In This Issue 

From the Desk of the CIO: Reality Keeps Score. Ben Beck, CFP® on the World Cup, Alan Greenspan, and why being right is not the same as knowing what to do.

At the Table in Traverse City. Beck Bode joined the Michigan Girl At The Table luncheon, and Tammy Stoerkel takes the stage with the rest of the Traverse City team.

Summer, According to Beck Bode. Where our team is headed and what they are reading when they get there. 

From the desk of the CIO: Reality Keeps Score

Twice a year, Ben Beck, CFP® sits down to write to clients about what he is seeing. This is the mid-year letter, and it opens somewhere even himself did not expect. He admits he did not see it coming. A year ago he would not have believed that a mid-year update would open with World Cup soccer. What grabbed him first was the physicality. What held him was not what he expected. After a few matches he noticed his attention had left the ball entirely and settled on the players who did not have it: the runs, the positioning, the spacing, the discipline to hold a spot through a possession they might never touch. Millions of people watching, and the players spend the overwhelming majority of their time doing things that will never appear on a highlight reel.

"Reality has a much longer attention span than we do." — Ben Beck, CFP®

That is the hinge of the whole letter. We remember the goal, the penalty kicks, the controversial call at the end. Reality remembers every pass, every decision, every lapse in concentration. It does not negotiate, and it does not care whether we acknowledge it. It simply keeps score.

From there the letter turns to investing, and to a moment most investors think they remember. In December of 1996, Alan Greenspan wondered aloud whether enthusiasm had become excessive. History would eventually suggest he was probably right. What most people forget is what happened next: from the date of that speech, the market went on to produce extraordinary returns for more than three years. So suppose you had agreed with him completely. What exactly were you supposed to do? Sell? Sit in cash? Wait six months, a year, three?

Ben's answer is the sentence worth carrying out of this issue. Being right about what is happening is not the same as knowing what to do about it. Those are two different skills, and history suggests nobody holds the second one consistently.

The letter goes on to lay out the principles that hold regardless of the headline, and an honest look at a first half that included a major war, a shock in energy prices, inflation that will not sit down, valuations near historic highs, and the largest IPO in history. The question Ben puts to all of it is the one worth reading in full.

→ Read the full mid-year letter

At the Table in traverse City

Earlier this month, Beck Bode was the presenting sponsor of the Michigan Girl At The Table luncheon, a gathering of nearly ninety women who came together to learn, to connect, and to invest in themselves.

Tammy Stoerkel joined Michigan Girl founder Kandace Chapple onstage for an interview-style conversation about financial planning, investing, and the financial journeys women navigate across a lifetime.

One message Tammy kept returning to: money is a tool. Used with intention, it creates opportunity, provides security, and supports what matters most. She encouraged the room to take an active role in their financial lives, and not to let fear or uncertainty sit between them and their goals, whether they are starting a career, raising a family, navigating a divorce, becoming a widow, running a business, or preparing for retirement.

Money is simply a tool. Small, intentional steps, taken consistently, make all the difference.

Beth Price and Bonnie Barley spent the rest of the afternoon answering questions about who Beck Bode is and how the firm works with women in particular.

Our hope is that every woman left knowing she does not need to be an expert to take control of her financial future. That is the part worth holding onto. Nobody arrives at financial confidence in a single dramatic move. It is built the way most things are built, away from the ball, one steady decision at a time.

Summer, According to Beck Bode

Summer at Beck Bode means our team is spread out from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic to the desert. This year we asked around the office for the spots they cannot wait to get back to, in case you need a little inspiration for your own summer.

Where we are Spending our time

In Traverse City, Chip Ybema is hitting Sleeping Bear Dunes, Fishtown, and the wineries at Old Mission Peninsula. Tammy Stoerkel has a whole itinerary: Poppycock's, PepeNero, Red Ginger, Shipwreck Cafe, Mundos, and Bonobo Winery for eats, Esch Beach and North Bar Lake for swimming, and Friday Night Live downtown for good measure. Bonnie Barley is keeping her favorite beach close to the vest, but she has promised a personal tour to anyone who makes the trip to the TC office this summer!

