Michael McGinnis, Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley

06/18/2026

US equities rebounded Thursday on optimism of a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz. Read more in the 1% Move report.

morganstanley.com

06/17/2026

US equities retreated Wednesday as the first FOMC meeting for new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh yielded no change in the Fed Funds rate and a more hawkish shift for monetary policy. Read more in the 1% Move report:

morganstanley.com

06/17/2026

Financial planning lessons hidden in golf.
Your round isn't defined by one hole.

The 18th hole gets far more attention than it deserves.

⛳️ You can play smart golf for four hours –
Keep the ball in play
Avoid big mistakes
Recover well when you have to
And string together a solid round.

Then you make double bogey on 18.
And on the drive home, that's all you think about.
The last hole becomes the story, even though it accounted for just one-eighteenth of your score.

Investors have a tendency to do the same thing.

📈 A retirement plan may have been built over decades of consistent saving.
📈 Asset allocation has been adjusted as life changed.
📈 Taxes have been managed.
📈 Risk has been diversified.
📈 Income has been carefully planned.

Then the market drops 8% in a month.
Or one quarter underperforms.

Suddenly, clients begin questioning a plan that has been working for years because of what happened over the last 30 days.

The irony is that the most important financial decisions are rarely made during the best markets.
They're made during the uncomfortable ones.

📉Do you abandon your allocation?
📉Do you move to cash after the decline instead of before it?
📉Do you stop contributing when prices are lower?
📉Do you let one difficult month erase twenty years of disciplined decision-making?

Great financial planning isn't about making every month look good.
It's about making sure one bad month doesn't cause a decision that compromises the next twenty years.

The 18th hole counts.
But it just shouldn't get to rewrite the scorecard.

Financial planning isn't designed to eliminate every bad month
It's to ensure that one bad month doesn't derail decades of good decisions.

Do the latest news stories have you doubting your financial plan? We can help: https://advisor.morganstanley.com/michael.mcginnis

⛳️Do you judge your round by how you played – or how you finished

06/15/2026

US equities rallied Monday on news that the US and Iran reached an agreement to re-open the Strait of Hormuz. Read more in the 1% Move report.

morganstanley.com

06/11/2026

US equities rebounded Thursday after President Trump signaled an imminent end to the US-Iran conflict. Read more in the 1% Move report.

morganstanley.com

06/10/2026

US equities fell Wednesday on heightened geopolitical tensions, with President Trump announcing renewed strikes on Iran. Read more in the 1% Move report.

microsoft.com

06/05/2026

US equities declined sharply on Friday, with stronger-than-expected employment data prompting a hawkish repricing of monetary policy expectations. Read more in the 1% Move report.

microsoft.com

06/01/2026

The easy shot is where strokes disappear.
Pars and portfolios are built the same way.

Every golfer knows the feeling.

🏌️You hit a great drive.
Your approach shot finds the green.
Now all that's left is a short putt or simple chip.
The hole is practically a given.

That's when people get lazy.
The routine gets rushed. Focus slips.

⛳️What looked like an easy par suddenly becomes a bogey.
Ironically, some of the shortest shots on the course cost the most strokes.

Financial planning works the same way.

➔ Most people pay attention during major market swings, retirement transitions, or big life events.
➔ The costly mistakes often come from the simple things that seem too routine to matter.

❌ An old 401(k) still sitting at a former employer because rolling it over never felt urgent.

❌ A business owner who hasn't increased retirement plan contributions even though profits have grown.

❌ Tax strategies that haven't been reviewed since a promotion, significant bonus, or job change.

❌ Automatic savings and investment contributions that haven't been increased despite income growing significantly over time.

❌ Beneficiary designations that no longer reflect current wishes.

❌ A financial plan that doesn't get revisited after a major life change.

None of these issues feel urgent.
Until they are.

The fundamentals rarely get the attention they deserve because they're familiar.
But familiar doesn't mean unimportant.

In golf and financial planning, the easy shots are where strokes disappear and the biggest mistakes happen.
Feel like you might be losing strokes in your financial planning? We can help: https://advisor.morganstanley.com/michael.mcginnis

🚩 What part of your golf game do you tend to take for granted?

06/01/2026

Golf and wealth drift the same way.
Nothing feels urgent – until it is.

You rarely feel a golf round slipping away.
It happens gradually.

A missed fairway.
A careless 3-putt.
A bad decision you convince yourself won't matter.

Then you look at the scorecard and think:
How did I get here?

Financial plans drift the same way.

Not because of one catastrophic decision.
Because the little things slowly stop getting attention.

❌ Spending creeps up as income rises.
➔ Lifestyle improves, but savings rates stay exactly the same.

❌ Portfolios drift out of alignment.
➔ What started as a balanced allocation slowly becomes more aggressive or too conservative without anyone noticing.

❌ Tax planning gets ignored.
➔ Roth conversion opportunities pass. Capital gains pile up. Withdrawal sequencing never gets discussed.

❌ Old accounts stay scattered.
➔ Former 401(k)s sit untouched. Fees go unchecked. Investment strategies become disconnected.

❌ Protection planning falls behind.
➔ Insurance coverage no longer fits reality. Beneficiaries never get updated after major life changes.

None of it feels urgent.
That's what makes drift dangerous.

Because small gaps become big ones when nobody adjusts.

Then one day retirement is suddenly much closer than realized –
And the scorecard looks different than you thought it would.

Most rounds aren't lost on one hole.
And most financial plans don't fail overnight.
They drift…

Feel your financial plan might be "drifting"? We can help: https://advisor.morganstanley.com/michael.mcginnis

⛳️ What costs you more strokes – one terrible hole or little mistakes that add up?