Letter to Stakeholders, May 2026

Wednesday, May 6th, 5:21 pm EST. If you are like most of the pundits on television, you’re asking a familiar question: why is the stock market going up when the world is (seemingly) in chaos? The celebrity CEO’s attending this week’s Milken Institute Global Conference – yes, named after that Michael Milken – don’t think we have anything to worry about.  Do we? Do you? In last month's letter, I highlighted how the anticipation of higher energy (oil) prices and reduced equity demand drove down your March statement balances. Now I get to report that April’s performance recovered your previous gains and then some (you’re back “up” for the year). But why? Two words: corporate earnings.

Corporate Earnings and AI

The second paragraph of last month’s letter also touched on the topic of corporate earnings. Late April/early May is “earning season” for many of the largest companies in the world: think Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, (with Nvidia and Broadcom still to come). So far, the reporting has been positive for those firms and others. This is both looking backward and looking forward to the next business quarter. So those same stock analysts and algo trading bots I highlighted last month, are going to increase demand for those companies and by extension, raise stocks prices. Those large companies, along with power and energy companies like Caterpillar and semi-conductor companies like Samsung – mentioned in our March letter – are moving the entire stock market higher despite worldwide uncertainty. Thankfully, it’s not only billionaires who benefit from the “K-shaped economy” but also good savers who just want the best for their kids and the community. People like you: who just happen to be our clients.   

Even though artificial intelligence (AI) is this era’s “dominant frontier technology,” we have kept your portfolio diversified, we have stayed in the market during the ups and downs and instead of emotionally driven decision making, have kept your personal plan first place. And we will continue to do so.

The End of the World is Just the Beginning

Good news, right? Don’t worry, that’s not a proclamation from your financial adviser but a book he is reading. The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization is a well written, non-fiction treatise on the anomaly of the last 75 years of global and economic history. It also predicts how the new “beginning” may manifest.

Peter Zeihan’s book isn’t the only book I’m currently reading. I recently finished Jeff Madrick’s Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present, but am still early into Adam Cohen’sSupreme Inequality: The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust Americaand have just purchased Martin Wolf’s The Shifts and the Shocks: What We’ve Learned – and Have Still to Learn from the Financial Crisis. I will always consider myself a student of our economy, our financial markets and the history of our laws. I see the history of the past 50 to 75 years as somewhat of a guidepost for the economic times we live in today. I have many books on my list still to read like Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History – and How it Shattered a Nation. But alas, I do have to get some work done too.

Privacy Protection

In addition to all the reading, I have continued learning from strategic partners through conversations both in person and online. Attorney Kevin Martin recently sat down for an interview to discuss the many ways he protects the privacy of clients who have had some success and want to retain some anonymity. Watch it here. Not incidentally, Kevin is the one that recommended the book, “The End of the World is Just the Beginning.” 

The Economic Club of Washington, DC

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a lot to do and say about “all aspects” of the securities industry. As a trustee, when I was invited by George Mason University’s Foundation (GMUF) to attend the signature event discussion between SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and club Chairman David Rubenstein, I jumped at the chance. What did I learn? I learned that there’s a difference between reading about the issues at hand and being in the room for a fulsome discussion. Rather than trying to describe what I witnessed, I’ll invite you to watch the entire interview here. 

Until we speak again,

Jason J. Howell, CFP®, CPWA®, CSRIC® 

President

Jason Howell Company is the family wealth management firm that serves successful families navigating the "business end" of family wealth. We understand that “millionaire problems” are still problems -especially when juggling family dynamics, imposter syndrome and charitable decisions (without a roadmap).

We integrate family governance (dynamics), with traditional planning, philanthropy, and sustainable investing because our clients are just as concerned about personal growth and family preservation as they are about capital gains and wealth preservation. 

Jason J. Howell, CFP®, CPWA®, CSRIC® and Douglas W. Tees, MBA, CFP® CAP®, CBDA have spent decades working with families in the Washington, DC area and understand the unique ways wealth is experienced here. Successful entrepreneurs and family business owners often feel they must continually prove themselves; government contractors worry about the next contract; former Capitol Hill staffers and former agency employees privately question how to reconcile public service with private sector success. Similar tensions arise among professionals at our region’s many corporate headquarters. These unspoken dynamics can make it difficult for families to talk openly about money or make confident long-term decisions. Through a family governance approach, we help families create clarity, alignment, and structure—bringing together values, decision-making, and philanthropy so wealth can be stewarded thoughtfully across generations.

Our typical client families include dual income parents who work, have saved (or inherited) well and have just the right amount of fun! Prospective clients may be about to sell land or a business for an extraordinary "liquidity event." Regardless, we focus just as much on family preservation as we do wealth preservation. Our prospective clients recognized they:

• Need to “do something” with the cash in their checking/savings
• Need to start tax planning instead of just tax paying
• Need to reduce the isolation, guilt and decision fatigue
• Need to separate but align family wealth and individual wealth
• Need to reduce financial miscommunications between family members
• Need a plan to provide space for both family and individual philanthropy
• Need to separate business finances from personal finances
• Need to eventually diversify their portfolio away from the family business
• Need an investment strategy for income, “up” and “down” markets
• Need a plan to mitigate market, credit, inflation, and political risks
• Need to be sure they are choosing the right work benefits
• Need to plan for money while alive before what happens after death