Many of my clients along with all of my family, friends and co-workers know that I’m a self-admitted long-distance running enthusiast. As much as I try to limit droning on and on about distance running, it happens a lot. Running is one of my greatest passions. I started training for the marathon after college … Continued
Bob Bilkie, my husband and co-conspirator in both my home and work life, wrote a blog in late March regarding my mom’s health and her fighting spirit. As a recap, my mom was admitted to St. Joseph Mercy hospital in Ann Arbor in early February. She fought her way through five abdominal surgeries and a … Continued
Busy hands are happy hands is an old cliché associated with the idea that staying busy can contribute to happiness. Historically, it reflected the thought that doing physical work and keeping busy would give you a more positive outlook on life. In today’s world, with many Americans substantially confined to their homes, keeping busy can … Continued
Alone is a condition brought about by circumstances, and for the most part, is what it is. With large numbers of Americans finding out that “Home Alone” is not just the name of a popular movie, alone is becoming increasingly common and not a matter of choice. Lonely is another matter. Wikipedia defines loneliness as a … Continued
My mother-in-law was admitted to St. Joseph’s hospital Ann Arbor in early February for a chronic abdominal ailment. Five surgeries later, and after suffering a stroke, we got word on Sunday evening that she was presenting with Covid-19 symptoms and was being transferred to the 10th floor to be put on a ventilator. At 81, … Continued
Search engines are a great method of accessing information. Just “google it” has become the “go to” way to find information on an infinite range of knowledge. But before Google, Yahoo and all the rest, there was the beauty shop. Case in point. More than 30 years ago, before the broad availability of search engines, … Continued
David Livingston was a Scottish missionary and explorer of the Victorian era, now best remembered because of his meeting with Henry Morton Stanley which gave rise to this popular quotation. Having recently had the good fortune to spend two weeks in Southern Africa, South Africa and Zimbabwe, I can appreciate Dr. Livingstone’s lifelong fascination with … Continued
As investment professionals, we tend to take a lot of “investment content” for granted and, like many professions, assume that the general public has the same awareness on wealth planning concepts that we do. Our recent college intern, Daria Lenderman (Northwestern University), shared her observations following her very successful session at Sigma Investment Counselors this … Continued
Generally, this blog has been reserved for all things tied to Sigma’s line of work – financial planning and investments. The rare exceptions have generally had to do with sports, most especially my colleagues’ beloved Detroit Tigers. Today the blog is about the pride of being a Clevelander. Northeast Ohio has had the privilege and … Continued
“Let us enter the New Year cheerfully. Let us resolve to look on the bright side, to make the best of whatever may befall, to maintain faith that doing the right thing will ultimately bring victory. Let us cultivate sunniness, resist sourness. We can better wrestle with difficulties, obstacles, problems in a spirit of buoyancy … Continued
My colleague Walter Kirchberger wrote a very compelling blog on the impact of competent leadership for an organization and cited one of the two premiere college football teams in the state of Michigan in his comments. His commingling of sports and business when speaking of leadership was not unique. In many business management books, pages … Continued
While athletics and business are not completely synonymous, both tend to require effective leadership. Witness the University of Michigan football team. A once great power had clearly fallen on hard times and the prospects for the 2015 season were not generally considered to be much better. At this writing the team is ranked 12th or … Continued
Copyright © 2024 - Sigma Investment Counselors