Off The Wall

Want the cliffs notes on what happened in the market and the economy in the first quarter of 2022? Monument's Portfolio Manager Erin Hay is back to discuss three highlights: 1) the Federal Reserve and the yield curve—and what this means for a recession, 2) inflation, and 3) trend. Listen to the end for our thoughts on planning for a recession (not the recession) and for highlights from Monument's managed portfolios during the first quarter.

Learn more about Monument Wealth Management at: www.monumentwealthmanagement.com

Important Disclosures: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures

What is a corporate trustee? And should you be considering one as part of your estate plan?

Michelle Diamond and Heather Savage with Cumberland Trust make the case that corporate trustees are worth considering regardless of your net worth—people are fallible, family dynamics are complex, administering a trust is a lot of work, and beneficiaries need education and support to successfully manage trust assets.

Through their deep expertise, they give insight into what working with a trust company actually looks like for both grantors and beneficiaries. Be sure to listen to end for their opinion on why working with an independent trust company is better than working with a big bank's trust office.

About Cumberland Trust: www.cumberlandtrust.com

Learn more about Monument Wealth Management at: www.monumentwealthmanagement.com

Important Disclosures: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures

Business owners: listen to this episode! Valuation expert Chris Anderson, Managing Director at Intrinsic, shares his expertise on valuing closely-held businesses for sale, succession planning, and gift and estate tax planning. He explains what a valuation is based on—and why what you think your business is worth may be different than reality. We then dive into when you need a valuation and what the process and end product look like. And listen to the end for Chris's take on how you should assess a valuation expert you're considering hiring.

About Chris: https://www.intrinsicfirm.com/team-member/chris-anderson/

Learn more about Monument Wealth Management at: www.monumentwealthmanagement.com

Important Disclosures: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures

Are you actually standing in your own way when it comes to maximizing your investment returns? Dr. Daniel Crosby, Chief Behavioral Officer at Orion, bestselling author and a behavioral finance expert, joins this episode of our Off the Wall podcast to share the psychology behind investing decisions and what investors can do to mitigate their behavior's role in managing money—or, more bluntly, how to protect yourself from yourself.

Daniel's podcast: https://www.standarddeviationspod.com/

Daniel's books: https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Crosby/e/B00O72MW1W%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Learn more about Monument Wealth Management at: www.monumentwealthmanagement.com

Important Disclosures: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures

Erin Hay and Ro Punyani from Monument's Portfolio Management Team join Dave Armstrong to dig under the surface of the 2021 headlines to uncover what was REALLY going on in the market and how that will impact us moving forward. They review the big 2021 takeaways so we can use history as our guide. They cover:

• How to invest based off trend-following instead of predictions
• How to use market momentum to your advantage
• How to "avoid catching falling knives"
• What happens when a few large companies are driving market performance
• What volatility in interest rates means for investments
• When (and when not) to own bonds
• How to prepare your portfolio for the future

As a fun bonus, the team shares what they found to be the biggest market surprises from last year. Learn more about Monument Wealth Management at: www.monumentwealthmanagement.com

Don't we all wish things would just go according the plan? But that's not life. What happens when things don't go as planned? Or if we don't actually know what our future looks like? Our guest, Terri Trespicio, says don't be wed to an outcome, which we can't control; instead be wed to something we can control: the planning. The best outcomes result from planning and preparation, and those are skills we can develop.

Terri's forthcoming book is called Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life That Matters To You (available now for pre-order at unfollowyourpassion.com).

Learn more about Monument Wealth Management at: www.monumentwealthmanagement.com

Important Disclosures: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures

Looking to make a charitable impact AND save on taxes? Jessica Gibbs, CFP(R) discusses how to maximize the benefits of charitable giving, both for your personal finances and your charity of choice. Jessica shares her suggestions on how to define your charitable goals, and planning opportunities and solutions to consider that may help lower your taxes.

Listen to the end where she and Dave talk about the importance of funding general operations and how charitable giving can be a way to ease into bigger conversations with your kids about family wealth.

Learn more about Monument Wealth Management at: www.monumentwealthmanagement.com

Important Disclosures: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures

Is there a way to have have both long-term growth AND the risk management of bonds and cash? In this episode, Erin Hay and Ro Punyani are back to explain Monument's Flexible Asset Allocation strategy, which strives to have less drawdown and more upside relative to a static portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds. Our strategy attempts to balance limiting drawdown while participating in upside by tracking momentum and following trends in the market.

Learn more about Monument Wealth Management at: www.monumentwealthmanagement.com

Important Disclosures: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures

Laws affecting trusts and estates are currently in flux. How should you be thinking about these changes? And how should you evolve your estate plan over time as laws change? Trust and estate attorney Catherine Schott Murray from Odin Feldman Pittleman joins the podcast to share a run-down of proposed estate law changes, as well as what options for reducing your gross estate will likely remain in place.

Listen to the end for her thoughts on the most important things you need to consider before meeting with a trust and estate attorney.

Learn more about Monument Wealth Management at: www.monumentwealthmanagement.com

Important Disclosures: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures

Financial success is not about following arbitrary rules of thumb or beating a market index. It's about getting the big things right so that you can win at your game, not everyone else's.

Emily Harper, a CFP(R) and Partner at Monument, joins Dave and Jessica to talk about better ways to think about success. She also shares how we define "financial planning" at Monument (spoiler: it's not budgeting). Be sure to listen to the end, where we each share what "success" personally means to us.

Learn more about Monument Wealth Management at: www.monumentwealthmanagement.com

Important Disclosures: https://monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures