Well, that was a year, wasn’t it? We thought it would be “nice” to revisit 2022, as though going through it once wasn’t enough. In case you missed it, here’s a quick synopsis of the “year that was” for BentOak Capital.
We’ve had a busy year! Did you know we wrote 19 blog posts, shot 13 YouTube videos, hosted 7 live webinars, and posted over 100 times on Facebook and LinkedIn? We did not invest your money in crypto, so there’s that.
One very large thing we did spend our “free time” on was continuous learning. Our team earned 5 new designations this year. Hayden Hill completed the Retirement Management Advisor designation. Michael Cochran completed the Certified Investment Management Analyst certification. Marley Wood and AJ Bunn both earned their Certified Financial Planner designations. Chris Sargent finished the Certified Private Wealth Advisor certification. We are so proud of each of these people for spending countless hours studying outside of our normal business hours.
Looking Back
In January we introduced our theme for the year: Planning with Purpose. Those two ideas, planning (looking not just at today but also at tomorrow) and purpose (the why behind the plan) suffused so much of what we talked about with you this year.
In February, we really introduced our financial planning portal. This online tool has so much to offer. We use it during our regular meetings with you to help keep you on track toward your family’s financial goals. It provides three excellent benefits to you personally:
- You can see your whole financial life in one place
- You can securely send and receive sensitive documents with BentOak Capital
- You have a transparent look at the progress of your long-range financial plan
Blog
In March, advisor Michael Cochran took us through a data-driven look at the inverted yield curve, one of the most well-known (and misunderstood) recession predictors. This timely blog post is a good introduction to a topic that has become news once again during the second half of 2022.
As spring turned to summer, we once again focused our attention on the importance of estate planning and legacy planning. These topics continue to drive some of our best discussions with you.
Throughout the summer, we consistently talked about staying the course, long-term, and not giving into fear and uncertainty. During our meetings, we emphasized the 15 adjustments – some small, some large – that we have made this year in our investment portfolios. These adjustments were driven by our quantitative investment process. This process uses multiple layers of research, is massively informed by statistics, and is implemented with an eye on potential tax impacts.
Moving from fall to winter, Chief Investment Officer Brandon Garrett helped us frame the investment markets’ decline in historical terms. Brandon has been instrumental to BentOak Capital throughout 2022 in providing context, data, analogies, and well-researched opinions about the investment markets.
We are also thankful for advisor Madison Wallace for her blog post on Qualified Charitable Distributions. We get lots of questions about this topic, particularly in the last quarter of the year, and this is an easy and quick read on the subject.
Chief Compliance Officer and resident gym rat, Stefan Simpson, recently reminded us that your health is one of your most important assets, which is an especially good thing to keep in mind during the holiday season.
Webinars
Our webinars this year were mostly centered on the current market and economic environment, as you would expect. We always try to do these in an entertaining and informative way that provides context and a view toward the future. While these are usually advisor hosted, we brought in a few guests to get input on their expertise as well. In October we were fortunate to have our good friend Cole Pfeiffer from Janus Henderson Investments join us to provide an outside opinion on the market. In November, we had an informative and timely discussion about Medicare with guest host Colby Pistocco, and to wrap up the year in December, our CEO Wayne Garrett led a conversation about year-end tax planning opportunities to consider.
Looking Forward
In keeping with our theme for 2022, we spent a lot of time talking about looking beyond today and focusing on the long term. In 2023, we are hopeful we can spend even more time talking with you about your families, your opportunities, and your dreams. The purpose of the planning we do is to make crystal clear the link between how you want to live your life and the financial and investment strategies we help you implement. In 2023, we intend to spend even more resources on communicating with you, provide more and easier avenues for you to reach out to us, improve and iterate on our world-class investment processes, and double down on our commitment to long-range comprehensive planning.
We believe that life is better lived together, in community, in partnership with people you like and trust. The team at BentOak Capital has never been stronger more talented, or more aligned with this purpose. We have over 100 years of combined experience behind us and trust me: we’re just getting started. Thanks for joining with us.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION: Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended and/or undertaken by BentOak Capital [“BentOak”]), or any non-investment related services, will be profitable, equal any historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. BentOak is neither a law firm, nor a certified public accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this document serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for personalized investment advice from BentOak. Please remember that it remains your responsibility to advise BentOak, in writing, if there are any changes in your personal/financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing/evaluating/revising our previous recommendations and/or services, or if you would like to impose, add, or to modify any reasonable restrictions to our investment advisory services. A copy of our current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request at www.bentoakcapital.com/disclosure. The scope of the services to be provided depends upon the needs of the client and the terms of the engagement. Historical performance results for investment indices, benchmarks, and/or categories have been provided for general informational/comparison purposes only, and generally do not reflect the deduction of transaction and/or custodial charges, the deduction of an investment management fee, nor the impact of taxes, the incurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results. It should not be assumed that your account holdings correspond directly to any comparative indices or categories. Please Also Note: (1) performance results do not reflect the impact of taxes; (2) comparative benchmarks/indices may be more or less volatile than your accounts; and, (3) a description of each comparative benchmark/index is available upon request. Please Note: Limitations: Neither rankings and/or recognitions by unaffiliated rating services, publications, media, or other organizations, nor the achievement of any designation, certification, or license should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if BentOak is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. Rankings published by magazines, and others, generally base their selections exclusively on information prepared and/or submitted by the recognized adviser. Rankings are generally limited to participating advisers (see link as to participation criteria/methodology, to the extent applicable). Unless expressly indicated to the contrary, BentOak did not pay a fee to be included on any such ranking. No ranking or recognition should be construed as a current or past endorsement of BentOak by any of its clients. ANY QUESTIONS: BentOak’s Chief Compliance Officer remains available to address any questions regarding rankings and/or recognitions, including the criteria used for any reflected ranking.