My After-Action Review

Is that it? Is the stock market drama from the last few months over? When we’ve come through a challenging time in the markets, it helps to have a moment of reflection. In the Army, we called them After-Action Reviews (AARs). The goal is to make a clear-eyed assessment of our decisions during times of stress so that we can better respond the next time.

It’s the mid-point of 2025, and we’ve been through a lot. Time to conduct our review. I’ll go first.

I could begin by talking about the turmoil of the markets this year, but instead, I’ll start with my memory of waking up in an ambulance on the way to the hospital on an April afternoon two months ago. After passing out in public (fortunately with a doctor or two nearby), I was on a gurney, applying pressure to a gash on the top of my head and trying to piece together the last hour of my life. I felt good that day, even taking an early afternoon off before the long Easter weekend to relax outside. Then, boom. I fell.

The next few days were full of tests (all normal). And uncertainty about where this came from (making sure it wasn’t going to happen again). I was back in the office in a few days, resuming a normal work schedule, but the whole experience got me thinking about AARs. When the storms of life are about health, money, family, career…it could be anything.

I have a three-part framework that helps to look back with clarity, build awareness, and prepare for the future. Today, with a better sense of calm about my money, relationships, and life, I can share my personal After-Action Review on 2025 thus far.

Assess the Situation

At 47, maybe I need to find a better balance in my health than I did when I was 27. Better rest, better recovery, the right fuel. Are you in a different place now in what’s required for health and longevity? Take stock of how you’ve felt physically and mentally this year and where you might find habits to sustain or improve.

In the markets, diversification is working. Some assets saw sharp declines this Spring, but others either held their ground (bonds) or even stayed positive (international stocks). The calm after the storm is a good time to assess not just ‘what’ your portfolio did, but “why”? Not every investment is going to be up all the time. The question is, did it do its job when it was supposed to?

I took some proactive steps in my personal finances, which, in hindsight, provided some peace to my wife during a few scary moments. We updated some internal planning for Morton Brown that clarified some of the “what-ifs” for our team and families. My wife and I also met with an estate attorney to update our personal affairs just weeks before my ambulance ride. Some financial actions (like panic selling) can hurt us long-term. Think through the good or bad decisions you have made and whether they brought peace or invited more financial anxiety.

Lessons Learned

Risk shows up with friends: My medical scare happened in the middle of a volatile market. The times when a personal crisis overlaps with a career or financial issue can be a nasty coincidence. Planning is not for the big, scary things we try to predict (recession, market crashes, elections, etc.). Planning is for when any or many of the risks decide to show up at once, and teach us lessons in humility, fear, and mortality.

Simplify: It’s hard to coordinate moving parts in a crisis. My wife wanted to consolidate two of our bank accounts in March to have one less place to access money. That was one more thing made simpler for her if, God forbid, something worse had happened to me. Life invites complexity, and we must fight for simplicity. I have clarity about the way the business runs and our personal balance sheet. That clarity helped me to make better decisions when uncertainty arrived.

Communicate: The plan in our heads doesn’t count. Even writing it down might not get the job done. I think I have communicated better with my wife in recent years about the big picture things, like the family balance sheet. Every so often, we sit down and talk about more than the monthly bills. We focus on our long-term investments and how our money supports a meaningful life for us. These aren’t the conversations to be had in an Emergency Room or when the markets are tanking. Use this time of relative calm to talk out loud and get on the same page about the present and the always uncertain future.

Prepare for the Future

No panaceas: There is no magical pill for money, health, or relationships. I am convinced we all know this, and flabbergasted that we all, me included, still look for an occasional magic pill. Preparation is a habit defined by words like diet, exercise, diversification, and communication. It doesn’t sound sexy, but cliches are cliches for a reason. I used to think that if I could just run 5 miles like I used to, that meant I was as healthy as I needed to be. No more true than concentrating in one stock is going to work out as well in the future as it has up until now. Preparation is a daily habit, the boring small ball that gets us where we want to be over time.

Fighting the last war: There have been four bear markets since we launched Morton Brown Family Wealth in 2018. Each one has a different source, affected the markets differently, and taught me something different. I remember people saying early in my career (2006-ish) that they were only investing in real estate because that felt safe after being burned in the dot-com bubble burst. That didn’t play out well either. We don’t need to get the next risk exactly right; we just need to have a resilient plan in place.

Prioritize: This Sunday, I am taking my daughters to a special Father’s Day showing of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. A special event, as I went to see it originally in the theaters for my 12th birthday. A scene that has always stuck with me is when Indiana Jones is compelled to choose the correct Holy Grail from among many in order to save his father’s life. As he ponders his choice, he is asked by the ancient knight guarding the secret, “It’s time to ask yourself, what you believe.” In those critical moments, past, present, and future, we need to be aware of ourselves, our values, and what we believe. This is what won’t change in the next crisis and will help keep us grounded in what matters most. What better time than now to gain clarity on our priorities?