Menlo Asset Management

Menlo Asset Management Wealth Management for Menlo Park

• RSU Strategy • Investment Services • Retirement Planning • Financial Planning

Independent advice for local professionals.

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06/15/2026

The SpaceX IPO just minted over 4,000 new millionaires.

For many of them, it also created one of the most urgent wealth management problems in recent memory.

SpaceX equity represents up to 90% of many employees' total wealth. In some cases, a single position makes up 93% of a household's investable net worth. CNBC

The Next Web

That's not a portfolio. That's a bet.

IPO liquidity feels like an arrival. But it's really the beginning of a decision — one that touches tax strategy, estate planning, diversification, and long-term financial goals all at once.

The employees who thrive after an event like this aren't the ones who hold the longest. They're the ones who had a plan before the shares started trading.

A concentrated position in a single stock requires coordination across wealth management, tax, estate, and risk planning — not a single one-time trade. Creative Planning

Sudden wealth is only an advantage if it's managed with intention.

📩 Reach out to connect: https://lnkd.in/gTfEkASU

06/12/2026

Most people spend decades focused on average returns.

The real risk in retirement isn't the average. It's the order.

Two retirees can experience the identical average return over 10 years and end up in completely different financial positions — depending on when the bad years hit.

The five years before and after retirement are the most vulnerable window. Early losses combined with ongoing withdrawals can permanently damage a portfolio, even if long-term averages look fine. Madison Partners

This is sequence of returns risk. And right now, it deserves attention.
The S&P 500 entered 2026 down roughly 4% through Q1, following an 18% total return in 2025. Morningstar's updated base-case safe withdrawal rate for someone retiring this year is 3.9% — for portfolios holding 30–50% in equities. Halter Ferguson

The famous 4% rule has real limitations in this environment.

A more adaptive approach — sometimes called the guardrails method — allows withdrawals to flex with portfolio performance, using upper and lower bounds to guide spending decisions. Small adjustments in spending can meaningfully extend how long a portfolio lasts. Kavout

The shift from accumulation to distribution isn't just a math change. The same person, on the day they retire, faces a 180-degree reversal in their relationship with market volatility. Yesterday's "buy the dip" mindset becomes tomorrow's "preserve the principal" reality. The Arca Labs

Planning for that transition before it happens is the job.

If you're within five years of retirement — or already drawing income — now is a good time to stress-test your withdrawal strategy.

📩 Reach out to connect: https://lnkd.in/gTfEkASU

06/10/2026

SpaceX lists Thursday. Potentially the largest IPO in history.

Thousands of employees are about to become millionaires overnight.

And most of them aren't ready.

Sudden wealth is different. The numbers are larger, the tax implications are immediate, and the decisions made in the first 90 days tend to define outcomes for decades.

A few things advisors are focused on right now for SpaceX employees:

- Lockup complexity. SpaceX's lockup structure is tied to quarterly earnings triggers, not a standard 180-day clock. Selling windows are narrower than most employees realize.

- Concentrated position risk. Going from RSUs to a $2M single-stock position is not diversification. It's a different kind of exposure.

- Tax planning lead time. By the time shares vest and settle, the window to act is short. Planning has to start before the sale, not after.

The IPO is news. The wealth management is the real story.

If you or someone you know is navigating equity compensation or a liquidity event, we're happy to talk through the planning side.

📩 Reach out to connect: https://lnkd.in/gTfEkASU

06/08/2026

For decades, millions of American workers saving through 401(k) plans have had access to one thing: a menu of mutual funds built around public stocks and bonds.

Institutional investors, pension funds, endowments, foundations, have long used private equity, real estate, and infrastructure to build and diversify portfolios. The average 401(k) participant hasn't had that option.

The DOL's proposed rule on fiduciary duties in selecting retirement plan investment alternatives aims to change that. Rather than dictating which assets belong in a retirement plan, it establishes a process-based framework, asset-neutral by design, that gives plan fiduciaries clearer guidance to evaluate investments on their merits without fear of hindsight litigation.

The Investment Company Institute put it plainly in its comment letter filed June 1st: ERISA prudence is rooted in process, not outcomes. The government's job isn't to pick winners.

What this could mean practically: professionally managed, diversified funds with exposure to private markets may become a viable option in workplace retirement plans, not just for the ultra-high-net-worth.

The rule isn't final. But the direction of travel is clear.

At Menlo Asset Management, we think about how regulatory shifts like this affect your broader financial picture, not just your 401(k) menu. Questions about how your retirement strategy fits into your overall plan? Let's talk.

📩 Reach out to connect.: https://lnkd.in/gTfEkASU

06/05/2026

Q1 2026 earnings came in at 28.6% growth.

Analysts had projected 13%. The market nearly doubled it.
Headlines were good. Client confidence was high. Phones at advisory firms across the country started ringing.

"Should we be putting more in right now?"

It's one of the most common calls a wealth manager gets — and one of the most important to handle correctly.

The instinct to chase a strong quarter is deeply human. It feels logical. Markets are up, earnings are strong, momentum is real. Why not capitalize?

