Return to flip book view
FAIRHAVENJOURNALWINTER/SPRING 2019Master Your Emotions toBecome a Better Investor
TABLE OF CONTENTS Note from Marc Horner ..........................................................................................................3Control the Controllable .........................................................................................................4Team Member Spotlight, Heidi Orth .......................................................................................8Meet the Fairhaven Team, .....................................................................................................11Elevated Childhood Treat, Asian Caramel Crisps ..................................................................12Medicare Enrollment, Making the Process Simpler ...............................................................16Conservation and Advocacy at the Shedd, Protecting Our Oceans ....................................... 19A Bicontinental Success, Client Prole. .................................................................................20Aspen Wine Perfectly Paired with a Good Cause .....................................................................24Fairhaven in the Media .........................................................................................................28This material has been prepared for informational and educational purposes for our clients and friends. Please consult your Fairhaven Wealth Management professional to discuss how this may impact your own financial plan and/or investment portfolio. This material is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for accounting, legal or tax advice or any other purposes. Neither Fairhaven Wealth Management nor its subsidiaries or affiliates provide accounting, legal or tax advice. Please consult your tax advisor and/or attorney for such guidance. Advisory services offered through Fairhaven Wealth Management, an SEC registered investment advisor. Securities offered through Triad Advisors, member FINRA/SIPC. Fairhaven Wealth Management and Triad Advisors are not affiliated. For a copy of Fairhaven Wealth Management’s ADV Part 2 disclosure document please direct your inquiry to admin@fairhaven.com.
3©2019 Fairhaven Wealth Management. All rights reserved. The information contained in this issue of the Fairhaven Journal is correct as of press time. NOTE FROM MARC HORNERWelcome to Journal issue #3! As some of us emerge from the Polar Vortex hitting Chicago and other parts of the country, you may want to skip directly to the Fairhaven Team prole of Heidi Orth. One of her favorite places is Hawaii…need we say more? Aer you’ve had a mental warm-up, skip over to a recap of topics we discussed at the annual Year Ahead event last month, the role emotions play when investing. Also, you might enjoy the proles of two classic American success stories; one involving the partnership between a French immigrant and a high school teacher, and the other a family that is turning their passion for wine into a cash generating machine to help people with disabilities. Of course, we also continue with our foundational topics around food, philanthropy and healthcare.Speaking of healthcare, we also have an exciting announcement! Jim Sullivan, the healthcare expert on whom we have relied for perspectives on a range of healthcare issues, has accepted our oer to ocially join the Fairhaven Team as our resident expert on all things healthcare, including evaluating decisions around Medicare and Social Security. Jim spent 20 years with Arthur Anderson guiding clients through compensation and benets decisions and he continues to serve the accounting industry as an educational resource for the AICPA (American Institute of Certied Public Accountants).While Fairhaven is surely not the only rm out there providing a dedicated healthcare resource to its clients, I am condent in saying we are in the extreme minority. I am personally thrilled to have Jim join an already strong team (said with all humility) in providing our clients access to a range of resources beyond just investments.Please join me in welcoming Jim to the team and, more importantly, do not hesitate to lean on his expertise.Sincerely,Marc HornerWealth Advisor Founder
CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLE Becoming a better investor by mastering your emotions.The end of 2018 provided a reminder that investment markets can be volatile. While a relatively normal part of the investment experience, dramatic market moves can sometimes produce understandable feelings of anxiety. Rather than hear about someone’s predictions about what the Fed might do with interest rates or taris or who is going to win the Super Bowl (none of which is accurately predictable), we thought it might be more interesting to get some perspective on things within our control. At this year’s Annual Outlook, our guest speaker was Ken Haman, Managing Director of AllianceBernstein. With more than 20 years of experience in psychology and human behavior, Ken provides a unique perspec-tive on developing the skills of being a successful investor. In his work you will not nd references to mathematical terms like Sharpe Ratio, Beta or Dura-tion. Instead of spreadsheet processes, Ken tries to help us elevate our awareness of our emotional processes. At its root, investing is about addressing the emotional challenges that come from being vulnerable in a big and oen frightening world. We worry: “Am I going to be okay?”, “Is my family going to be okay?”, “What steps do I need to take to protect myself?” ousands of years ago, humans answered that last question by gathering into groups, developing tools and weapons, cultivating elds, breeding livestock, building villages, and surrounding villages with walls. ese advancements were driven by the desires to increase security and reduce risk. Although civilization has advanced dramatically over the past 50,000 years, despite our achievements, our brain, central nervous system and survival instincts essentially remain as they were back in the prehistoric era. e result is an odd contradiction in how we experience money and investing: our rational, educated and modern brain thinks one way while our emotional, instinctive and primitive brain can react very dierently. A BRAIN IN TWO PARTS: INVESTING IS MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOU MIGHT THINK Over the millennia, the human brain evolves. e oldest, most primitive part is the brain stem, the structure that controls our instinctive ght-or-ight reaction. Its primary function revolves around survival. A newer section, the neo-cortex, has evolved to cope with more complex issues; rational thought, language, long-term planning and the ability to process a variety of information needed to understand a complex world. is insight—the idea of “two brains”—is central to the challenge of investing. Investors perceive information and then, based on their personal experiences and 5
interpretation, begin to react. If the information is benign or pleasurable, the central nervous system may decide there’s no need to take strong emotional action. However, when the information is negative or threaten-ing, it can be a dierent story. Emotions can interrupt our ability to think rationally. Fortunately, science has revealed a way to become aware of these instinctive patterns. HEURISTICS: AUTOMATIC WAYS OUR BRAIN TRIES TO MAKE DECISIONS EASIER For all human beings, the dynamics of language, thoughts and emotions are deeply connected. Research has shown that sometimes the brain uses automat-ic-thinking mechanisms or shortcuts to process and react to information. ese are called heuristics, and the study of how heuristics inuence nancial deci-sion-making is the focus of the discipline known as behavioral nance. Dr. Daniel Kahneman was among the rst scientists to uncover patterns of thinking, many of which signi-cantly inuence how we make investment decisions. Most of these patterns result in decisions that feel natural and correct but cause us to make investment mistakes. One classic example is how we naturally distinguish between pain and pleasure. Kahneman discovered that we are more than twice as motivated to avoid pain as we are to seek pleasure. is means we feel pain from an investment loss signicantly more than we get pleasure from a gain. Even though mathe-matically it would make more sense to see losses and gains as similar measurements, it feels to us like they are not. Kahneman called this heuristic loss aversion. SOLVING THE OLDEST PROBLEMS: HEURISTICS STARTED OUT AS SURVIVAL TOOLS Heuristics such as loss aversion originally worked very well. Because they are built-in patterns that get activat-ed automatically, they enabled primitive humans to survive and prosper. Unfortunately, while they may work well enough in some situations, they typically work very poorly when applied to investment decisions. When a leading economic indicator drops, it causes a similar feeling as the howl of a wolf. A short-term correction in an asset class is like the snarl of a sa-ber-toothed tiger. e drop of a few basis points in a bond fund’s valuation seems like the movement of a crocodile on the edge of a riverbank. e problem isn’t so much that changes stimulate reactions; in many cases, we should react to changes in our environment. e real problem is the way we react. Our brains tend to respond to changes we experience today the way they did 50,000 years ago and use mental shortcuts that might not t the current situation. One of the shortcuts the human brain uses to cope with a complex environment is to simplify challenges. For a survival-oriented brain, keeping things simple is very important. Unfortunately, when it comes to investing, it’s possible to make things too simple. Because the primitive part of our brain likes to keep things simple, we sometimes lose track of our purpose when investing. We can ght this inclination by setting 6FEELINGTHOUGHTBRAIN STEMNEO-CORTEXAnxiety/UrgencyHeuristicsToo MuchInformationAvoid PainSeek Pleasure
