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Let’s start with who Silicon Valley Bank is. They were the 16th largest bank in the U.S. Over the past 40 some years, they had become the go-to bank for tech start-up companies. Since many of these tech companies are so young with little banking history, it’s typically hard for them to get funding and debt financing for their ventures. That’s where Silicon Valley Bank steps in. They would provide these venture companies with the funding they needed in order to get going.

National Debt & Your Personal Debt Ceiling The U.S. has not been debt free since 1835 – should you be debt free? As 2023 heats up, talk about the national debt spiraling out of control will too. But what is the national debt and should investors worry about it? More importantly, can the national debt teach investors a thing or two? The National Debt If you spend more money than you make, you are in debt. When the federal government spends more money than it collects, it is in debt. It really is that simple.

Happy New Year! It’s that special time of year - time to resolve I’m going to be a better person in some way, get pumped up about my transformation for 3 weeks, and then forget about it entirely.

With most schools just letting out for Summer, it’s unlikely that college savings is currently top of mind. Instead, you may be focused on Summer Camps and family vacations. Grandparents in particular may be making plans to spend a little extra time with their grandkids – wanting to spoil them as much as they can before they grow up. We often hear from clients that they want to contribute to their grandchildren’s future education cost, but they they’re fearful it will count against them for Financial Aid purposes. In their defense it has been a tricky system to navigate until recently.

Over the course of our recent quarterly reviews, we couldn’t help but notice a common question resurfacing: “What are your thoughts on Bitcoin?”. Who could blame anyone for asking? How often do we see investments balloon from 30k to 60k in a matter of months? Or the likes of Elon Musk discussing the topic on Saturday Night Live! In a world where teens on Tik Tok & Reddit are outperforming the smartest investors on Wall Street, it was definitely time to address the elephant in the room.

Do you understand the stock market? Maybe you know a little bit, or maybe you’re completely clueless. Either way, I’m confident you’ll learn something with this post. We’ll review some basics of the market and look into our strategy for managing investments at Bluestone. If you need a quick refresher on investing in general, check my last blog.

The high levels of volatility in the markets over the past fourteen months have led to some strange occurrences. During the swift and vicious declines of March 2020, those eager to avoid further losses led to an indiscriminate tossing out of babies with the bathwater.