Because by the time the data is public, the market has already moved.

Performance chasing is one of the most well-documented destroyers of long-term returns. Investors who reallocate toward what just worked tend to buy at the top of a cycle, not the beginning of one.

The clients who build real wealth don't have a better read on the market than everyone else. They have a plan that doesn't require one.

A great wealth management relationship isn't about reacting to good quarters. It's about making sure a good quarter doesn't become a reason to deviate from a strategy that was built for the long run.

The market will keep producing numbers that are hard to ignore. The job is to stay disciplined anyway.

📩 Reach out to connect.: https://lnkd.in/gTfEkASU

06/03/2026

The S&P 500 just closed above 7,600 for the first time ever.

Nine straight days of gains. AI stocks surging. Dow at all-time highs.
It feels good right now. That's exactly when it's worth asking the harder question.

Does your portfolio still reflect your goals — or does it reflect what's been working lately?

Record markets have a way of quietly shifting allocations. Equity positions grow. Risk exposure creeps up. And most people don't notice until a correction reminds them.

That's not pessimism. That's planning.

At Menlo Asset Management, we work with clients to make sure strong markets don't quietly expose them to risk they didn't sign up for.

If you haven't had a portfolio conversation lately, now is a good time.

📩 Reach out to connect.: https://lnkd.in/gTfEkASU

06/01/2026

Nvidia unveiled its new PC chip at Computex this morning.

The market celebrated. NVDA was up premarket. The AI narrative got a fresh coat of paint.

It's a genuinely significant product announcement. But moments like this are worth pausing on.

Nvidia now accounts for roughly 7% of the S&P 500 by weight. For context — that's more index exposure than every energy company combined.

For clients holding broad index funds, that means a meaningful slice of a "diversified" portfolio is tied to the ex*****on of a single company's AI roadmap. Not the sector. One company.

That's not a reason to exit equities or reduce AI exposure. For many portfolios, it's simply a reason to understand what you actually own.

The conversation worth having isn't about Nvidia specifically. It's about whether concentration at the index level is something your clients are aware of, and whether their allocation reflects a deliberate decision or just what passive investing handed them over the last two years.

Awareness is the starting point. Strategy follows from there.

05/29/2026

June is closer than you think.

School's ending. Vacations are getting booked. The calendar fills up fast.
And for most people, financial planning goes on pause.

That's usually when the costly decisions happen. Lump sum bonuses sitting in cash too long. Insurance renewals auto-renewing without a second look. Estate documents that haven't been touched in years.

Summer is actually one of the best times to get ahead of the back half of the year. Markets are calmer. Q2 earnings start rolling in. You have a clearer picture of where you stand heading into the fall.

If your financial plan hasn't had a checkup since January, now's the time.

At Menlo Asset Management, we help clients use the slower months to make smarter moves, so the rest of the year takes care of itself.

Lets talk about it: https://lnkd.in/gTfEkASU

05/27/2026

In 1990, the top 10 stocks made up about 18% of the S&P 500.

By 2015, still around 19%.

Today? Over 40%.

That's not a bull market. That's a handful of AI mega-caps carrying an index that 500 companies are supposed to share.

Here's why that matters. When 10 names drive nearly half the index, a single earnings miss, one bad quarter, can move your entire "diversified" portfolio.
Most investors don't know this. They own the index, they feel protected, and they move on.

But diversification used to mean something different. It meant spreading risk across sectors, geographies, and asset classes that don't move together. Not owning 500 companies where 10 of them call the shots.

This is exactly why high-net-worth investors are looking beyond public markets. Private credit. Real assets. Strategies that don't live and die by the Nasdaq's mood on a Tuesday.

The S&P can keep climbing. But climbing with 40% of your weight on 10 stocks isn't the same ride it used to be.

What does your diversification actually look like right now?

Click here and lets talk about it: https://lnkd.in/gTfEkASU

05/22/2026

Walmart just beat earnings. The stock fell 6%.

That's not a typo. They reported $177.8 billion in revenue yesterday, up over 7% year over year. Beat estimates. US comparable sales up 4.1%. And the market still dumped the stock.

Why?

Because the guidance was cautious. And when the world's largest retailer, one that sells to 90% of American households, sounds cautious about the back half of the year, people pay attention.

Here's what the market is actually saying: the consumer is still spending, but they're stretching. Traffic at Walmart is up. Basket sizes are shrinking. That's the trade-down signal.

People aren't stopping, they're downgrading.

For investors, this is worth sitting with. Consumer spending drives about 70% of US GDP. When the bellwether of value retail is growing but warning, that's not a bullish story or a bearish one. It's a reminder that the economic picture is more uneven than the headline index numbers suggest.

Portfolios built on one assumption about where the consumer is headed are exposed. Now is a good time to stress test yours.

Contact us here: https://lnkd.in/gTfEkASU

Address

1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA
94025

Opening Hours

Monday 6:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 6:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 6:30am - 5pm
Thursday 6:30am - 5pm
Friday 6:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+16503216068

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