We are excited to share with our readers and friends a fantastic interview with Jon Robinson by Financial Advisor magazine featured columnist, Bill Hortz. In it, Jon and Bill discuss managing risk in a post-pandemic world, key questions advisors should be asking of their asset managers, and what represents prudent investing today. Blueprint's philosophy and story are also explored, providing valuable insight into how and why we do what we do. We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to have this discussion with Bill and hope that you enjoy reading it.

Clients and partners of Blueprint know how much we value communication and transparency. We are not shy about being transparent (some would say to a fault), from putting our exact investment rules on our website to explaining in detail how these rules work. One thing that we (and the world) are learning in 2020 is that despite how we miss interacting with our clients, friends, and partners in person, we can still add value and communicate effectively through a variety of other, tech-driven mediums. Case in point: as of December 2019, the number of free and paid Zoom meeting participants was 10 million; today, it's 300 million!

Approximate reading time: less than 3 minutes

When something happens that has never happened before, do we assert it was unpredictable? On Monday the front month contract for WTI crude oil went negative in price and traded there, as holders were attempting to get rid of the obligation to take delivery. How much can I pay you to take my oil? Amazing. Times like this challenge everything we think we know about the financial world and beg the question, ‘can anyone really predict the future value of any asset?’  What is the truth? I think the answer is up to the reader, but we believe that no one really can. 

What does history explain about the future? Part 1

The last 20 years have given us three major market shocks. These resulted from the end of a tech bubble, a financial crisis and now, a global pandemic. During this time, investors have experienced every emotional high and low that can be imagined, yet in general, the approach to investing delivered by the financial services industry has not fundamentally changed. Today’s note establishes the case for why this has to change. Read on…

First, we sincerely hope this note finds everyone safe and healthy in your world. Blessings abound for our team and our families, and we are grateful to be here to serve our clients and friends. To paraphrase the line from Cool Hand Luke, we will not be accused of a ‘failure to communicate’!  Every month, on the last trading day when we rebalance our portfolios, we send a note to our clients and partners with an update on changes in the model and the status of price trends based upon our rules and systems.  This month, we want to share it with our full audience, because we believe it is insightful regarding the current environment, and because we are proud of our work.  Please read on.