I'll admit it: I didn't know what to write about this month in this magazine where I've written editor's notes for about 13 years. There were plenty of column ideas rattling around in my head and in my reporter's notebooks and iPhone voice memos. My interview at Schwab Impact with Liz Ann Sonders and Kathy Jones on advisors worrying about interest rates and investing came to mind. I could relay the insights from one of my favorite interviewees over the years—Neal Hennessy of Hennessy Funds—who said during Impact that he thinks a 20,000 DJIA is likely over the next two or three years, and why he's so bullish on Japan. Since we're just now coming out of advisor conference season—I've attended conferences over the past two months sponsored by IRI, Commonwealth Financial, Pershing, Fidelity, Junxure and Schwab, to name just a few—I've gleaned insights galore on robo-advisors and liquid alts, on portfolio construction and behavioral finance.
Instead, I've decided to write about Veterans Day. On Nov. 11, there was a parade in New York and a "Concert for Valor" in Washington. Some people had the day off from work. Senator John McCain just published a book, "13 Soldiers," that tells the story of American wars via profiles of 13 Americans who served in those wars. There was plenty of media and arts coverage, in this year marking the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, that the War to End All Wars ended at the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. What is now Veterans Day in this country was once called Armistice Day, to celebrate the end of that war.
So what do you do to remember veterans on the 364 other days of the year? Turns out that many of you, and the companies you work for or partner with, remember veterans and their needs and their families all year long in ways both small and large.
