August 2026 Newsletter

August 3, 2026

Dear Valued Client:

“Remember Junior...”

As the unusually warm days of summer continue, we hope you are finding time to enjoy the outdoors and spend quality time with family. Summer is a natural time to pause, take stock, and reflect on the path behind us as well as the road ahead. Clear and consistent communication remains at the heart of our practice, and these periodic letters allow us to keep you informed about market conditions, portfolio strategy, and ongoing updates within our firm.

Navigating financial markets requires the same steady discipline and long-term vision that guides any successful endeavor. Whether we are monitoring dynamic sector shifts in the markets or refining individual financial plans, our commitment remains fixed on protecting your hard-earned assets, managing risk thoughtfully, and keeping your overarching life goals on track. Beyond investment management, we are constantly seeking ways to enhance the value and depth of service we provide to your family. While the cartoon brings a lighthearted view to a serious topic, it highlights a fundamental truth: tax policy, regulatory structures, and legal definitions play a massive role in shaping your financial outcome.

To ensure we provide comprehensive guidance in this critical area, I am currently working on the Certified Estate and Trust Specialist (CES™) designation through the Institute of Business & Finance. While traditional financial planning often focuses primarily on asset accumulation, estate planning ensures that your wealth is properly structured, protected, and seamlessly transferred according to your precise wishes.

A major focus of this advanced coursework involves bridging the frequent gap between legal documents and day-to-day financial administration. Too often, well-drafted wills and trusts fail to execute smoothly simply because account titling or beneficiary designations do not align with current wishes or current tax policy. Through this training, we can take a more active role in helping to coordinate with your overall estate planning team, identifying hidden gaps, auditing account titling, and collaborating directly with your estate attorney and tax professionals. Furthermore, the curriculum covers critical rules surrounding inherited retirement accounts under the SECURE Act, special needs planning, and strategies to minimize probate delays. Estate planning helps ensure your assets are transferred to the right people at the right time and in the right manner, while also addressing any potential incapacity issues. Some topics we think are important for everyone to consider include:

The difference in how your assets will transfer depends on whether you have a will, beneficiary designations, trust, or a combination of these methods.
Financial and health care powers of attorney authorize trusted individuals to manage financial and medical decisions if you are unable to do so.
Proper asset titling, regular reviews of estate documents, and a good understanding of ownership types of various assets are essential.
In Colorado, there is no state estate or inheritance tax, although federal estate tax rules may apply to larger estates.

Deepening our knowledge in these areas helps ensure your legacy remains secure across generations, and we welcome the opportunity to work with you and your estate planning team to help you meet your estate planning goals.

As for the financial markets, the macroeconomic landscape through July continues to reflect a delicate balance between persistent inflation pressures and underlying economic resilience. The Federal Reserve maintained its target interest rate range at last week’s July meeting. Fed Chair Warsh placed a strong rhetorical emphasis on fighting inflation rather than raising interest rates. He maintains that the central bank remains prepared to act if inflation stays elevated, which left markets heavily pricing in the strong likelihood of a rate hike at the next Fed meeting in September. While headline inflation (all consumer goods and services including volatile food and energy costs) has shown signs of moderating, core inflation (a measure that excludes volatile food and energy costs) stays above targets, keeping the possibility of elevated interest rates firmly intact. Meanwhile, broader economic growth remains steady, supported by consistent labor market performance and resilient consumer spending.

Over the past month, the stock market has experienced some notable changes and price swings. On the positive side, second-quarter corporate earnings came in stronger than expected, led by solid growth in technology spending, communications, and energy. However, recent weeks brought more turbulence for major tech and high-growth companies as investors began to question their high price tags and global supply chain conditions. As a result, many investors moved their money out of tech and into more stable, traditional areas like manufacturing and industrial businesses, causing a slight dip in the overall market.

While the broader stock market pulled back and finished the month of July in negative territory, our Equity Portfolio stayed positive, led by a strong 2.2% gain in our Alternative Equity category. Similarly, even though the Barclays Aggregate Bond Market index we monitor declined by more than 3.0% in July, our bond and Certificate of Deposit (CD) strategy held remarkably firm, dipping by only 0.3%. These results highlight the true strength of our balanced, hands-on approach during periods of wider market turbulence.

Precious metals like gold have recently hit a rough patch following an extraordinary multi-year run, as heavy capital continues to flow toward high-momentum areas like artificial intelligence. While such pullbacks happen when market trends shift, sticking to a disciplined mix of steady income and growth remains essential for long-term risk management. In fact, if this dip continues, we view it as a potential opportunity to add more gold as insurance against inflation and growing national debt.

If you would like to schedule a portfolio review, review your beneficiary designations, or discuss your long-term estate planning goals, we would love to hear from you. Please do not hesitate to call our office at (970) 403-1234. As always, thank you for the trust and confidence you have in our team at IIM. It is a privilege to serve you and assist your families.

Sincerely,

Intelligent Investment Management, LLP