We opened Monarch Capital in August, 1994. A customer brought us the proceeds, $5.5 million, from the sale of his company in October 1994. He had sold it to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), so if he invested the proceeds into common stocks within one year, he did not owe any capital gains taxes […]
Continue readingThank you to all who joined us at our “annual” Fall Seminar on October 24. Quite a few clients were at their very first Monarch seminar. We will host a couple of lunch seminars this winter, as we do every winter. Stay tuned…. Also a huge thanks to Lakeland Financial CEO, David Findlay, for taking […]
Continue readingSupply & Demand: What’s the Point (of intersection)? Welcome to fall! Now that fall stopped trying to be mid-summer, we can think about fall things, like Back to School night. Dave and I cherish a special memory from one of the (few) times he accompanied me and Mom to Back to School night. He asked […]
Continue readingWelcome to Proxy War season! If you elected to have proxy forms and annual reports mailed to you, by now you’ve likely received the annual report and proxy form for ADP. Within the mailing, you’ll find an insert trumpeting ADP’s successes and asking that you vote for their board slate on the “white” proxy form. […]
Continue readingWe are always on the lookout for events or trends which might have the ability to change the market. There is a great deal written about income inequality. How often have you seen articles about a CEO of some large company being paid $30 million while some poor guy on the line is making $30,000 […]
Continue readingINVESTING IN BANK STOCKS: WEAR A LIFE JACKET The banking industry has a long and generally honorable history, and many good citizens have grown wealthy by investing in it. But with the wrong bank, there are big risks. Bank investing can be like taking a cruise. Most of the time it’s smooth sailing, but […]
Continue readingSo what do you think about this Trump rally? This is a question we are getting frequently. I have to admit we were a bit surprised by how strong the market has been since the election. Is the market getting expensive, should we raise some cash? The market is up 5% since the election so […]
Continue readingThe one (and only) thing that we all expected would come to fruition today is that volatility would reign. Few people predicted a Trump win, and far fewer predicted a Republican sweep of Congress and the executive branch. That said, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Republicans retained the Senate, because the factors that brought […]
Continue readingAn Ode to Goldlocks… and TINA Have you ever said something so many times that you just assume you’ve said it to everyone you know? Such would be the case with Goldilocks and me. If this subject seems like uncovered ground to you, you’re in luck with this newsletter. If you’re all too familiar […]
Continue readingIt’s not everyday that we’re voting on whether to support the buyout of one of our major holdings. While we’ve owned a handful of stocks that have been acquired over the years, the last takeout of a large Monarch holding was Biomet in 2007. As the proxy forms have just been mailed to EMC shareholders, […]
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