specic goals attached to a concrete vision of the future. Detailed mental images allow your brain to make rational sense of the investing process and keep emotions under control. With clear goals and a rational understanding, you can look at an investment that has lost money in the short term and say, “I’m still on track and I’m doing okay!” is brings us full circle to the ultimate question: “Am I going to be okay?” is big question cannot be simplied to a single number or one simple indicator. It requires looking at how we cope with our built-in vulnerabilities: the concept of ecacy. e Oxford English Dictionary denes ecacy as “the ability to produce a desired or intended result.” While the denition is short, the importance of ecacy cannot be underestimated. Each of us enters the world as a small, fragile and completely dependent creature. We spend years learning how our bodies work, how to interact with others and how to cope with challenges. As soon as we’ve mastered the basic skills for navigat-ing the world, we become aware of our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. As we age, life becomes more complicated and the consequences of failure become more serious. Ecacy is found in people who feel they can overcome adversity, protect themselves from dangers and produce their desired results; they’re condent they will be okay in the future. Conversely, someone who lacks a self-concept of eectiveness or has little condence sees the future as uncertain and frightening. e human without ecacy cannot condently answer the question “Am I going to be okay?”. is has direct and signicant implications for investing. THE WEAKNESS OF 20/20 HINDSIGHT Our brain tends to confuse looking back in time with being able to predict the future. erefore, we oen say “I should have known better” aer we make a mistake. With the benet of hindsight, the negative results now appear to be obvious and inevitable. In his book inking, Fast and Slow, Daniel 7Past FutureOne of the shortcuts the human brain usesto cope with a complex environment is to simplify challenges.continued on page 27
P erformer Bruno Mars once said, “Hawaii is para-dise. It might sound cheesy, but there is music in the air.” Bruno, who grew up in Honolulu, would certainly con-cur with Fairhaven administrative assistant Heidi Orth, whose favorite vacation destination is Hawaii. “What makes Hawaii so wonderful? Where do I start? e picturesque landscape, unique foliage, wonderful ocean breezes, the beaches, the marine life, the rainbows, and all of the unique history and traditions…how’s that for a list!” Heidi says. Elaborating on her family trips to the Pacic, “We’ve been blessed to be able to visit Maui and Kauai, and it’s hard to pick which is better.ey are both beautiful in their own way,” Heidi adds. One recent trip to Maui brought Heidi face-to-face with several awesome creatures of the deep. “I had been hoping to see a whale. While on a boat trip over to the island of Lanai, the captain was sharing with us various points of interest and stories of “Old Hawaii”. Suddenly, a humpback whale breached in the distance directly be-hind the captain. It was just like those pictures you see, but it was real! It was an awesome sight! Toward the end of our cruise, a large school of spinner dolphins (there had to be more than 100!) swam alongside the boat leaping out of the water. It was so much fun to watch!” A resident of Downers Grove, IL, Heidi spends her beach vacations with her husband of 25 years, Dan, a soware engineer. On these water-centric journeys, Heidi enjoys a variety of outdoor activities. “I love walking along the shoreline, especially uninterrupted stretches of beach which seem to go on for miles.Shell-ing, searching for sand dollars and unique rocks and pieces of driwood all make the shore come alive. Kayaking and snorkeling are fun, and who doesn’t love a good boogie board ride? Of course, sunsets are also a must,” Heidi says. TEAM MEMBER SPOTLIGHTAdministrative AssistantHeidi Orth9
“We have a great group of people who genuinely care about taking care of our clients and each other”10Heidi’s family includes three sons. Her eldest, Ryan, is enrolled in post-graduate psychology studies in Mary-land. Conor is a recent computer science graduate. And Nolan is a rst-year student at North Central College in Naperville, IL. Having been part of the team at Fairhaven Wealth Management since its founding, Heidi cites the culture as her favorite aspect of the job. “We have a great group of people who genuinely care about taking care of our clients and each other. Smiles tend to come easy around the oce and that level of comfort with one another cannot help but create a positive work environment. It might not be the same as a walk on the beach, but I really enjoy being a part of the company,” Heidi says.
