Every market cycle brings a new reason to worry.
A recession. Inflation. Interest rates. Elections. Geopolitical conflict. The next prediction about what could go wrong.
And yet, despite decades of headlines, uncertainty, and volatility, one principle has remained remarkably consistent: Successful long-term investors rarely win because they can predict the future. They succeed because they remain focused on what matters most.
In his latest video update, Generosity Wealth Management Founder Michael Brady reflects on market volatility, the importance of emotional discipline, and the continued evolution of the Generosity Group family of companies.
The Market Has Always Tested Our Patience
When Michael entered the financial services industry in 1991, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was approximately 3,500. Today, it stands many times higher despite decades of market corrections, economic disruptions, political uncertainty, and global events.
The lesson isn’t that markets move in a straight line.
They don’t.
The lesson is that short-term uncertainty has always been part of the journey.
Investors who remain patient, stay invested, and maintain emotional control often find themselves in a much stronger position than those who allow fear to dictate their decisions.
As Michael often reminds clients:
We don’t want to make long-term decisions based on short-term information.
What We Can Control
The future will always contain uncertainty.
The next market decline is not a matter of if, but when.
That reality isn’t something to fear—it is something to prepare for.
At Generosity Wealth Management, our focus is not on reacting to every headline. It is on building thoughtful strategies that allow clients to navigate uncertainty with confidence.
While we cannot control markets, we can control:
- Our planning
- Our spending decisions
- Our investment discipline
- Our risk management
- Our long-term perspective
When markets become noisy, these are the things that matter most.
A Bigger Vision for Serving Clients
Over the past several years, Michael has been quietly building something larger than a traditional wealth management firm.
Today, Generosity Group brings together multiple disciplines designed to help clients navigate life’s most important financial decisions.
Generosity Wealth Management
Aligning wealth with purpose and possibility through comprehensive financial planning and investment management.
Generosity Estate Planning
Led by attorney Cassidy Brady, helping families create thoughtful plans that protect what matters most.
Generosity Business Exit Planning
Helping business owners increase value, prepare for transition, and create more options for the future.
Recent additions to the team—including Autumn Davidson and Evan Faber—reflect the firm’s continued commitment to providing deeper expertise and broader support for clients navigating increasingly complex decisions.
Why We Continue to Grow
Growth has never been about becoming bigger for the sake of being bigger.
It has always been about creating greater value for the people we serve.
Whether clients are preparing for retirement, planning their estate, transitioning a business, or coordinating multiple aspects of their financial lives, our goal remains the same:
To provide thoughtful guidance, trusted relationships, and a comprehensive approach that helps clients make confident decisions.
Because wealth is about far more than investment performance.
It’s about creating the freedom to live your values, pursue opportunities, care for the people you love, and build the legacy you want to leave behind.
Full Video Transcript
Mike Brady with Generosity Wealth Management, a comprehensive full-service financial services firm headquartered here in Boulder, Colorado. I am recording this on a perfect Monday morning, even though you’re probably receiving this video a couple weeks after I’ve done it. I’ve got to edit it and get it through compliance, get the newsletter all put together. But this is a beautiful Memorial Day—sunny, not a cloud in the sky, people out there running the Bolder Boulder. I wanted to get this video done. I’ll be heading up to Dubois, Wyoming, where I have a cabin for the summer. I run the whole business right out of there all summer long and have no interruptions as it relates to Zoom, email, phone, et cetera, even though in-person meetings are a little difficult to do. I have a great team here in Boulder, which I’ll talk about in just a second.
At the end of March, I did a video, and at that time I talked about how it had been a tough quarter. The unmanaged stock market indexes like the Dow and the S&P, etc., they were all negative. I said at that time, “You know what, guys, this is normal.” It is normal for there to be declines. We might take two or three steps forward, maybe one step back, and it’s been this way my entire career. As a matter of fact, when I entered the financial services career realm back in August of 1991, the Dow Jones, which is an unmanaged stock market index, was about 3,500. Today it’s over 50,000. How many doublings is that? I don’t want to get technical, but it’s a lot. The same thing with all the other unmanaged stock market indexes—it has been a wonderful 35-year ride with lots of ups and downs along the way. Those people who were patient and had emotional control are the ones sitting pretty, who’ve had a fine ride along the way and are feeling good now.
