We’ve all heard it before… “The only two certainties in life are death and taxes.” Currently everyone has their eye on both, as we’re watching the tax proposals, including estate tax changes, from the Biden administration, and wondering what’s coming and how we will all be affected. I’m going to give a brief update on where things are with that, but I think it’s important to remember that currently the tax proposals are just that… proposals. There is much negotiation to come. So while we can pay attention and do our best to be prepared for what’s to come, we must also realize that we cannot plan for everything. Yes, changes will come. And we will continue to re-evaluate as they do.

Things are better and the future is brighter, but everything is still a little chaotic. Chaos is found in each of our different, partitioned pieces of life, be that our country, state, city, workplace, or individual homes. Even though we’ve had the pandemic to blame a big portion of the chaos on over the past year and a half, I believe we would all agree that when we get down to it, life in general is pretty chaotic. With or without a global pandemic, or warring political parties, administrations, and countries… life is messy, and a big portion of our time and energy is futilely spent trying to tame it.

Perception of time is a strange thing. Time moves so slowly when we’re young. My son can’t believe his luck when he’s rewarded an extra fifteen minutes of screen time, but that all changes as we age. I feel panicked if I have less than an hour to get anything done, and feel hopeless trying to find the 45 minutes required to watch an episode on Netflix.

And here I am, looking back at the letters we’ve sent out over this past year. We sent three separate pieces in March of 2020, right in the midst of the pandemonium. It has only been a year, and although I would normally remark on how quickly a year goes by, it has been a loooong year.

I grew up a “gamer.” I was right there at the beginning. I remember playing Atari video games, including Pong, at four years old with Mom, her sister, and the neighbor next door. I thought it was the best day of my life when Mom and Dad got me a Nintendo for my birthday (yes, just Nintendo… the original). I spent the next many months playing Super Mario Brothers (again, just Super Mario Brothers).

The year 2020 was a doozy. I am hoping it was such a doozy that you all would just as soon not subject me, or yourselves, to a tortuous recounting of it. Most of the market and economy forecasts I’ve read lately start with a detailed play-by-play recounting. I will try to keep my own recount short and strictly related to market investing.

Well, we have almost reached the end of this wildly frustrating year. Christmas is right around the corner, and I’m hoping all of you are able to spend some time with family, whether in person or through connections from a distance. I’m also hopeful that 2021 will shine a little brighter than 2020 and be a little easier for all of us.