11Gerald KingWealth AdvisorTrent WarrenWealth AdvisorSusan KosteckiAdministrative AssistantBlair FuchsWealth AdvisorMarc HornerWealth Advisor and FounderHeidi OrthAdministrative AssistantMichael KronkEmeritusAmy ChristensonMedia ConsultantGina HornbogenExecutive AssistantDenise JahnsAdministrative AssistantBarb SchrageAdministrative AssistantKurt AndersonWealth AdvisorDavid EdstromSenior Relationship ManagerJoseph GuestHead of OperationsMEET THE FAIRHAVEN TEAM e best people, carefully chosen, for service and results.Paul MardoianWealth AdvisorDave WilsonSocial Media Manager
This was a childhood favorite treat that I used to help my grandmother make. e original recipe was a blending of chocolate and butterscotch morsels slowly melted and combined over a double-boiler. While certainly delicious “as-is”, we’ve tried to use our culinary knowledge to take these tasty treats to another level of richness by using a combination of white and bittersweet chocolate chips along with some cream. e cookie gets additional crunchiness from a mix of fried lo ‘mein noodles, toasted sesame seeds and that professional chef secret weapon…Special K cereal! e cookies make a wonderful gi whether on Valentine’s Day or any other day of the year you want to put a smile on the face of your sweetheart. ey are also excellent crumbled up as an ice cream topper.. Bon appetit! >A CHILDHOOD TREAT...ELEVATEDChef Owners, Academe BrasserieShanna and Brian O’Hea Shanna and Brian O’Hea are the Chef-Owners of Academe Brasserie and e Kennebunk Inn in Kennebunk, Maine. is 1799 property with 23 guest rooms and a 100-seat restaurant, anchors Main Street in one of Maine’s most popular tourist destinations. e O’Heas have gained international recognition by participating in cooking programs around the world including: e Walt Disney World Epcot International Food and Wine Festival and Holland America Cruise Line. Shanna has appeared on Food Network’s “Chopped,” “Beat Bobby Flay” and winner of “Rewrapped.” Brian and Shanna will both appear on a new Food Network show in the spring of 2018 called “Best in Seafood.” Academe’s signature Lobster Pot Pie has been featured in Oprah Magazine as one of Gayle King’s favorites, on Food Network’s “e Best ing I Ever Ate,” Travel Channel’s “Food Paradise,” and 2014 Travel and Leisure Holiday Gi Guide. eir Lobster White True Pizza has appeared on the “O List” in Oprah Magazine and was also featured on Travel Channel’s “Food Paradise.” Both products are available on MaineLobsterPotPie.com, a website the O’Heas developed to ship fresh Maine seafood overnight across the United States.13
½ Cup Sugar1 Teaspoon Corn Syrup2 Tablespoons Water1 Cup Cream2 Ounces White Chocolate Chips6 Ounces Bittersweet Chocolate Chips1 Cup Fried Lo ‘Mein Noodles2 Cups Special K Cereal1 Tablespoons Toasted Sesame Seeds 1 Teaspoon Sea-Salt METHOD• Bring cream to simmer in separate pot, reserve • Place sugar, water and corn syrup in quart size pot over high heat• e sugar will dissolve and begin to boil, let boil for 4-5 minutes• e sugar will begin to caramelize, remove o heat when the color reaches a deep amber• Slowly pour warm cream into caramel o the heat, it will boil rapidly and raise but will subside once all the cream has been incorporated• Mix caramel sauce into the white and bittersweet chocolate in a heat safe bowl with a rubber spatula• Once all the chocolate is melted and the caramel sauce has been fully incorporated to achieve a smooth ganache , mix in the fried lo’mein noodles and special K cereal with rubber spatula so everything is nicely coated begin to boil, let boil for 4-5 minutes• Using two tablespoons scoop bite size pieces onto Asian spoons or waxed paper sheet tray• Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sprinkle of sea-salt and refrigerate until set• Asian Caramel Crisps will last up to four days under refrigeration ASIAN CARAMEL CRISPS14
Enrolling in Medicare was never supposed to be this confusing.Years ago, the process was simpler. And less confusing. So, what has changed? And what can you do to simplify the process? We’ll consider each of those questions in turn. WHAT CHANGED? ere are six factors that have made the Medicare decision more complex.1. e Normal Retirement Age (NRA) for Social Secu-rity benets and the eligibility age for Medicare used to be the same – 65. Enrolling in Social Security and Medicare went hand in hand. You only had to keep one date in mind. e date you reached 65. In 1983, however, Congress changed the law gradually increasing the NRA from 65 to 67. e eligibility age for Medicare remained 65. With this change, enrolling in Social Security and Medicare was no longer a “one and done” deal. If you wanted an unre-duced Social Security benet you held o enrolling until your NRA. Your NRA now comes aer your Medicare eligibility. is means at 65 Medicare enrollment is not automatic. You may go on line (www.medicare.gov) and enroll or go to your local Social Security oce to enroll in Medicare. 2. More of us are retiring aer 65. Years ago, most people (including your parents and grandparents most likely) retired at 65. And why not? Social Security and Medicare kicked in at 65. So, did most company pensions. Many of us have now begun working beyond 65. is has created confusion about staying on the employer’s group health plan versus enrolling in Medicare. e worker’s spouse, if over 65, faces the same question. Stay in the spouse’s employer group health plan or move to Medicare. 3. Many employers have ended retiree health care plans. But many plans still exist. Employer retiree plans combine with Medicare to provide coverage. CPA and Financial PlannerJames Sullivan , MS, CPA, PFS17MEDICARE ENROLLMENT Making the process simpler
