The Caldwell Trust Company Blog

For those of us in the trust, investment management and retirement services business, we hear the word “fiduciary” on a daily basis. For many, it may sound like an important, formal word, but one which you may not be able to define. 

In its simplest term, a fiduciary is an individual or institution whom another has placed the utmost trust and confidence to manage and protect property and/or money. From the Latin word “fiducia”, meaning “trust” a fiduciary is held to the highest standard of conduct and trust. Generally, fiduciaries are trustees named to serve over assets held in a trust for a beneficiary. The fiduciary is held  to the highest standard to administer and invest those assets prudently as their primary duty is to the beneficiary(s) of the trust. 

As you may have seen, the U.S. economy generated 287,000 jobs in June, the highest reading for the year and well above the consensus forecast of 175,000.  A welcome surprise, however, in May, the Department of Labor reported a gain of only 38,000 even after heavy downward revisions in prior months.  Yet the unofficial numbers (ADP, ISM and Challenger surveys) pointed to gains of about 157,000 in May…What gives?  Why the big miss in May and the huge gain in June?  We can only speculate.  And we note that May’s report was the worst May since the end of the Great Recession and June’s report was close to being tied for the best, see chart below courtesy of Don Luskin at TrendMacro.

During trying times, it is often easier to get distracted by the bad than it is to celebrate the good. As we all head into this July 4th weekend, we thought you might enjoy two quotes which remind us why we celebrate the birth of this great country.