The same advice that I have given that entire 35 years is still valid today, which is, “Hey, if you don’t have 35 years, that’s okay.” I mean, I’m 57 years old. I may not have 35 years myself, but we are going to have many, hopefully, five- and ten-year time horizons. We’re still keeping our emotions in check, staying invested, keeping our eye on the long term, not allowing short-term trends or information or people whispering in our ear—whether that’s a newspaper reporter or some pundit on TV—to detract us from our long-term vision and our long-term plan. We don’t want to make long-term decisions based on short-term information. That’s what is unhelpful. Emotional control, keeping our eyes on the big prize—this has served me well over the last 35 years, and I believe that it will continue to serve you.
Once again, I told you two months ago, “Guys, this is fine.” Nobody likes it when it’s down, and it’s nice that it has reversed in the last couple of months. We’re sitting pretty so far year to date as of the end of May. Also, let me tell you, there are still going to be some ups and downs for the rest of the year and for the next year and two and three years from now. That is normal—there will always be that.
I want to pivot for just a second and talk a little bit about my company, Generosity Group. It’s something I created a couple of years ago that really is an expansion of what I’ve done for years. Generosity-Group.com—if you ever want to go there, you can see what I’m talking about. It’s really three companies put together.
The first one is Generosity Wealth Management, which I’m kind of wearing that hat right now as I’m talking with you. We align wealth with purpose and possibility—that is what we’ve had for many years, since 2008. So that’s a good 18 years I’ve had Generosity Wealth Management.
The second part of Generosity Group is Generosity Estate Planning. I’m very proud that my wife, who’s been an attorney since 1999, runs that division. She has an estate planning firm called Generosity Estate Planning. I’ll talk more about that as the year unfolds and as 2027 is right around the corner, feels like.
The third one, which I’ll talk even more about in the coming months, is Generosity Business Exit Planning. It’s run by our Chief Business Officer, Evan Faber. If you read the newsletter, which I hope that you do, you’ll read a little bit about Evan. He is a wonderful addition to the whole Generosity Group.
In the last couple of months, we’ve welcomed Autumn Davidson. She’ll be working in the Generosity Wealth Management part of the business. And then there’s Evan, who is currently getting licensed with his Certified Exit Planning Advisor. He’ll soon be—assuming that the test at the end of June works out the way we’d like—a Certified Value Growth Advisor. Both are designations I happen to have as well.
Generosity Business Exit Planning is working with business owners who want to get their business transition-ready for moving to the next generation or selling to someone else, so they can unlock the 80 to 90% of the wealth they have—most business owners have—in their business. This is something I’ve been working on for the last three years or so. I saw an opportunity: I met with many business owners who really weren’t sure what to do with their business. They wanted to get it best in class so they could choose at their discretion, have many options if they’d like, for when they wanted to transition away from that business. Sometimes it’s not our own choosing. Sometimes there’s death, there’s divorce, there’s disagreement with partners, there’s disability.
There are many different reasons why you need to have that in place before any of those things really hit, or before distress to your business—like you’re not thinking ahead, and all of a sudden the business has got a cash crunch or something else. So Evan has come onto the team to help business owners out. We’ll talk a little bit more about Generosity Business Exit Planning in the future.
We’ve got three divisions, and I’ve thought about adding on a fourth one: Generosity Wealth Management, Generosity Estate Planning, Generosity Business Exit Planning, and then at some point—since I’m currently getting my Enrolled Agent license—we might have Generosity Tax Planning as well. Whether that’s with a CPA or how that works, I’m not entirely sure. But we want to have all the needs that a client might have so that we can be the greatest value to our clients. That’s really what’s in the back of our mind at all times: how we can continue to add value to the relationship with the client, so that we are the choice to choose, or for you to recommend us to your friends, your family, your neighbors, your business associates. “Hey, these are the people who can handle what you need, and they’ve probably seen it because they’ve seen it all.”
Anyway, Mike Brady, Generosity Wealth Management, 303-747-6455. Thank you very much for being our clients, and for all your confidence in me, Felicia, Cassidy, Autumn, Evan, and Sarah. Thank you very much for being with us and allowing us to serve you.
Have a great rest of June, and I will see you in July once the second quarter is over.