Should you enroll in your employer’s retiree health plan? 4. Add into the mix COBRA coverage, Medicaid eli-gibility and Obamacare plan coverage. Don’t forget Medicare eligibility before 65 because of disability. Your current health coverage will impact your Medicare enrollment decision. 5. e introduction of Medicare Part D (prescription drug coverage) over ten years ago has added anoth-er set of decisions. Finding the plan that best meets your prescription drug needs at an aordable price should be done annually during the Open Enroll-ment Period that runs from October 15 through December 7.6. Finally, the rise in popularity of Medicare Advan-tage (MA) plans. ese plans come with or without prescription drug coverage (MAPD plans). Ap-proximately one-third of all Medicare beneciaries opt for a MA or MAPD plan. ese plans can oer signicant benets. e dierent features make it important to consider each plan available in your area carefully. Recent legislation has broadened the benets a MA or MAPD may provide beneciaries. It also made making changes to coverage more ex-ible with the addition of the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period which will run annually from January 1 through March 31. e rst such open enrollment period kicked o in 2019. More options, more confusion!If you make the wrong decision regarding when to en-roll in Medicare, you may face late enrollment penalties (that can be imposed for the rest of your life). Your enrollment dates may also be restricted. is may leave you with no health insurance of any kind for a period!SIMPLIFY THE PROCESSAs you’ve probably gured out by now there is not a “cookie cutter” approach. Individual circumstances matter. Here is what you can do to make the process simpler. First, begin thinking about your Medicare enrollment well before your Initial Enrollment Period (IEP). Your IEP lasts seven months. It begins three full months before the month in which you turn age 65. It includes the month you turn age 65. It continues for the three full months aer the month you turn age 65. You can also delay enrollment until aer your IEP but that must be done with care. Note there are special rules for those born on the rst of the month. eir Medicare eligibili-ty begins the month before their birth month. Second, at least six months before your IEP begins do a “Medicare enrollment inventory” answering the following questions.1. Have you already started taking Social Security benets before 65 or plan to do so before your IEP?2. Will you continue working aer 65? Will you have access to an employer provided group health plan? Does the plan include prescription drug coverage?3. Will your spouse continue working aer you turn 65? If his or her employer oers a group health plan are you eligible?4. When you retire, does your employer (or union) oer a retiree group health plan? Is your spouse eligible for coverage?5. Do you have any of the following types of health care coverage: COBRA or an individual or family health plan (e.g., such as an Obamacare plan). Did you become eligible for Medicare before age 65 due to a disability? Are you eligible for Medicaid? Medicaid is a health insurance program provided by the federal and state governments. It is open to individual with income and assets below certain thresholds. In subsequent articles we will review the impact of these individual circumstances on your Medicare enrollment decisions. Jim is a CPA and nancial planner. Jim’s practice focuses on helping his clients think about and plan for the costs of health care in retirement. He has written over 100 articles on health care costs in retirement and a book on Medicare for the American Institute of Certied Public Accountants (the AICPA). He is currently writing a book for the AICPA on the impact of chronic and ter-minal illness on retirement plans. He lives in Glen Ellyn with his wife, 3 children and 2 Beagles. Jim can be reached at jsullivan@Fairhavenw.com18
19Beyond the aquarium and across the globe, Shedd sta are working every day to protect and advocate for aquatic wildlife and their habitats. Just this past year, Shedd engaged in several conservation eorts that had far-reaching results for the aquatic animal world. One important eort that Shedd hosted in 2017 throughout the ma-jority of 2018 was the Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea traveling exhibit created by artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi, which showcased 19 larger-than-life sculptures of aquatic animals, created entirely from plastic beach trash. Since the project began, 10,000 volunteers have removed more than 38,000 pounds of plastic trash from over 300 miles of beaches. e exhibit helped spark conversations with Shedd guests about plastic pollution and the aquarium’s own plastic reduc-tion eorts like Great Lakes Action Days and Shedd the Straw. Shedd also initiated the #SheddeStraw campaign, aimed at raising awareness for and reducing the use of single-use plastic. Scientists estimate approximately 8 million tons of plastic trash end up in the ocean annually, and plastic straws account for much of this harmful waste. Partnering with several local organizations, including the Chicago White Sox, Shedd has helped raise awareness for decreasing the use of plastic straws. Overall, Shedd has cut its own plastic use by 70% since 2013. Click here to view a quick video on this program. Abroad, Shedd sent veterinarian Dr. O’Connor to Madagascar to help provide care to over 10,000 critically endangered radiated tortoises who were held captive as part of a poaching scheme. In Quebec, Shedd sta assisted in the rst rescue and relocation of a stranded beluga calf in 2017. And Dr. Steve Kessel, Director of Ma-rine Research, continues leading important research and conserva-tion eorts to collect shark biodiversity data and collaborate with the Bahamian government to preserve essential shark sanctuaries. Closer to home, Shedd continues vital conservation work in Lake Michigan. Looking for ways to get involved with Shedd? Visit Shedd’s website at www.sheddaquarium.org or contact John Kinzer at jkinzer@shed-daquarium.org to learn about the impact an Aquarium Council membership has on Shedd’s global mission, as well as how it can enhance your own experience.CONSERVATION AND ADVOCACY AT SHEDD Protecting our oceans
Lush gardens surrounding the Moreau’s meticulously restored 250-year-old French manor house.
