Elevage Partners

10/08/2026

Tollbooths are becoming a thing of the past. The bill for using the road just shows up in the mail.

Mark Zembo found that out this summer, driving between two family reunions, and it reminded him of a retirement rule that works much the same way.

Once you turn 73, the IRS generally requires annual minimum distributions from traditional IRAs and 401(k)s. The obligation doesn't come with reminder notices—except those from your advisor—and a missed RMD can cost 25% of the amount you should have taken.

Part 2 of Mark's 𝐀 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤-𝐈𝐧𝐬 series is about seeing that toll coming and planning the trip around it.

READ: The Toll Comes Due → https://elevagepartners.com/the-toll-comes-due/

𝘌𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘧𝘦𝘦-𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳.

Part 2 of 3 — A Season of Check-Ins By Mark Zembo, Wealth Management Advisor Elevage Partners | October 7, 2026 This past summer, my family tried something new: back-to-back reunions over the course of 10 days. We spent a few days with family in northern Ohio, then got back in the car and headed [...

09/23/2026

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒘, compared with where you thought you’d be in January? It’s not a market question, and the answer usually isn’t a number.

In the first installment of his new three-part series, Mark Zembo looks at why that question matters to financial planning and begins with a timely opportunity to ask it: open enrollment.

The choices you made last year may still be right for you. The important question is whether they still fit where you are now.

READ: Where Are You Now? → https://elevagepartners.com/where-are-you-now/

Part 1 of 3 — A Season of Check-Ins By Mark Zembo, Wealth Management Advisor Over the last few years in late summer, my family has run the same ritual. One kid was heading back to college, and the others started a new school year. At some point in the middle of packing lists and […]

09/09/2026

Last week was the principle: You don't have to predict the future to be ready for it. This week is the practice.

For nearly two decades, investors looking for income faced an uncomfortable choice: accept very little or take more risk to get more.

Today, high-quality bonds are paying meaningful income again. That's good news. But it raises a harder question: How much of today's opportunity should you lock in when no one knows where rates go next?

CIO Thierry Hasse doesn't pretend that question has an easy answer. Instead, he explains how we're approaching it: “𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞.” Capture the income available today. Maintain flexibility. Let changing conditions—not a prediction about the future—inform what comes next.

If retirement income is part of your financial plan, this is a market shift worth understanding. Read more here:

By Thierry Hasse, Chief Investment Officer Elevage Partners | September 9, 2026 For the better part of two decades, safe investments paid almost nothing. A retiree living off interest and dividends had to take on real risk just to generate an income their grandparents got from a savings account. Tha...

08/31/2026

Concentration rarely announces itself as risk. Sometimes, it simply feels like keeping up.

AI. Chips. Data centers. Energy. Different companies, different investments, but increasingly, the same underlying bet.

In the final installment of our diversification series, Chief Investment Officer Thierry Hasse looks at how easily a portfolio can become concentrated around today’s winning story, and why genuine diversification doesn’t require knowing what comes next.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵.

Read Thierry’s latest:

By Thierry Hasse, Chief Investment Officer Elevage Partners | August 31, 2026 Part 4 of 4 | The Diversification Series Almost no one decides to bet their future on a single idea. But it can happen unintentionally, one reasonable decision at a time. You read that artificial intelligence is remaking t...

08/26/2026

You can own 30 different stocks and still be making essentially one bet.

That’s the distinction our Chief Investment Officer, Thierry Hasse, explores in Part 3 of our diversification series.

True diversification isn’t simply about how many investments you own. It’s about how many 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 those investments depend upon—and whether one outcome has too much power over the success of your portfolio.

That matters especially today, when a relatively small group of companies carries an unusually large share of the S&P 500.
Thierry explains what diversification by design looks like—and why the purpose of the portfolio should come before the investments inside it.

𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧, 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭:

By Thierry Hasse, Chief Investment Officer Elevage Partners | August 25, 2026 Part 3 of 4 | The Diversification Series Last week we showed that 10 companies now carry roughly 41% of the S&P 500’s weight, the most concentrated the index has been in more than 50 years (Source: RBC Wealth Management,...

07/28/2026

For months, the market's biggest worries took turns. 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.

That's an important distinction.

When multiple pressures begin compounding at the same time, the questions investors should be asking begin to change.

CIO Thierry Hasse explores what shifted—and what we're watching next:

By Thierry Hasse, Chief Investment Officer Elevage Partners | July 28, 2026 Last week we asked whether the AI selloff was a decline or a reallocation. Then two of the market’s largest companies reported, and the answer was less comforting than either: the market’s worries have stopped taking tur...

07/13/2026

The ceasefire ended.
Oil spiked.
And then the market… 𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝.

CIO Thierry Hasse looks at what investors may be recalibrating, and why this uncomfortable equilibrium could be becoming the new normal.

By Thierry Hasse, Chief Investment Officer Elevage Partners | July 13, 2026 The Market’s Shrug The ceasefire ended Tuesday. President Donald Trump said so himself, then backed it with two nights of strikes that hit roughly 170 targets across Iran, while Tehran fired on U.S. bases in Bahrain and Ku...

06/23/2026

We mark the wedding.

We gather for the funeral.

But the years that follow are often traveled in solitude.

On International Widows Day, we recognize the women navigating one of life's most profound transitions — and honor the resilience, determination, and hope that carry them forward.

06/03/2026

In 1915, there were 26 million horses in America.
Nobody thought they were about to become obsolete.

What if AI isn't creating a new economy?
What if it's doing what the tractor did?

This week's article asks a simple question: Are we the horse... or the analyst?

Curious? Read more of the story here:

By Jeff Powell, CEO Elevage Partners | June 1, 2026 In 1915, nobody was worried about horses. There were 26 million of them. They powered the farms, moved the freight and kept the cities running. The system worked. Then it didn’t. By 1960, the count had dropped to about three million. The ones tha...

05/14/2026

Most people treat their tax return like a receipt.
File it. Store it. Forget it.

But what if your return is actually one of the clearest planning documents you’ll receive all year?

In this week’s article, Jeff Powell explores how tax returns can reveal planning opportunities tied to 𝐑𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐱 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 long before next April arrives.

The question isn’t what last year’s return says.
It’s what it’s telling you to change next.

Read more here: https://elevagepartners.com/what-april-just-told-you/

At Elevage Partners, we anticipate—we prepare

Your tax return is a planning document. Most people don’t read it that way. By Jeff Powell, CEO Elevage Partners | May 12, 2026 The clients who get the most out of tax season are the ones who don’t treat it as the end of something. For most people, April 15 is a finish line. […]