As the calendar changed from 2025 to 2026, I cannot help but reflect on how quickly time passes. Thirty years ago, I was a commercial banker, and one year later, I made a career change that set the professional course of my life on a path that has been more rewarding than I could have imagined at the time.

Twenty years ago, I was several years into my role as Senior Portfolio Manager at PNC Wealth Management. As I look at my business and the relationships that define the business, I have seven family relationships that date back over 20 years. These relationships have been integral in my professional story over the last two decades. I cannot put into words how thankful I am to have been so fortunate to cross paths with such high-quality people. Not only have these relationships grown into some of my largest client relationships and close friendships, but they have also referred other members of their families. In fact, one of these relationships had expanded to include four generations (now three, as the patriarch of the family recently passed away at over 100 years old). I started working with an adult child of my clients well over ten years ago, when that young person was just out of college. Today, she is married, has multiple children (for whom I have small investment accounts set up), and she and her husband have successful careers. It is very rewarding to have such long-standing relationships where I watch kids grow into adults and have their own kids.

Another of these relationships, dating back over two decades, is with a person who has been part of my professional life for over 35 years. I interviewed with him when he worked for a well-known Central Pa healthcare company around 1990. I chose to remain in banking at that time, but several years later, I worked with him as his banker when he started his first business. That first business eventually led to an opportunity for him to embark on an even more ambitious business venture. Convincing a bank to back this next business venture during the tenuous economic times that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks proved challenging. I found myself in a position to advocate for him, and I eventually helped him establish a banking relationship that remains in place today for his now billion-dollar business.

By 2016, this enormously successful entrepreneur was my largest client relationship. Through his endorsements and introductions, I established several other significant relationships with many executives within his leadership team. Some professional relationships come and go, but those that endure for decades validate the belief that relationships, trust, and loyalty are the ultimate measure of success.

Today, in 2026, I have a significant number of client relationships that date back more than a decade, but I also have many relatively new relationships with people in their 30s and 40s. I truly enjoy helping these young professionals embark on their wealth accumulation journeys, and I look forward to playing a key role as these journeys unfold. I have never believed that an investment advisor should set minimum account sizes. I have always said that I set minimums on potential. I do not view $30,000 in a brokerage account as too small for a 30-year-old. Instead, based on a person's ambition and discipline, I size up their potential to grow into a high-net-worth individual down the road. I manage both investments and client relationships for the long-term. With this philosophy, I find that the singular goal of accumulating and growing wealth over time is a mutual interest that really helps form a long-standing bond. One of these younger clients that I began working with recently is an impressive, hardworking, entrepreneur-minded individual. He was a great saver when I first began working with him, and now, after five years, he has grown to truly appreciate the power of long-term investing and compound growth. I have recently been counseling him on his next business venture. I have nearly 40 years of combined finance-related experience, having grown up in an entrepreneurial family, and I am in a position to share many stories with young entrepreneurs that can provide encouragement and valuable lessons on setting goals and risk management

Stories that demonstrate the power of an idea and the rewards of risk-taking are among the most compelling, but in my position, I also find myself telling stories about my relationships with certain investments. Recently, a client asked me about one of the stocks I had purchased in his portfolio several years ago, shortly after the 2022 Bear Market in equities. This stock was not a household-name, which is not unusual given the process I use to select securities. This stock has become one of his largest holdings among the thirty-some stocks in his portfolio. He was curious how I found such a company. Fortunately, I had a story to tell. That story began almost 20 years ago. I managed money for the CEO of a company headquartered in Central PA in 2007, which was eventually acquired in 2011 by the company that was the subject of the recent question. This transaction began my interest in the acquiring company. After my CEO client's acquisition and retirement, a friend of mine became CEO of the acquired company, which is now a division of the larger acquiring company. By 2013 or so, I was becoming very interested in investing in the company. This company was small but very innovative in an industry I was very confident would grow rapidly. The first client accounts I began purchasing stock for date back to 2015. Over the last 10 years of following this company, I have owned it off and on in client accounts several times for periods of 2 to 4 years.  The most recent was when I purchased shares again after the share price had declined by over 50% in 2022. 

There are many companies that I currently own in portfolios that I have been following and owning for decades. Many people say that with experience comes wisdom, but I can say with certainty that with experience comes stories. Stories, not diplomas, certifications, or letters that follow one's name on a business card, evidence one's experience and expertise. There is an authenticity that comes from being able to tell first-hand stories to explain or put current events and actions in context.

As I look ahead to the next decade of my professional journey, I look forward to telling more stories and making new ones to share with clients in 2036.

I will end with this comment about the markets as we start the new year.

Equity markets are highly reactive discounting machines, and as a result, they can perform well in the face of worrisome geopolitical events, political strife, or culture wars despite high price volatility. If the cost of money is stable or declining, inflation is stable or declining, and corporate earnings are expected to expand, markets can look past many non-financial risks. Therefore, I continue to worry about certain risks and imbalances that I have previously written about, but I cannot ignore the positive macro factors that can continue to push markets higher. Given that we are in a mid-term election year, I expect the current administration to ramp up actions that may become more difficult to accomplish if its party loses its very slim majority in the House of Representatives as of January 1, 2027. On the other hand, the party currently in the minority will ramp up its rhetoric opposing the policies and actions of the President and his party. Putting this all together means I expect 2026 to offer the equity markets more reasons to push to higher levels, but getting there is likely to challenge even the most seasoned investors, as the "noise" level will be deafening at times.

I certainly wish the investment environment were calmer and less uncertain, but these are the times we are living in. Markets, if anything, are resilient, while many investors are not. I will continue to do what I have done: tirelessly seek out opportunities and manage risks that are both rational and probabilistically significant; all else, from an investing point of view, is just noise.