21On Dec. 26, 1976, Philippe Moreau was ying back to Paris aer visiting family in the United States. A native of France, Philippe spoke little English – but across the plane aisle sat Diane, a foreign language teacher based in central Illinois. She was es-corting a group of students abroad for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. During that ight, romance took o and in June of 1978, Philippe and Diane married. Before they were married, Philippe was working as an assistant city engineer for a medium-sized city in the Normandy region of France and Diane was continuing her education career. Relocating to the United States, Philippe was hired at an engineering consulting rm in the western suburbs of Chicago. Diane also changed her careers and transitioned from education to assisting non-English speaking patients at a local hospital as a medical interpreter and patient advocate. Each of their careers continued to progress. Starting as an entry-level eld staer, Philippe performed construc-tion inspections and conducted surveys as he learned the process of designing and building roads, sewers and large waste water treatment plants. He also continued his professional education via night school becoming a professional land surveyor and engineer licensed in both Illinois and Wisconsin, all the while improving his prociency in the English language. Diane went on to be promoted to Director of Patient Support Services, managing the operations of the hos-pital interpreting sta coordinating the more than 300 volunteers who regularly participated in the hospital volunteer program. If that was not enough, she also managed the hospital gi shop operations. Over the years, the owners of the engineering consulting rm couldn’t help but notice Philippe’s work ethic. Di-ane shares that feeling: “He worked hard and spent long days, learning, listening, taking assignments and proving himself to be loyal, responsible and reliable.” e owners oered Philippe the opportunity to buy the company. It was not an easy decision, but they decided to take the plunge and in 1996 Philippe became the owner of the rm he started at as a French immigrant – a classic, up-by-the-bootstraps, American success story! Philippe & Diane MoreauA BICONTINENTAL SUCCESS A chance meeting, hard work, passionate commitment, and careful planning
Transitioning from employee to owner was not all croissants and champagne (French puns intended). Ownership included both risks and new responsibilities but under Philippe’s leadership the company contin-ued to grow via a mix of entrepreneurial ingenuity and engineering acumen. “Philippe recognized growth opportunities in the environmental and electrical/con-trol engineering elds and enlarged the company by creating two additional consulting engineering rms to capitalize on these opportunities”. Philippe and Diane started working with Marc Horner of Fairhaven a few years aer buying the company. “Marc helped us think about the business as another part of our investment portfolio. While maybe not the same as shares of IBM or Apple, our investment in the business represented equity risk. As the business grew and the acquisition debt was reduced, we reallocated periodic distributions in more conservative, income-producing investments to both systematically “de-risk” our overall investment portfolio and build a source of income for our eventual retirement”, observes Philippe. “Tax-e-ciency has always been an important goal and we appre-ciate the proactivity of Marc and the team at Fairhaven in communicating thoroughly with both our tax and legal advisors.” roughout their relationship, a connection with France has continued to be important to both Philippe and Diane as they frequently visit family and friends. In 2006, they re-established ocial French roots when they purchased a dilapidated, 250-year-old manor and adjacent centuries old forest located in the Brittany region of northwestern France. “Completing the restoration took over six years! We could write a book about turning an old, cold, granite structure into a comfortable, warm, modern residence with its beautiful garden and hilly landscape,” reminisc-es Diane. Coming full circle, in 2014 Philippe sold the engineer-ing rm to the next generation of sta members and just recently Diane retired from the hospital celebrating 40 years of service. e couple now split their time be-tween Brittany, France and their home in the Chicago-land area. While in Britany, Philippe loves to work outdoors in the forest surrounding their house and maintain their farm equipment. “e property has enough grain pro-ducing acreage that we are ocially “French Farmers”. Had Philippe told me the game plan was to retire and become farmers, I may have thought twice about that”, laughs Diane. Diane loves to visit the local farmer’s