By Eric Parnell “Your friend is heavy, But he was ready And never stopped for a while, And while you were sleeping, He went on keeping the final line in his mind. It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right” –Tortoise and the Hare, The Moody Blues, 1970 The hare attracts all of the attention. Swift, fast, nimble, agile, and …
Burgers, Beaches, and Bad Decisions: The Great East Coast vs. West Coast Burger Debate
There are certain topics in life that deserve thoughtful, serious discussion. Politics, the economy, Taylor Swift’s wedding to what’s-his-name, retirement planning—and, obviously, hamburgers. Many of you know I grew up on the East Coast but had the good fortune to live in San Diego for 10 years during the 1990s. These days, I’m back in San Diego fairly often, giving …
Asset Allocation in 2026: “Survey Says”
By Eric Hough In my best Steve Harvey voice: “We surveyed two hundred advisors on the optimal 2026 portfolio allocation for high-net-worth clients, and the top answer is on the board” Survey Says: There is no number one answer! There is no consensus and no single model dominates! Ok, I confess, I didn’t poll any advisors. However, there has been …
Purple Rain
“I know times are changing, It’s time we reach out for something new, That means you, too, You say you want to be a leader, But you say you can’t seem to make up your mind, I think you better close it, And let me guide you to the purple rain” – Purple Rain, Prince and the Revolution, 1984 The U.S. stock market remains on fire. After what …
Priced Before Proven
By Evan Coffey & Kate Templeton A rocket company became one of the most valuable businesses on Earth in a single afternoon in June. Five weeks later, its stock traded below where it started. The technology underneath it, the part that took a decade to build, hadn’t changed at all in that stretch. Only the price had. That gap, between how …
The Great Mismatch
Why Digital CAPEX Is Colliding with Physical Infrastructure Reality What happens when the tortoise and the hare must finish the race at the same time? The market narrative today is dominated by the scale of capital being deployed into AI, data centers, and next-generation compute. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being committed, sometimes circularly, with the expectation that infrastructure …
Introducing Maggie DiCarlo
Hi everybody! My name is Maggie DiCarlo, and I am excited to introduce myself as the new Financial Planning Associate on the Howe team. I am a lifelong resident of Braintree, Massachusetts, and after graduating from Braintree schools, I attended Florida Gulf Coast University where I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Finance and a concentration in Financial …
Back to Earth
“Every time we fall to pieces, we build something new out of the hurt” – Back to Earth, Steve Aoki, 2014 That didn’t take long. Despite all of the fanfare that accompanied the SpaceX IPO that included many investors working strenuously to get pre-IPO allocations, the rocket ship that soared as high as $225 per share in the days immediately post IPO …
The Memory Squeeze
The AI boom’s biggest supply constraint right now isn’t GPUs. It’s memory. Every AI server in every data center powering tools like ChatGPT and Claude is only as fast as the memory chip sitting next to its processor. That memory is now in short supply. Prices for the two main types, DRAM and NAND flash, jumped 58 to 63% and …
Market Momentum
In this week’s GVA Market Insights, our Asset Management team explores: Equity markets have surged over 10% since April 1st amid strong earnings, though mega-cap concentration — particularly in semiconductors — remains a growing concern. The Fed held rates steady at its latest meeting, but a hawkish shift is emerging as inflation reaccelerates and rate hike expectations build for year-end. …










