A Father’s Legacy | Dow Birthday Celebration & Career Pathways

The Legacy Fathers Leave Behind: A Lesson from Gleason

As Father’s Day approaches, I keep thinking about Gleason, a documentary I watched a few years ago that’s stayed with me ever since.

If you haven’t seen it, I strongly encourage you to make time for it: Trailer here. Or book here.

Steve Gleason is a former NFL player—smart, charismatic, full of life—who begins recording video journals for his unborn son after being diagnosed with ALS.

The story that unfolds is brave, wise, and raw. It’s about resilience, identity, and fatherhood in its truest form.

What struck me was how intentional he was with his time, words, and story. He was passing down who he was–everything about himself he wanted his son to know, remember, and carry forward.

It’s easy in our culture to assume legacy is about assets. However, legacy is also presence, wisdom, and memory passed down in the form of a story.

Around this time of year is a good time to ask yourself:

“What am I leaving behind?”

“Am I investing in what matters right now, while I still can?”

Not everything needs to be a documentary, but we all have something worth passing down. Start with that.

Get out the birthday cake and candles: The Dow turned 129! It started trading on May 26, 1896, and what a run it has had. As we show in our Chart of Worries, it has created a lot of wealth in the face of many scary headlines.

It closed last week at 42,270.07, just a tad above the 40.94 it started at 129 years ago!

A Strong May Showing: The month of May proved to be one of the best for the S&P 500 in 35 years. The good news is that few months are better for the bulls than a strong month of May. The chart below looks at 12 months and what happened after a 5% monthly gain. May has never been lower a year later and up nearly 20% on average, something for the bulls to smile about. Additionally, a year after any 5% monthly gain saw stocks up 13.7% on average and higher more than 84% of the time.

Career Pathways—Financial Planning: Do you know a student (age 17-23) exploring their future and career? Invite them to Career Pathways: a financial planning workshop designed for students in any major. This event will be held on Tuesday, June 24 from 12:00-1:30 pm right here at our Conshohocken office (lunch included!). We’ll talk about the importance of money management, how to get started in financial planning, what kinds of jobs are out there, and why to think about these things at a young age. This is a great, behind-the-scenes chance to learn, ask questions, and meet professionals in the field.

RSVP here by June 17.

*The views expressed represent the opinions of Compass Ion Advisors, LLC, as of the date noted and are subject to change. These views are not intended as a forecast, a guarantee of future results, an investment recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. The information provided is of a general nature and should not be construed as investment advice or to provide any investment, tax, financial, or legal advice or service to any person. The information contained has been compiled from sources deemed reliable, yet accuracy is not guaranteed.

Additional information, including management fees and expenses, is provided on our Form ADV Part 2 available upon request or at the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website here. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.