markets, which are colorful and animated. “Although we live in the coun-tryside, we can easily enjoy the beautiful coast of Brit-tany, spending time hiking the trails, picking mussels from the rocky ocean, enjoying walks on the beach and the beautiful rugged clis. We also like to take day trips to the various islands found in Brittany, and we love to visit the old towns nearby with their cobblestoned streets and beautiful architecture.” While residing in the land of Lincoln, Philippe has several vintage car restoration projects going, including a 1947 Lincoln Continental Coupe and a 1948 Lincoln convertible. Diane keeps busy with tness classes and volunteering in the community. “We like to discover new restaurants and go to the movies. We also love to visit our National Parks, which are America’s treasures,” Diane says. More than 40 years aer meeting on a plane to Paris, much has been accomplished by Philippe and Diane both personally and professionally. e common thread running through their experiences can be summed up with one word…together.22 (Facing, clockwise from top) Restored garden as seen from of the Moreau’s back terrace; Massive egg-crate style grille of Philippe’s 1947 Lincoln Continental; Brittany’s distinctively delicate yet meaty mussels; 17th century Chapelle de Saint-ey, Pointe du Van; Medieval cobblestoned streets of northwestern France; e dramatic unspoiled beauty of Brittany ‘s coastline.“Transitioning from employee to owner was not all croissants and champagne...”
31
PERFECTLY PAIRED WITH A GOOD CAUSE 25The story of the Aspen Lane Wine Company begins with Bob and Sonya Evanosky and their three sons: identical twins John and Christopher and their younger brother, Jack. Each of the boys were diagnosed in 2005 with a fatal genetic disease known as metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD). Inspired to make a dierence and give back to the many organizations who support families like theirs, in 2010 Bob and Sonya together decided Bob would leave a successful career in aviation to form Aspen Lane. And though Aspen Lane has only been around for a few years, it already boasts 10 high-quality wines and has created a variety of private labels for nearly 100 companies and individuals, including one of Chicago’s billionaire philan-thropists. An accomplished home winemaker, Bob had the idea to combine his passion for wine with a for-prot business that would provide recurring income to select not-for-prot organizations that serve both children and adults with disabilities. In developing the Aspen Lane busi-ness plan, Sonya and Bob met with the Paul Newman Foundation, which has given away over $400 million to charities through sales of the actor’s salad dressing and learned that there were about 20 other businesses in the U.S. using a similar business model…but none of them dealt with wine. e rst step in executing on this plan was, of course, making good wine. Sourcing grapes from top wine pro-ducing regions like the state of Washington, Aspen Lane produces high-quality wines with remarkable avor and
reliable drinkability. Producing a wide range of varietals has expanded the appeal of Aspen Lane whether you are a fan of reds or whites. Both the diversity and consisten-cy of their wines has contributed to a loyal and growing following extending beyond the Chicagoland home of the winery. “We work hard to create consistent taste proles from year-to-year, so if you like one vintage, you will enjoy the following year’s vintage just as much or maybe even more.”, smiles Bob. Unlike a typical fund-raiser or one-time donation, the execution of their business plan has created a cash ow engine that generates a repeatable source of income for the various not-for- prot partners of Aspen Lane. Aer costs, 100% percent of the money from every bottle goes to their partner charities such as Marklund, MidAmerica Service Dogs, Indian Prairie Educational Foundation, Fox Valley Special Recreation Association, DayOne PACT, the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry and the Aurora Veterans Advisory Council. “Seeing our vision to use wine as a catalyst for change actually become a reality is remarkably rewarding”, observes Bob. “While our small-batch winery will likely never become a Mondavi or a Kendall-Jackson, we have a lot of fun making great wine and seeing the prots support organizations that do so much for people with disabilities.” Cheers! To learn more and to purchase Aspen Lane wine, visit: www.aspenlanewinecompany.com And for more information about MLD, visit: www.evanoskyfoundation.org24 True North’s spectacular fairways are lined with towering strands of hardwoods and pines. FACING PAGE: Beautifully designed cottages that complement the serene setting of the northern woods are available for those who choose to play and stay.
