January 18, 2026, Issue 20

A Quick Brain Teaser

What is the one product that everyone needs, everyone wants, and everyone has, but nobody wants to use?
Insurance! If you use your car insurance, you’ve had an accident. If you use your home insurance, you’ve had damage or a burglary. And if you use your life insurance, well….you can see why no one wants to use that one for sure!
No matter where you are in your journey, some form of insurance is likely necessary. Unfortunately it is the least fun product you will ever buy, and possibly the most annoying. Shopping for the best rate for any form of insurance is recommended, as rates for different types will vary widely.
When does it become annoying you ask? That would be the moment you go to use the product that you have researched, paid for, and now want to use. What you will generally find is that the company you chose will try to find any number of reasons why they do not need to pay your claim. Worse than that, when you do finally get what you paid for in the form of a check for whatever damage you’ve endured, guess what your provider will tell you? That’s right…your product is now more expensive. Gotta charge you more because now you’re high risk. Even worse, make too many claims and you may find that you can’t even get a quoted price at all. You’re so high risk that you are now uninsurable!
Keeping all of this in mind, please make sure that you are properly insured. Even if you only need renter’s insurance, please have it for that just in case moment. After the annoyance, you’ll be happy you had it.

Rotation is Happening and Healthy

So the bull market seems to be continuing into 2026. While earnings season will give us clues as to how long the good times may roll, there is already an interesting phenomenon taking place. Over the last couple of years, the S&P 500 was really the S&P 493, and the Magnificent 7. The group that includes Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Tesla, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon make up over 34% of the total S&P 500 market cap. In 2023 the 500 collectively returned 24%. This would be an incredible year anytime. The Mag 7 returned an absurd 75% that year. In 2024, it was a similar story as the group returned 67% vs 25% for the 500. The turn began to happen in 2025. The 500 posted about a 17% return, another strong performance. While the 7 famous stocks still beat that with a 27% return, most of that gain could be attributed to Nvidia and Alphabet (Google). Apple and Amazon especially treaded water in 2025, with the other 3 having modest gains.
Now we are seeing investors rotating into various other corners of the market that have largely been ignored over the last few years. In particular, money is flowing into financials, energy, and of course gold and silver mining as the prices of those commodities reach levels never before seen. Another area seeing solid gains is dividend stocks. Long viewed as boring, REITs, Utilities, and Banks are suddenly back in favor. In my view, this is very healthy for the market as a whole. Nothing wrong with spreading the wealth. At the same time, I do believe that the upcoming earnings of tech stocks will show that we are still relatively early in the AI revolution, and that certain companies will see the benefit reflected in their share prices.
Look for some mid-week updates from Dad on which of the Mag 7 I would stick with.

The Fork in the Road

The poet Robert Frost famously wrote the following:
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I…I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.”
Many interpretations have been put forward on this poem, and I am certainly not one to analyze. What I will say is that Frost does not say the road less traveled by was better, just that it made all the difference.
Most, if not all of us will at some point in our lives face a fork in the road. Whether it is personal or professional we have to make a choice, take a decision. Much advice has been thrown around when it comes to these moments. Trust your gut, follow your passion, go for the money. At the end of the day, we will love most of our decisions, and regret some others. This is normal. We can only make decisions based on our current information. The best example I can think of for this involves Texas Hold ‘Em poker. In this game we are dealt two cards, and then five cards are opened for all players to use and make their best hand. If I start with an Ace and a King of the same suit, I will feel pretty confident to call or place a big bet. I stay in the hand all the way through, and land up losing to what would have been a worse hand when the game started. I lose a large amount of my money, and I am filled with regret. This is the wrong reaction. I made the best decision with the information I had at the time. That’s life. Stuff happens, and we move on.
When it comes to our working life, the average person starting out today will have 12 different jobs. Not only that, we will change careers 3-4 times. Completely different careers!! In our mid-twenties jobs will come and go, and various opportunities will come and go as well. The key is to find something that you like enough to work hard at. This will make you better at whatever that job may be. Your hard work will feel great when it gets recognized, and it will. You will then begin to love what you do as you begin to climb the ladder. That may mean more money, it may mean a new position, it may be as simple as a pat on the back from a superior. Whatever it is, know that you are in the right place at that moment, and that when the time comes to move on, to do something else, you will succeed.

Thought of the Day

Going back to The Road Less Taken, what are some decisions you have made in your life that have made all the difference? Have you walked down the road less traveled? Have you regretted any choices? For me, moving to the USA from Montreal has been that road less taken. In some ways it has been fantastic, and in other ways I hold regret. One thing is certain; it has made all the difference.