Mid-Year Reflections from the CIO

[Editor’s Note: Yusuf’s mid-year reflections were written and submitted on July 1, nearly a week after our internal deadline and yet, somehow, right on time.]

As our family was wrapping up breakfast this morning, Maegan was standing at the Abugideiri Family Calendar on the wall (which governs our lives, full stop) and exclaimed, “Welcome to July!” to which I replied, “Welcome to Q3!” She whipped her head around and said, “Wow, that’s crazy!” and I said, “Yeah, I know.” Welcome to our kitchen and our family’s morning dynamic.

What a year it’s been! And I appreciate that while we’ve only lived through half of it, it wouldn’t be hard to convince me that we somehow managed to cram 12 months’ worth of happenings into 181 days. As I sit here and reflect on these past 26 weeks, the overwhelming sensation I feel is one of gratitude: for what we’ve achieved (in spite of/because of [?] what we’ve persevered through), for how we’ve shown up, and for where we’re headed.

First, a look backward. If I just focus on my sandbox, we began the year by giving the portfolio a facelift, reallocating our Clients’ investments in service of remaining geographically neutral. Executing a full scale portfolio shift is no small task, and I’m proud of how the team showed up in responding to the challenge and implementing the changes. As always, we executed a plan that was grounded in our values, evidence-based, and nuanced as we considered each Client’s unique needs within the context of their financial plan. In so doing, our Clients were able to benefit from the performance of an thoroughly diversified portfolio through moments of market distress (in response to the on-again, off-again tariff policies) while reaping the benefit of international stocks’ dominance of those in the US (through the first half of the year, international stocks are up nearly 3x when compared against the S&P500).

I’m also grateful for the way our team has shown up for our Clients, be it on a personal level in meetings or when completing ad hoc analyses in response to Client questions, or in our quarterly webinars. This past quarter, Ryan Kelly and Sydney Woodward joined Dave, Lauren Stansell, and me and helped us put together one of the most robust presentations we’ve ever shared with our Clients. Observing the team’s continuing growth and development has always been (and always will be) a source of inspiration for me and an affirmation of why we invest so much time in our people’s growth.

Next, we’ll look forward. As we prepare to dive into the second half of the year, I’m excited about the work we get to do in support of our Clients’ needs. Our Investments Committee is growing, and having more people on the team who want to commit to this type of work is energizing. We’ll be developing some new materials for our Clients to help you better understand how we think about investing, how we apply our philosophy, and what that means when it comes to buzzy topics like cryptocurrencies or ESG investments. Also, we’ll be conducting another one of our regular reviews of our portfolio, taking it apart, putting it back together, and making sure we still believe the composition of the individual parts continues to meet our standards.

We will also get to spend time together, and continuing to invest in our internal connections will help us continue to show up as the best versions of ourselves for those who depend on us. We have our annual team retreat coming up in just over a week, where we’ll welcome a new member of the team into the fold (Tricia Lowney), deepen existing relationships, and celebrate the accomplishments of a number of our teammates (and there’s been so much to celebrate over the past year!). Then, the Financial Planning Team will get together for another de facto retreat of sorts at FPA’s Far West Roundup – we’ll spend the days taking in comments from speakers on the leading edge of the profession, and the evenings breaking down what we’ve learned and figuring out how to we can improve what we do for our Clients and your families. And by then, summer will be over and, as the seasons change, we’ll get to work on our annual end-of-year tasks, which run the gamut from trading tactics to tax planning strategies. Sixteen years later, it still hasn’t gotten stale.

Finally, I’ll close with gratitude for that which keeps me grounded as the world keeps spinning. First, my family – our summer has been taken over by summer swim team, and there are so many metaphors for life that can be gleaned from lessons learned in the pool (“just keep swimming”, for one). Watching our kids go from learning to swim to competing in meets has been a tremendous source of pride and learning for Maegan and me, and the time together is irreplaceable. Not to be forgotten are my morning dates with my Peloton – when life gets hard, pedal harder, and trust that the work is the reward (and the completion of the work is a source of confidence that is necessary to perform as I need to perform each day). Finally, I have to share the impact the Dissect podcast has had on me this year – I’ve been listening to episodes focused on Kendrick Lamar’s work (specifically his album DAMN., for which we won the Pulitzer Prize, and also Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, which focuses on the benefits of therapy in addressing generational trauma). My touchstones have persisted as my sources of strength through this first half of 2025, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Halfway through, and halfway to go. I can’t wait to see where we are as we close the year and prepare for 2026.