Owner Resource Group is pleased to provide the following wealth management insights from Round Table Wealth Management.

Second Quarter 2021 Review

Dear Clients and Friends,

We hope you are enjoying summer! The “dog days of summer” were not discouraging the markets as they continued their upward trajectory with all major equity and fixed income indices generating positive performance for the quarter. As inflation concerns waned, growth equities rebounded and outperformed value-style investments by 6.7% based on Russell 1000 data. The subdued inflation outlook benefited fixed income investors as yields fell and prices increased, allowing the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index to recoup 1.8% of its negative year-to-date return.

We have not made any material changes to our portfolio positioning since our last correspondence. As we discuss in the Big Picture section below, consumer spending and cash levels (purchasing power), employment opportunities, historically low interest rates and massive government spending all support continued overweight allocations to equities. We recognize risks remain such as mounting U.S. debt, a high probability of tax increases and the COVID-19 Delta variant that is causing concerns outside the U.S.

We welcome a conversation with you to discuss our outlook. If you would like to learn more, please contact us for a personal meeting.

Last month, Owner Resource Group (ORG) had the honor of presenting the Lee Brandon Walker Award to the team at US Med-Equip (USME), a partner company of ORG since 2017. USME partners with top hospitals, supplying critical medical equipment in the fight to save patients’ lives.

The Lee Brandon Walker Award is presented by ORG to companies that exhibit a commitment to service to both their employees and their communities. The award is named after one of ORG’s founding members who, with his fervent commitment to service, died tragically in 2014 from an undiagnosed heart condition while helping save the life of an animal while on a fly-fishing trip.

Owner Resource Group is pleased to provide the following wealth management insights from Round Table Wealth Management.

First Quarter 2021 Review

Capital markets provided mixed returns during the first quarter as value-style indices advanced, growth-style indices lagged and fixed income markets declined. A confluence of factors is creating both tailwinds and headwinds in the markets: Approved stimulus measures and proposed infrastructure spending combined with expanding COVID-19 vaccine deployments and easing mobility restrictions are expected to drive corporate earnings growth into the double-digits this year. Conversely, the associated risk of higher inflation and interest rates are pressuring growth-style equity valuations and bond prices. For the first time in years, quarterly performance for the Russell 1000 Value Index has outperformed both the S&P 500 and the Russell 1000 Growth Index by approximately 5.1% and 10.3%, respectively. Fixed income, which benefited last year from declining interest rates, generated a return of -3.4% as rising inflation and interest rate expectations pressured bond prices.

We have repositioned portfolios towards a more value-centric approach across equity allocations, including adding tactical positions that we believe may perform well as the U.S. initiates massive infrastructure spending. We are modestly underweight fixed income and continue to gravitate towards shorter duration bond strategies that are less impacted by inflation concerns and rising rates, while maintaining the safe-haven characteristics associated with the asset class. While the risks of 2020 are slowly fading, new and different risks (and opportunities) are presenting.

Owner Resource Group is pleased to provide the following wealth management insights from Round Table Wealth Management.

Fourth Quarter 2020 Review

We would like to first acknowledge and offer our heartfelt condolences and thoughts to those that lost loved ones or suffered economic hardship during this ongoing pandemic. It was a year like no other. Winston Churchill once said, “If you are going through hell, keep going.”  We agree: stay safe, stay positive and keep moving forward. We hope you had a reflective New Year’s and join us in looking forward to 2021 and beyond.

Despite the economic lockdowns of 2020 and emotional hardship, the capital markets performed admirably with the S&P 500 increasing approximately 18.4% by year-end and nearly all equity styles generating positive performance. Many of the risks that we highlighted throughout 2020 have dissipated: COVID-19 vaccines are being developed and deployed, stimulus measures are being passed to provide necessary funds for families across the country and the Presidential election has been decided and finalized. We are currently more optimistic than we were at this time last year and will remain constructive on markets near term. We are pleased with the performance that client portfolios generated and the tactical maneuvers we initiated to manage risk at the most concerning of times. Today, portfolios are largely unhedged as we are cautiously optimistic entering 2021.

Owner Resource Group is pleased to offer this valuable Year-End Tax Planning Advice from our friends at accounting firm Maxwell, Locke and Ritter. Hopefully, these tips will help prepare you and your business for success as we all continue to navigate the tax implications resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the CARES Act and the recent election.

Owner Resource Group is pleased to provide the following wealth management insights from our partners at Round Table Wealth Management.

Third Quarter 2020 Review

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” 
– Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

A big thanks goes out to Aftermarket News – the leading trade publication for the automotive aftermarket industry – for allowing ORG’s Managing Director, Jon Gormin, to share a few thoughts in the August issue.

His article, titled “Leverage Market Turbulence in 2020 to Accelerate Growth,” explores several key issues facing company owners and management teams working in the automotive aftermarket vertical during the current pandemic environment. These include considerations for investing in R&D and retooling, along with advice about positioning a company for discussions with potential business partners, including acquirers.

Owner Resource Group is pleased to provide the following wealth management insights from our partners at Round Table Wealth Management

Second Quarter 2020 Review

First, we hope you and your family are happy, healthy and enjoying some return to normal life.

It's taken you years to build your business – you've been at the helm for its successes, helped it recover from setbacks, and created an incredible legacy that you're proud of. So what's next?

You may be at a point in your life when you’ve started thinking about scaling back, maybe eventually handing over the reins to a family member or trusted employee(s). But how do you ensure that transition is successful – that it doesn’t just preserve your legacy,

As a key executive in a privately-owned business, you may find yourself feeling differently than the founder/owner about the direction the business is taking. After you’ve put a good chunk of your career into helping the company grow, running up against resistance to your vision can be frustrating.

Disagreements can be based on a host of scenarios: passive owners, multiple owners with competing priorities, resistance from family