Welcome to 2008! It appears that winter has returned with the New Year and as the holiday season has wound down, we hope that this finds you warm with memories from the hustle and the bustle. With our Scottsdale office opening in second quarter 2008 and DTC | Cherry Hills office opening in 2008 as well, we are looking towards creating more warm memories in the near future.
In this edition, Scott Wylie shares his thoughts on managing risk in the current market environment in a Letter from Scott, Warren Olsen discusses his “guesses” for what’s going to happen in the financial markets in 2008 in Cocktail Party Chatter. Karen Post gives us a year in review of the 2007 financial markets in The Devil’s in the Details and Hudson Mead talks about why a corporate trustee is important in A Little Education. In the New with First Western section, you’ll learn more about some of the events we hosted at the end of 2007 including our private event at the Denver Art Museum to view the Louvre exhibit as well as when David Sandalow spoke on his book, Freedom from Oil. We’ve also shared more information on our newest team members including Paula Hendrickson, Director of Retirement Services and Peter Olander, Vice President, Lending for our DTC|Cherry Hills office.
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Letter from Scott
Risk Management in Risky Times
by Scott Wylie
After the economic and credit market turmoil of 2007, many of us were happy to see a new year begin in hopes that the markets would calm and the economy would grow. Well now that we are a couple of weeks into the new year, it looks like that hope will have to wait – the turmoil continues. I will leave it to others to explain the risks and prospects for recovery – I wanted to focus more on how we respond as an institution to the turmoil.
[FULL STORY]
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Cocktail Party Chatter
by Warren Olsen
Each new year does bring us new opportunity -- not only to accomplish those trite, but important, new year’s resolutions (lose that weight, improve the golf game, walk the dog more), but also the opportunity to reflect on what works in our lives and what doesn’t; and maybe, just maybe, to fix what doesn’t.
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Devil's in the Details
by Karen Post
Little holiday cheer surrounded the markets in the fourth quarter. The year ended on a sour note as investors’ list of worries grew, leaving them checking it twice, jittery and nervous. Instead of the typical year-end rally, fourth quarter returns were broadly in the red for equities, a first in many years. For the year overall, commodities and international markets were the top performing areas. Fixed income followed, outperforming equities, which had a below average return. Bringing up the rear were REITs and the U.S. dollar, both down for the year.
[FULL STORY]
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A Little Education
Why a Corporate Trustee
by Hudson Mead
While Dr. Atkins is famous for his diet techniques, what happened to his trust after his death is notorious. While Dr. Atkins had named business partners as trustee, his widow removed them and installed a new team led by a family acquaintance. Over time, she felt that their fees were too excessive ($1.2 million a year each) and she grew suspicious of their motives. She removed them and they sued for breach of contract claiming her new husband was behind their removal so he could get his hands on the Atkins wealth. The litigation is now extensive, lengthy and expensive. Don’t let this happen to your family. Here’s how a corporate trustee can help.
[FULL STORY]
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New with First Western
First Western had a busy last quarter of 2007. We adopted a family through Volunteers of America for the holidays, rolled out our new website, hosted a private event at the Denver Art Museum viewing the Louvre exhibit as well as an event where we discussed with David Sandalow the salient points brought up in his book, Freedom from Oil.
The individual offices were also bustling with energy to welcome several new team members. Please click on "Full Story" below to read more about are newest associates.
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The First Western Trust Bank Newsletter and the information and research contained herein do not represent a recommendation of investment advice to buy or sell stocks or any financial instrument nor is it intended as an endorsement of any security or investment and it does not constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities. The articles within the First Western Trust Bank Newsletter represent the author’s own opinions and should not be construed as personalized investment advice.
Investments, insurance, annuities and similar products are not FDIC insured, may lose value, and have no bank guarantee.
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