ValueAligned Partners

ValueAligned Partners Investment Advisors for
Individuals & Their Families Wall Street. Yet, I’ve made it my mission to educate the public that Wall Street works ONLY for Wall Street.

It’s the quintessential picture of American financial success – and the default for many investors choosing an independent investment advisor. Why? I have an MBA from Columbia University. I managed a hedge fund for years. I can’t stand to see one more hard-working American fall victim to this predatory system. In most cases, investment advisors are actually commissioned sales people, selling finan

cial “products” or “investments” that might not be best for you. They need only to be “suitable” for you. In most cases, hard-working American families like yours are getting a standardized, convoluted approach to investing that is many steps removed from the true source of return. So much so that even the most intelligent, well-educated people really don’t understand their own investment approach. They don’t have clear insight into why they own particular investments or how their financial advisors are compensated – and they end up investing pretty much the same way as everyone else. Unfortunately, all these hidden layers of the investing process cost you loads of money in fees – all of which jeopardize your retirement. Sound familiar? Of course it does. But investing for retirement does not have to be so complicated. I have the typical Wall Street pedigree – MBA from Columbia University, decades of experience on Wall Street, a history of managing money for families with multi-million dollar net-worths, etc. And I’m here to tell you that saving your retirement does NOT have to be complicated. The process of saving enough for retirement
is actually quite simple. Notice that I did not say “easy.”

But with a few simple principles that I learned by serving wealthy families, I’m making financial security and freedom also available to average investors. In fact, that’s why I founded ValueAligned® Partners. How are we different? We …
- remove the middle man
- clearly communicate the ONE AND ONLY form of compensation we receive
- invest ONLY in really, really good companies that truly create wealth for you

I’m so glad you’re here to learn about our simple, straight-forward approach to financial planning and wealth management. Please spend some time on our site, and then schedule a free, 15-minute financial check-up at the Calendy link in profile. I’m very passionate about this stuff and, I love to teach hard-working people how they can get more from their investments. Sincerely,
David “Berk” Berkowitz, ValueAligned® Partners founder

*ValueAligned Partners and its affiliates are not responsible for and do not encourage third parties to post anything on our behalf. Additionally, sharing of other’s articles should not be considered an endorsement. Please do not leave recommendations (by order of the US Government).

06/17/2026

I had a client last week who wanted to dump every software stock he owned. The screen was red and the instinct was to run.

We slowed down and did the actual work instead.

Here is what is going on. Last week semiconductors rose almost 9% while software fell more than 5%, same index, opposite directions. Chip makers like KLA and Intel are being bought because AI demand is real and you can see it in the order books. Software that charges per user, per month is getting repriced because an AI agent can now do some of that work.

The way I think about it comes from George Gilder. AI is a prosthetic. It extends a human expert the way a backhoe extends an arm. One expert can do the work of ten. The expert does not disappear.

So the question for every holding is simple. Does this business extend a real expert? Or is it just the routine layer between a customer and an answer? The first kind keeps compounding. The second is under pressure.

We went through his holdings one at a time. That is the job. Not reacting to a red screen.

At 60, the usual advice is to move your money into bonds to play it safe. For most people, that is the riskiest move the...
06/17/2026

At 60, the usual advice is to move your money into bonds to play it safe. For most people, that is the riskiest move they can make.

Retirement is not a finish line. A healthy 60-year-old couple has a good chance one of them reaches 90. That is a 30-year horizon. You are not protecting your money for a few years. You are funding three decades of life.

Here is the math. At 3% inflation, prices double in about 24 years. Your dollar buys half as much by 84. Bonds were built to return your money, not to grow what it buys. Cash and bonds feel safe, but quietly they shrink what you can actually buy.

Volatility is not risk. Permanent loss is risk. The deepest loss in retirement is outliving your money.

The real choice is not stocks versus bonds. It is growth you can spend for 30 years versus comfort that erodes every one of them. Own durable businesses. Hold enough cash to never sell them at the wrong moment. Let them compound.

Most retirement plans fail quietly. Yours does not have to.

This week the market had every reason to fall. Inflation came in hot. Oil spiked on tension around the Strait of Hormuz....
06/16/2026

This week the market had every reason to fall. Inflation came in hot. Oil spiked on tension around the Strait of Hormuz. The government even ordered an AI lab to shut off its most capable models on a Friday night. And yet the S&P 500 still closed green.

Here is the story under the surface. Technology split in two. The companies that make the chips, memory, and equipment behind AI surged. The companies that sell software by the seat fell hard. Same sector, opposite outcomes.

The reason is simple. Where AI sells the hardware, the demand is real. Where AI can do the work a subscription used to charge for, investors are getting nervous.

