Commons Capital

06/02/2026

Part III of our Fiduciary Reckoning series is published. This installment walks the public regulatory record of Merrill Lynch and Bank of America from 2014 to 2026.

The July 2023 enforcement record alone illustrates the structural pattern the series identifies. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director called Bank of America "a repeat offender" in announcing $250 million in coordinated CFPB and OCC actions for opening credit card accounts without consumer consent since at least 2012, double-dipping non-sufficient funds fees, and withholding promised credit card reward bonuses.

The Merrill Lynch wealth management record runs in parallel. A June 2016 SEC settlement characterized at the time as the largest customer protection settlement in agency history. Merrill paid $415 million, admitted wrongdoing, and acknowledged that from 2009 to 2015 the firm held up to $58 billion per day of fully paid customer securities in accounts subject to liens by its clearing bank.

By Part III, the series has documented enforcement against three of the five firms it is covering.

Read the full piece: https://www.commonsllc.com/insights/the-fiduciary-reckoning-part-iii-the-public-record-on-merrill-lynch-and-bank-of-america

Fiduciary rhetoric is a marketing layer. The structure is what governs.

05/12/2026

$8 billion in penalties. Eight years under Federal Reserve enforcement. One word still on the marketing materials: fiduciary.

A new series, Fiduciary Recokening, walking the public regulatory record of the major wirehouses, one firm at a time. Primary sources only. Part I: Wells Fargo. Parts II–V will cover Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase.

https://www.commonsllc.com/insights/the-fiduciary-reckoning-part-i-the-public-record-on-wells-fargo

The five major U.S. wirehouses — Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and JPMorgan Chase — all market themselves as fiduciary-minded, client-first institutions. Their regulatory records, all of which sit in public databases at the SEC, DOJ, CFPB, OCC, FINRA, and the Federal...

05/09/2026

Most wealth managers default to mutual funds and ETFs. We don't.

When we manage a portfolio at Commons Capital, our clients own the underlying securities directly — not shares of a commingled pool. That single structural choice delivers three things funds simply can't:

→ Tax control. We harvest losses at the security level and sidestep the unwanted capital gains distributions fund holders absorb every December — even in down years.

→ Transparency. You see exactly what you own. Every company, every position. No black box behind a ticker.

→ Customization. Concentrated stock positions, values-based screens, charitable gifting strategies, tax-lot precision — all become possible when the portfolio is genuinely yours.

Funds optimize for the fund company. Direct ownership optimizes for the client.

Full framework: https://www.commonsllc.com/insights/why-we-dont-use-funds

04/30/2026

"I can handle risk."

It's a sentence we hear often, and one we always want to translate into something operational.

Can you tolerate a 20% drawdown without changing the plan? Can your finances absorb it without forcing sales? Or do you accept that growth requires discomfort, even though you dislike losses? Those are three different answers — and they lead to three different portfolios.

A 2025 FINRA Foundation study found that 30% of U.S. consumers are unwilling to take any financial risk, 46% will accept average risk, and 24% are open to substantial risk. There is no single "normal" investor profile.

A few things we work on with clients:

→ Risk tolerance, risk capacity, and risk aversion are three different inputs — not interchangeable labels. A mismatch between them is where most plans break.
→ Concentrated stock, deferred comp, and private positions usually mean the investor's true risk profile is already aggressive, whether they acknowledge it or not. The liquid portfolio has to offset, not amplify.
→ Sophisticated investing gets clearer when each dollar has a job. Liquidity capital, lifestyle capital, and long-term growth capital rarely belong in the same risk bucket.
→ A portfolio you can't stick with is a bad portfolio, even if it looks optimal on paper.

Full framework:

Learn what is risk tolerance in investing and its impact on your portfolio. Our guide covers assessment, asset allocation, and strategies for HNW investors.

04/30/2026

A question we hear from clients more often than people might expect:

"The math says I could retire early — but how do I know I'm actually ready?"

