Dear Clients: What a difference year makes! ‘Twas the night before Christmas (2018) and the December stock price collapse reached a crescendo (DJIA -653.17 points) as investors seemingly lost their collective minds on fears of the Federal Reserve raising short-term interest rates too quickly and the threat of the on-again tariff/trade spat [...]
New tools help weigh investment merit of college choices Mickey Kim / December 6, 2019 A college education is one of life’s costliest investments, so you want to maximize your return on that investment. Parents naturally want their children to have the brightest future possible, which traditionally meant [...]
Is WeWork the “canary in the coal mine” for profitless “unicorns?” Mickey Kim / November 8, 2019 It’s true they don’t ring a bell at market tops (or bottoms), but we’re pretty sure the “Unicorns” (privately-held technology companies, typically losing tons of money, but valued at $1 billion [...]
Did tide finally turn in favor of “value” stocks in September? Mickey Kim / October 11, 2019 The following is an excerpt from Kirr, Marbach & Co.’s third quarter client letter. The third quarter of 2019 marked the first time since 1997 when the S&P 500 had a [...]
Dear Clients: We’re again pleased to report client equity portfolios continued to experience solid performance through the first three quarters of 2019, which also marked the first time since 1997 when the S&P 500 had a total return greater than 20% in the first nine months of the year. While we’re grateful [...]
How Colts QB Andrew Luck’s retirement explains the inverted yield curve Mickey Kim / September 13, 2019 The talking heads have been aflame about the recent surprise retirement of Andrew Luck (29), the Indianapolis Colts’ 4-time Pro Bowl quarterback and the inversion of the yield curve, both “sure” [...]
Study shows “behavior gap” continues to destroy investor returns Mickey Kim / August 16, 2019 We clearly can’t control trade wars, the markets or White House tweets, but our behavior is up to us. Suppose you got spooked last December and sold your stocks as the market’s collapse [...]
Dear Clients: We’re pleased to report client equity portfolios posted strong performance in the first half of 2019, particularly given “Value” stocks continued to underperform “Growth” stocks. The rise in U.S. stocks was anything but a straight-line advance as they continued their roller coaster ride in the second quarter of 2019. In [...]
Is “Unicorn” IPO Beyond Meat’s valuation “Impossible?” Mickey Kim / June 21, 2019 There is no better indicator of sentiment or “animal spirits” than the state of the market for initial public offerings (“IPOs”) and, except for a couple high-profile stumbles (Lyft and Uber), investors are partying like [...]
Happiness is getting get off the ‘positional treadmill’ Mickey Kim / May 17, 2019 You know what’s worse than judging a book by its cover? Judging a book by its cover…AND THEN making financial decisions based on what you guess the book might tell you. And yet, we [...]
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Associate Director of Client Service |
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Current Board Member and Vice President of Sans Souci. Past president of Sans Souci and Columbus Young Professionals. Finance Mentor for Turning Point’s Dance Marathon. Leadership Bartholomew County – 2014 and Coalition for Collaborative Learning – 2015. Zach was previously a Credit Analyst and Commercial Lender for MainSource Bank and, most recently, Financial Advisor for Raymond James. Zach joined KM in 2018. |
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Associate Director of Client Service |
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Current member of Heritage Fund Bartholomew County Grants Committee and First Presbyterian Preschool Policy Board. Before joining KM in 2018, Maggie was a financial analyst at Cummins, Inc. |
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Roger Lee, CFA, CPA
Senior Research Analyst |
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Roger joined KM as a Senior Research Analyst in 2016. Prior to joining KM, he sharpened his research skills while on the investment teams of Pacific View Asset Management, the Artisan Partners Global Equity Fund, and Tradewinds Global Investors, a subsidiary of Nuveen Investments. He began his career in assurance services at Ernst & Young. Roger has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York since 2010. |
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Collin Foster, CFA
Research Analyst and Fixed Income Portfolio Manager |
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Collin joined KM as an Equity Analyst in 2015. Prior to joining KM, he worked as a credit analyst and credit manager at MainSource Bank. |
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Mickey Kim, CFA
Managing Partner, Chief Operating/Compliance Officer |
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Mickey was Senior Research Analyst at Driehaus Capital Management, a Chicago investment management firm, from 1982 to 1985. Mickey joined KM in 1986 and has been the firm’s Chief Operating Officer since 1996 and Chief Compliance Officer since 2004. |
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Mark D. Foster, CFA
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Managing Partner, Chief Investment Officer, Portfolio Manager |
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Mark was formerly associated with American Fletcher National Bank (now JP Morgan Chase, Indiana, NA) as a research analyst from 1980 to 1982 and with Merchants National Bank as a portfolio manager/research analyst from 1982 to 1984. From 1984 to 1987 he was associated with Merchants Investment Counseling Inc. as Director of Equity Strategy, directly responsible for managing approximately $200 million of equity assets. Mark joined KM in 1987 and has been the firm’s Chief Investment Officer since 1997. |
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Matt Kirr
Partner, Director of Client Service |
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Current Board Member of Heritage Fund Bartholomew County and Foundation for Youth. Past president of Foundation for Youth, the Day Nursery Foundation Board, and past vice-chairman of the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Indiana. Matt was previously a Vice President and Private Banker for Bank One, N.A. and, most recently, McDonald Financial Group. Matt joined KM in 2005. |
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Darrell H. “Kip” Wright, CFA
Partner, Portfolio Manager, Senior Research Analyst |
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Kip was a Trust Investment Manager for various banks in Iowa from 1982 through 1995, most recently with Brenton Bank, N.A., with responsibilities of overall strategy and equity selection. Kip joined KM in 1995 and is a portfolio manager and senior research analyst. |
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Colin King, CFA
Senior Research Analyst |
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Colin joined KM as an Equity Analyst in 2012. Prior to joining KM, he worked in assurance services with Ernst & Young and in business valuation with Blue & Co., both CPA firms. Colin has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Indiana since 2012. |
