in a while. You do need to save, but – my dad was a great caregiver and took care of our family financially. But one day after he retired he said, “You know, I think it’s finally time to start spending this money that I’ve saved.” And that really struck me. He and my mom had dreamed of going to Europe and to places where he had served in the war. And then unexpectedly, he was sick. He’d always been super healthy, but he passed away in six months. So they didn’t get to go on that trip. I was just barely 30 when he passed away, and it really stayed with me. So in a way, that was also a lesson to that younger self: save but also enjoy, because all you have is what is immediately in front of you, you know? So much about money is about saving for the future. That’s important – I don’t want to discount that – but all we have is right now.

Peter: I would say, “Tranquilo.” Don’t worry so much about money. I think I spent too much time worrying and feeling anxious about it. There’s so much energy consumed in worrying, and it isn’t helpful. So I would tell myself to spend that energy on something else.

What is one decision you’ve made, or step you’ve taken, that has made your life with money less stressful?

Peter: Before we left, we needed to organize our finances and streamline everything. Turning everything over to Park Piedmont pursuant to our values and our desires has been great. We don’t fuss over it, it’s not something that requires a lot of energy or bandwidth on our end, and that’s the choice we like.

Wendy: The thought and care that the Park Piedmont team puts into their work has been great for us – it’s something we don’t have to worry about when we’re traveling, so that’s huge.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received or given?

Wendy: Time – the gift of spending time together. And also unconditional acceptance from someone. Money can of course help with things like spending time together – like giving us the ability to bring our kids here, or for us to go back and visit them. But if we’re talking about something specifically related to money, the best gift I’ve ever received was when I was traveling in Africa with my brother. He paid for us to trek and visit gorillas in Rwanda. We loved it so much, we went a second time and were lucky enough to see a newborn baby gorilla. The whole band was celebrating its birth. It was amazing.

Peter: I think the best gifts are experiences – being with loved ones, with family and friends.

During your travels, have you noticed differences in “life with money” (approaches, mindsets, etc.) in other parts of the world – that perhaps have even changed your own?

Wendy: Traveling has allowed us to meet so many creative, resourceful, entrepreneurial, and funny people – and to experience value systems that are different than we typically see in the US. For example, we’ve experienced overwhelming generosity from people who may live very differently economically. They’re so eager to help us – sometimes it’s related to money, sometimes it’s related to time, and sometimes it’s related to understanding the language. It has changed me in ways that will impact how I interact with people when we go back to the States.

Peter: Yes, and if someone helps us out with something, our reaction is to ask, “How can we pay you?” And they’re like, “Pay us? You don’t need to pay us!” In many ways, resources allow us to do amazing things like travel. But money makes life more complex – it doesn’t guarantee happiness, fulfillment, or peace.

April 15, Tax Day: the culmination of our annual season of data-gathering, number-crunching, and spiritual reflection.

What’s that? You don’t use tax season as an opportunity for self-examination and renewal?

OK, fine – me neither.

Tax Season is a time-intensive, laborious grind, and you’re no doubt in good company if you offer a grunt of thanksgiving when it mercifully wraps up.

In many ways, taxes fall outside our sacred considerations.

And yet — our religious and spiritual traditions (they’re sometimes also called our “wisdom traditions”) locate in taxation a chance to reflect on the delicate, often precarious balance between ethical individual action, just leadership, and the redistribution of resources to meet ever-present social needs. For example:

• Jesus and the Gospel narratives are intentional in discussing taxation, spotlighting individual values like integrity and generosity along with big-picture aims like an economically just society.
• The primary form of wealth distribution mandated in Islam – indeed, one of the five pillars of the faith – is Zakat. Zakat isn’t synonymous with tax – but for Muslims meeting a baseline level of wealth, it’s obligatory and serves the same end of social welfare. Beyond that, it’s viewed as a kind of worship – a way to purify wealth by providing for those in need.
• The same goes in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud. Public services, priestly work, sanctuary construction, care for the poor: all were funded by broadly assessed taxes.

Of course, there is room for healthy, constructive debate about how much taxation is appropriate. Regardless of one’s opinion on that topic, our wisdom traditions generally agree that the process of preparing and paying taxes offers individuals a platform for ethical conduct. We can direct attention to the needs of the neediest in our midst, while supporting a stable and just social order. Indeed, given the very human temptations we all confront in the tax prep process – think coveting and cheating, to start – tax season may in fact be one of our most potent spiritual proving grounds.