(thx to Egan and Shandler ‘Vroom! Turbo charged team building’) Synergy is group energy, MULTIPLIED by itself. Note here that it is the function between the numbers- that makes the difference! 3-3 = 0 3/3 = 1 3+3 = 6 3×3 = 9 So is the synergy positive or negative? The lowest output comes from subtraction and division. The highest output comes from addition and multiplication. Isn’t that something? Hmm…

Interest rates are near historic lows. So, try to refinance your mortgage, auto loan, personal loan, or student loan. Lower rates can lead to lower monthly payments and more of your money going toward principle. And with the lower payments, put the difference in payments toward your emergency fund. -Brent Weiss, Co-Founder of Facet Wealth, Baltimore

Microsoft became a trillion dollar company on April 25th, 2019, following in Apple and Amazon’s footsteps after they achieved this height months before.  Microsoft, or Mr. Softy to Wall Street traders, went public in March of 1986 so it took them about 35 years as arguably the greatest company ever to achieve the one trillion dollar level.  MSFT hit the 2 trillion mark on June 24th, 2021, only a month or so more than two years later.  Two things stand out to us, first, the power of compounding explodes as the numbers get ever bigger.  Second, companies are totally world-wide, what with Microsoft having over 1.5 billion people using their windows software.  And yes, a trillion is a million million.

This week more than 25% of companies in the S&P will be reporting earnings which means another week of gushing news on US stocks.  This has been a robust recovery indeed as GDP for the second quarter is up 6.5% and would have been even higher if not for an unexpected $166 billion drop in inventories. As we try to make heads or tails of this flood of information, we need to do comparisons versus the economic shutdown driven by Covid in the past and the effect of labor shortages, Delta strain, and supply chain snafus in the future.  For now, and as the “buy the dips” mentality prevails, it looks like the Bulls have the edge as we head into the sometimes treacherous end of summer, Sep-Oct time period.

What is the value of $100 today to the future you?  Based on this chart provided to us from Brian Feroldi of The Motley Fool, that $100 is worth a ton years from now.  For example, $100 compounded at 7% for a 30 year old is worth $1068 when they turn 65.  Pretty powerful stuff.