Magnolia Private Wealth

02/27/2026

Investment strategies designed to materially reduce taxes for eligible investors.

“Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.”* They fund infrastructure, national defense, legal systems, and public services that make our prosperity possible. But overpaying is optional. There’s no trophy for best taxpayer.

“Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.”* They fund infrastructure, national defense, legal systems, and public services that make our prosperity possible. But overpaying is optional. There’s no trophy for best taxpayer.

02/24/2026

Let’s get this out of the way: we’re not saying we’re in a bubble, and we are absolutely not claiming we know when any bubble will burst. The following should not be construed as investment advice. Our last “Perspective” thought piece addressed some of the issues and concerns that bubbled to the surface around “Liberation Day,” and we thank those clients who allowed us to liberate some of their weekend for some live commentary and questions.

Let’s get this out of the way: we’re not saying we’re in a bubble, and we are absolutely not claiming we know when any bubble will burst.

02/20/2026

Selling your business may be the most important financial transaction of your life. It is not just about signing a deal—it is about securing your family’s future, protecting your legacy, and maximizing the wealth you’ve worked decades to build.

02/17/2026

Every tax code change brings an opportunity for clients to re-assess their financial plans and the composition of their portfolios. The “One Big, Beautiful Bill” is less dramatic than the nickname suggests: it locks in some familiar provisions, enhances others, and adds a few new tax benefits. Magnolia can identify opportunities and pitfalls in the ever-changing tax code that apply to your individual circumstances.

Every tax code change offers an opportunity for clients to re-assess their financial plans and the composition of their portfolios. The “One Big, Beautiful Bill” is less dramatic than the nickname suggests

02/14/2026

There’s no place like home. And for investors, there’s no place like their home market: throughout the world, their portfolios are too exposed to their domestic stock markets. Broad indexing is common within markets, but the argument for indexing applies across global markets too: a truly passive portfolio should own stocks in each country in proportion to their share of the total.

There’s no place like home. And for investors, there’s no place like their home market: throughout the world, they are over-invested in their own countries.

04/02/2024

Flaws in Human Judgment?
By: John Fischer, PhD

Type “father of behavioral finance” into a search engine and the name Daniel Kahneman will populate most of the top results. Kahneman was an eminent psychologist and winner of the so-called Nobel Prize in economics.

We mark the passing of a pioneer of the field of behavioral finance.

04/02/2024

A Larger Pie
By: John Fischer, PhD and Noah Schwartz, CFP®

The secret to building a better portfolio is no secret at all. Better means a portfolio that adequately compensates an investor for the risk she bears. Better means improvements on conventional portfolios, which usually fail to meet this test. There is a better way: one well-grounded in academic research and validated by decades of practice. If it’s a secret, it’s been hiding in plain sight. We’ll return to the question of why it sometimes seems like a secret, but first let’s dive into why better is better and how to achieve it.

The secret to building a better portfolio is no secret at all.

04/02/2024

The Only Free Lunch?
By: Noah Schwartz, CFP®

“Diversification is the only free lunch in investing,” or so goes a saying attributed to Nobel Prize-winning economist Harry Markowitz. If only! The purpose of owning a diversified portfolio is to accumulate wealth more steadily and with less drama: lower day-to-day volatility and shorter, shallower draw-downs. But if diversification was free, most investors would hold well-diversified portfolios. [Narrator: they do not.] In fact, diversification does have a cost: the cost of being different.

Is diversification the only free lunch in investing? If only!

04/02/2024

Private Markets: The Velvet Rope
By: John Fischer, PhD

This may be the dawn of a golden age for high net-worth investors. Our clients participate in opportunities previously reserved for sophisticated endowments, pension funds, and large family offices. The minimum required to invest in many institutional-caliber funds is now as low as $50,000 (versus $10,000,000 or higher). Opportunities that would have required 7-10 year capital commitments are now available in more familiar structures with greater liquidity. Investment types include the “major food groups” of private markets (equity, credit, real estate, infrastructure), specialized asset classes like energy, reinsurance, litigation finance, fine art, and a wide range of hedge fund strategies.

This may be the dawn of a golden age for high net-worth investors. But caution is warranted.

04/02/2024

Liquid to Solid: Navigating Liquidity Across Investment Vehicles
By: Noah Schwartz, CFP®

Magnolia Private Wealth is proud to offer our clients access to a diverse range of investment opportunities with different degrees of illiquidity. Since we understand this concept may be unfamiliar to some investors, we've prepared this summary to explain what illiquidity means, the potential benefits of illiquid and less liquid investments, and the spectrum of illiquidity present in different investment vehicles.

We've prepared this summary to explain what illiquidity means, the potential benefits of illiquid and less liquid investments, and the spectrum of illiquidity present in different investment vehicles.

04/02/2024

Why I Wear Glasses
By: Noah Schwartz, CFP®

I suffer from common myopia (near-sightedness), a condition my optometrist says could easily be fixed with LASIK corrective surgery. I’ve been wearing glasses since high school and I’ve been consistently told I’m a good candidate for the procedure. The prospect of seeing clearly all the time is tempting.

So why do I still hassle with glasses and contacts? Because the optometrists I’ve seen throughout my life have one thing in common:

They all wear glasses.

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