Kahneman provides guidance about 20/20 hindsight: “Hindsight bias has pernicious eects on the evaluations of decision makers. It leads observers to assess the quality of a decision not by whether the process was sound but by whether its outcome was good or bad.…is outcome bias makes it almost impossible to evaluate a decision properly—in terms of the beliefs that were reasonable when the decision was made.” A successful investment is especially tricky to think about; if it performs well, most investors are seduced by the thought that they made the right selection. Nassim Taleb confronts this idea directly in his book Fooled by Randomness: “Clearly, the quality of a decision cannot be solely judged based on its outcome, but such a point seems to be voiced only by people who fail (those who succeed attribute their success to the quality of their decision).” e great investor is humble in the face of the conditions of uncertainty, complexity and urgency that dene the challenge of investing. SOCIAL PROOF IS “FOLLOW THE LEADER” FOR ADULTS As we explore dierent types of heuristics, it becomes clear there are many ways for our brain to answer the wrong question. For thousands of years, decision-mak-ing oen boiled down to asking, “What are other people doing?” If everyone was running away, it was probably smart to join them. If everyone was shing or harvest-ing, that probably meant it was a good idea to do the same. Social proof is another heuristic that causes us to assess the value of an investment by how popular it is with oth-er investors. Like most heuristics, social proof feels right and natural to the human brain. Unfortunately, when it comes to investing, what everyone else is doing is rarely an indicator of a good investment opportunity. It can feel intuitively right and even compelling, but many things about investing are counterintuitive and dicult for the primitive part of our brain to process. Investing quite oen requires contrarian thinking… doing the opposite. HIGHER-QUALITY DECISIONS? ere’s no cure for heuristics. ese patterns have been built in to the human brain by 50,000 years of experi-ences. So, the question is not “How can I avoid making these mistakes?” You can’t; they’re built in to the way we think about the world and are helpful under certain circumstances. When it comes to investing, a better question is “What can I do to make higher-quality decisions?” Pay attention to your feelings. Heuristics operate within the most primitive part of the brain: the part in charge of survival…the ght-or-ight instinct. When you are feeling emotional about a decision, that is a good indica-tor of a heuristic being activated. When investing, avoid succumbing to emotions and try to recognize that slow, rational thinking will likely lead to better long-term decisions. A comprehensive discussion of Behavioral Finance is beyond the scope of this article. We are passionate about the topic and convinced that the mastery of emotions will have a far greater impact on long-term investment decisions than anything that can be found in a spread-sheet. We hope you enjoyed this introduction. Stay calm and invest on!27continued from page 7CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLE
ABOUT FAIRHAVEN Fairhaven Wealth Management is an independent, privately owned investment and wealth management rm serving select families and small to mid-sized businesses. At Fairhaven, our commitment is simple – we exist to serve our clients…period. Our culture of service and accountability combined with prudent risk management and tax-eciency are the cornerstones of our client commitment. www.fairhavenwealth.comThis material has been prepared for informational and educational purposes for our clients and friends. Please consult your Fairhaven Wealth Management professional to discuss how this may impact your own financial plan and/or investment portfolio. This material is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for accounting, legal or tax advice or any other purposes. Neither Fairhaven Wealth Management nor its subsidiaries or affiliates provide accounting, legal or tax advice. Please consult your tax advisor and/or attorney for such guidance. Advisory services offered through Fairhaven Wealth Management, an SEC registered investment advisor. Securities offered through Triad Advisors, member FINRA/SIPC. Fairhaven Wealth Management and Triad Advisors are not affiliated. For a copy of Fairhaven Wealth Management’s ADV Part 2 disclosure document please direct your inquiry to admin@fairhavenw.com.FAIRHAVEN IN THE MEDIAIn addition to sharing valuable nancial knowledge and education on social media, we’re also a frequent presence on radio and TV. Follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn and see all of our media appearances at ww w.fairhavenwealth.com/media