The clearest way to think about it comes from George Gilder. AI is a prosthetic. It extends a human mind the way a backhoe extends an arm. It lets one expert do the work of ten. It does not replace the expert.

For owners, that is the whole job. Own businesses that supply the tools, or that use them to extend real expertise. Be careful with businesses whose only edge was sitting between a customer and an answer.

I walk through the full week and what it means for great businesses here: https://youtu.be/Zx4tZKq06X4

06/06/2026

💡 AI can write a eulogy. It can't deliver one.

The most AI-proof business on my list isn't tech. It's funeral homes and cemeteries. SCI runs more than 1,900 of them.

In under 60 seconds, this video covers:

✅ Why the work is human, not information
✅ Non-discretionary demand that never pauses
✅ Prepaid plans that book revenue years ahead
✅ A demographic tailwind that only grows

Stronger moat: fifty years of local trust, or a patent?

Watch till the end and drop your answer 👇

06/05/2026

📈 AutoZone quietly turned car parts into a compounding machine.

A mechanic with a car on the lift needs the part in two hours, not next-day shipping. That time crunch is the moat.

In under 60 seconds, this video covers:

✅ Why no website ships fast enough to break AutoZone
✅ How thousands of local stores create two-hour delivery
✅ Decades of buybacks shrinking the share count
✅ Why a smaller share count builds real per-share wealth

Over 20 years, which builds more wealth: buybacks or dividends?

Watch till the end and drop your answer 👇

06/05/2026

📉 Cisco fell 90% and took 17 years to recover. The setup that killed it just reappeared in AI.

Cisco was the dot-com king. What broke it wasn't the routers. It was how the deals were built. The 2026 AI trade rhymes.

In under 60 seconds, this video covers:
✅ Cisco Capital lent billions to telecom carriers. Roughly 10% of revenue was money Cisco itself loaned out.
✅ When the carriers went bust: $900M in bad loans written off, plus a $2.2B inventory hit.
✅ 2026: Nvidia puts $100B into OpenAI, OpenAI signs a $300B Oracle compute deal, Oracle buys Nvidia chips.
✅ The cash never leaves the circle long enough to be earned.

Wall Street is pricing the chips and the data centers. It isn't pricing the structure of the deals. So tell me: is this a rhyme of Cisco 1999, or is the demand real this time?

Watch till the end and drop your answer 👇

06/04/2026

📈 The most boring stock might be the most indestructible.

Waste Management just collects trash. And it may be one of the purest monopolies in the market.

In under 60 seconds, this video covers:

✅ Why new landfills almost never get approved
✅ How fixed capacity hands WM the pricing power
✅ Why AI can plan the route, but the truck still rolls
✅ Inflation-linked pricing and demand that never stops

Stronger moat: a business protected by regulation, or one protected by technology?

Watch till the end and drop your answer 👇

06/04/2026

🎯 Some businesses don't care that AI exists.

AI crushes work built on information. It can't pour concrete, run a landfill, or sit with a grieving family.

In under 60 seconds, this video covers:

✅ Why physical, regulated, local, and human moats survive AI
✅ How quiet compounders keep winning without joining the race
✅ The four traits that make a company AI-proof
✅ Why boring beats flashy for retirement money

Which moat would you trust most through anything: physical, regulated, local, or human?

Watch till the end and drop your answer 👇

06/04/2026

🔄 $300 billion changed hands and no cash moved. The strangest loop in modern finance.

The four biggest names in AI (Nvidia, OpenAI, Oracle, AMD) are funding each other in a circle. Every dollar counts as revenue somewhere.

In under 60 seconds, this video traces the loop:
✅ Nvidia invests $100B in OpenAI
✅ OpenAI signs a $300B compute contract with Oracle
✅ Oracle places tens of billions in chip orders, with Nvidia
✅ AMD hands OpenAI a warrant for 10% of itself for 6 gigawatts of chips

None of it is illegal. All of it is disclosed. But when the same money powers the demand it gets counted against, is this real AI growth or a closed circle that cracks the moment one player pulls back?

Watch till the end and drop your answer 👇

05/23/2026

🎯 New Fed Chair started this week. Powell isn't leaving.

The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh 54-45 as the 17th Fed Chair. Powell's term ends Friday, but he is staying on the Board as a voting governor through January 2028. That setup is highly unusual.

In under 60 seconds, this video covers:

✅ Warsh confirmed 54-45, the most partisan Fed vote in history
✅ Powell remains on the Board through January 2028
✅ Political pressure for rate cuts vs. 3.8% CPI and 6.0% PPI
✅ 10-year Treasury yield jumped to roughly 4.6%, a one-year high

The math doesn't support rate cuts. The politics demands them.

Whose argument wins inside the FOMC over the next six months, the new chair's or the data's?

Watch till the end and drop your answer 👇

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