A 2025 Transamerica survey found 59% of retirees stopped working before 65, and only about 11–21% left because they were financially prepared. The rest were pushed by health or employment changes. That's the case for building flexibility into the plan, not just a target date.

In our latest Insights piece, we walk through how to plan for early retirement when wealth is concentrated, liquidity is uneven, and taxes, healthcare, and family goals all need to be coordinated together — not modeled in isolation.

Read the full perspective →

Learn how to plan for early retirement with a roadmap for high-net-worth individuals. Our guide covers complex assets, tax strategies, and risk management.

04/27/2026

A question we hear from parents more often than they realize:

"How do we start the wealth conversation with our kids — without making it weird?"

You're not alone in finding it hard. Roughly 70% of families struggle to start these conversations. And waiting is more expensive than it used to be: by 2026, nearly half of adult children already infer family wealth from online tools long before parents say a word.

In our latest Insights piece, we walk through how to structure these conversations as a multi-year process rather than one tense meeting — including how to talk about current support, future inheritance, digital assets, and the values that should travel with the wealth.

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A step-by-step guide on how to talk to adult children about wealth in 2026. Navigate tax changes, digital assets, & family dynamics with checklists & scripts.

04/26/2026

A question we've been hearing more often from clients lately:

"We're thinking about joining a concierge medicine practice in retirement — does that make sense for us?"

The medical decision usually feels straightforward. The financial decision is where it gets layered. Annual fees range from $2,000 to $10,000, but research suggests total health spending often rises 50% in year one after enrollment, and stays meaningfully higher long-term. The fee is just the start of the conversation.

In our latest Insights piece, we walk through how to budget for concierge care across a long retirement, fund it tax-efficiently (HSAs, Roth assets, trusts), and integrate it with Medicare without creating false confidence about coverage.

Read the full perspective →

Planning for private concierge medicine costs in retirement - Learn to estimate, integrate, and use tax-efficient strategies for planning private concierge

04/25/2026

A question we've been hearing more often from family office clients lately:

"How do I know if my private credit funds are actually defensive — or just haven't been tested yet?"

It's a fair concern. Private credit AUM will exceed $2 trillion in 2026 and is on track to approach $4 trillion by 2030 — but most of that growth happened during an unusually calm period. The asset class is entering its first broad modern cycle test, and the dispersion between strong and weak managers is widening.

In our latest Insights piece, we walk through how we're thinking about credit, liquidity, and valuation risk — plus a manager-diligence checklist for clients evaluating new or existing commitments.

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Navigate the risks of private credit in a 2026 economic slowdown. Our guide helps HNWIs & family offices avoid defaults, illiquidity, and valuation pitfalls.

04/24/2026

A question we've been hearing more often from clients lately:

"How do I actually invest in AI without paying peak tech multiples?"

The short answer — look one layer below. AI isn't only a software story. By 2030, AI could account for nearly 9% of U.S. energy consumption, and U.S. utilities have $1.4 trillion in grid investments planned over the next five years. The value chain runs through power generation, transmission, storage, and infrastructure financing — not just chipmakers and cloud platforms.

In our latest Insights piece, we walk through how we're thinking about the energy side of the AI buildout — public equities, private infrastructure, credit, and where the contrarian opportunities may sit.

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Explore smart Energy sector investments for AI power needs in 2026. Discover key strategies, market trends, and growth opportunities to power the future of AI.

04/23/2026

"Should I just stay in cash?"

We hear this one a lot right now — especially from families with a recent liquidity event or meaningful cash balances left over from the hiking cycle.

The short answer: cash isn't risk-free. It's a different risk. When the Fed is cutting, short-term yields reprice quickly. Intermediate bonds don't. That's reinvestment risk — and for HNW investors today, it's the real concern, not credit.

Our latest Insights piece walks through how we're thinking about locking in yield before 2026 rate cuts — the belly of the curve, ladders vs. duration extension, and why after-tax income (not headline yield) should drive bond selection.

Read the full piece →

A practical guide for HNW investors on locking in bond yields before 2026 rate cuts. Learn strategies for duration, laddering, and tax optimization.