Last week, the New York Times featured photographer Gray Malin in their business section, but just a few weeks before that, he sat down to talk to Matt Hall as a guest on the TLV podcast. Photographer Gray Malin creates iconic images synonymous with travel. His work has taken him all over the world. In this episode, he shares stories behind select images, including how it took three years for his vision of photographing painted sheep to come to life and the surprising thing that happened during the shoot that took the images to the next level. Gray Malin’s views from above give a unique perspective. Hear about his first job in Hollywood, what inspires him and where he wants to travel to next.

Imagine owning an asset that has increased by 25% during the recent coronavirus pandemic. Now let me tell you a little secret: you probably already own it! I’m talking about Social Security benefits.

At Hill Investment Group, we help clients with all kinds of important decisions to optimize their portfolios. One of these decisions is when to collect Social Security benefits. The question is much more complicated than you might think. Some clients have seen six-figure differences in options after we run our analysis. Timing when to collect on Social Security is even more important today with interest rates near zero. If you are curious about how we do this analysis and are interested in what the answer might be for you, schedule a call here.

Recently, New York Times financial columnist, Jeff Sommer, wrote a piece arguing we should think of our social security as an annuity. Sommer argues it’s an annuity we all own that has skyrocketed in value – to the tune of $1 million for some. As many of you know, we generally advise AGAINST owning annuities of any type and better explain why this is different.

The key points:

• Social Security can be compared to annuities because similar to an annuity, Social Security provides a monthly guaranteed income for a specified period of time. 
• With low-interest rates, the income-producing power of other investments has dropped while the value of Social Security has held strong.
• Because of this, coupled with Social Security payments increasing with inflation, the effective value of the Social Security income stream has soared.
• As an added benefit over annuities, the US Government guarantees the payments, so it’s virtually risk-free, unlike a stock portfolio. 
• If you tried to purchase an annuity on the market with similar features, it would be an expensive annuity indeed. Example: for a high-income earner who delays claiming Social Security benefits until age 70, Sommer suggests an annuity providing comparable benefits might cost about $1 million today, an increase in the cost of about 25% from prior years.

 Be sure to check out his article here.

Race and power are front and center in conversations happening (or not happening) around the world. There is so much we’d like to say, but for now we think it’s most helpful to highlight one of the voices who says it best. If you watch one thing today, we think it should be this 14 minute Ted Talk from Mellody Hobson, a finance boss who nails it.

Watch Hobson’s classic 14 minute Ted Talk by clicking the image below, and should you find yourself loving Mellody the way we do, keep exploring her wisdom here or here.