New England brings everything from Boston favorites to Cape Cod hidden gems. Christie Markham is soaking up Newport with sushi at the Cooke House, tacos at Perro Salado, and a Gulls game at Cardines Field.  Michele Naehle is all about Brown's for steamers, a tailgate at Myopia Polo, and Crane Beach, greenheads permitting. On the Cape, Jim Bode loves Mayflower Beach, Peter Kalianiotis is a regular at 71° West, and Andy Martone has mapped a full day: Wolfie's Bakery, Summer Shanty at sunset, Milno's for dinner, and a Bandera's sub to go. His rule of thumb? Any Cape beach works.

And out in Las Vegas, Ashley Cotler is proving summer is not just a beach thing. Her list includes Wineaux for wine, the Bellagio Conservatory for a stroll, and Durango Resort for a fresh scene.

What we are reading

Looking for your next great read? Our team has some suggestions to enjoy during these warm summer days:

	Christie Markham Director of Client Relationships - Dedham, MA     Heart the Lover by Lily King "A love triangle formed in a college literature class resurfaces decades later when a crisis brings three old friends back together. The novel moves between the intensity of first love and the more complicated, hard-won intimacy of adulthood."
	Tammy Stoerkel Client Advisor - Traverse City, MI     The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins "Robbins lays out a simple mindset shift: stop trying to control other people's choices, opinions, and actions, and focus your energy where it actually matters, on yourself. A quick, motivating read about letting go of what is not yours to manage."
	Ashley Cotler Client Success Manager  - Dedham, MA/Las Vegas, NV   No Ego Policy by Daniel J. Batty "Part memoir, part leadership manual, this book draws on Batty's decades in construction and franchise operations to argue that real company culture is built through humility and authenticity, not perks or policy. A practical, story-driven look at leading with heart."
	Andy Martone Sr. Client Advisor - Dedham/Cape Cod, MA   Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor "Journalist James Nestor investigates why modern humans have forgotten how to breathe properly and what it is costing our health. Blending science with firsthand experimentation, the book makes a compelling case for one of the simplest habits we take for granted."
	Benjamin Beck, CFP® Managing Partner / Chief Investment Officer   Dancing with the Analysts by David Mallach "Neither technical, nor tedious, this is not a book about finance. To the contrary, it's a book about human behavior, and about making choices under pressure. Written by my mentor, it brilliantly illustrates our firm's investment philosophy through an accessible story that changed how I approach money—shifting from fear to principled reasoning. Want a copy for yourself?" Request a free copy here.
	Chip Ybema Summer Intern - Traverse City, MI   The Pillars of Hercules by Paul Theroux "Theroux circles the entire Mediterranean coast by train, bus, ferry, and foot, moving country to country along the way. A sharp, often funny travelogue packed with history and candid observations about the people and places he encounters."
	Bonnie Barley Client Services Manager - Traverse City, MI   Beach Read by Emily Henry "Two rival writers, both stuck with writer's block, swap genres for the summer while renting neighboring lake houses in Michigan. What starts as a professional dare turns into an unexpected romance, with plenty of banter along the way."

Share your summer reads with us! →

A Final Thought

Most of a good financial life happens away from the ball. The plan you do not change when the headline says you should. The step you take at a luncheon because someone finally said the thing out loud. The week you take off because the whole point was always the week off.

None of it makes the highlight reel. All of it counts.

That work was never yours to do alone. If Ben's letter stirred something up, or a question has been sitting on your list, bring it to your next review. That is what the conversation is for.

Enjoy the rest of your summer. We hope it is the kind you remember, for reasons that have nothing to do with a number.

Thank you, as always, for the trust you place in us.

— The Beck Bode Team

P.S.

June's cover was the American flag flying over the Oyster Harbors Marine boatyard in Osterville, a wink at the season and at the afternoon you read about last month.

The guessing game is back. The lighthouse on this month's cover has never guided a ship. Its stadium spent the summer answering to Boston, but now that the World Cup has packed up and left town, it is due for a clean shave and the name you actually know it by. Let us know your guess!