How failed banks impact investors

It can be very unsettling to hear of a bank failure such as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last month. Investors may wonder how they should react or if they should adjust their portfolios.

First, a little history lesson to put this into perspective.

When depositors rush to get their money out of a bank that is nancially in trouble, it is called a “run” on the bank. ese are not new and have occurred at di erent levels of severity in the past, the worst in the 1930s during the Great Depression. At that time, there was contagion across many banks, not our current situation. While bank insolvency can often come on the heels of the Federal Reserve Board raising interest rates, that is not solely the cause, according to Mariner Wealth Advisors Chief

Letters

FROM PAGE 12 editorial, “Answers in short supply” and disingenuous. First and foremost, I expect my local paper to educate and inform. e bad news could have easily t on the rst page, alongside the good news. And, your characterization of suicidal school killers as “disgusting people” only

Economist William Greiner.

Each bank must manage the risk of lending, investing, cash deposits and withdrawals. If any or all of those are out of balance, problems start to percolate. When you have high-risk loans, such as technology start-ups, and you are short on liquidity (more withdrawals than deposits), and the investments backing the deposits decline in value, you have a recipe for failure.

Many banks issue loans on real estate or other business collateral.

ey may also use Treasuries to back up deposits. When the Fed raises interest rates, and the value of those Treasury bonds declines, bankers may need to sell at a loss to cover withdrawals. Once this spiral starts, or collateral is devalued due to bad loans, depositors may demand their money causing a run on the bank.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell remained concerned about in ation when he testi ed before Congress in March. is drove interest rate expectations higher after several interest rate hikes over the last three serves to further entrench the polarized debate on nding answers to make schools safe. Please, put some e ort into following up with our Elbert County Public Health director, our Elbert County sheri , and other elected o cials. Elbert County commissioners will never allocate funding to the sheri ’s o ce to enable putting multiple SROs in every county school, as you desire. And, when the budget controlling commissioners decry the lack of tax quarters. is downward pressure on bond values and concerns the bank would need to raise capital, caused some technology-focused venture capital companies to remove funds from SVB. ey may also avoid banks that have not had proper risk management or oversight. ese things created a perfect storm scenario for SVB. It may be wise to stay with large institutions commonly known as “too big to fail” due to their backing by the Fed. Large banks may actually benet from depositors moving money to them from small banks in amounts funding, please give me a call. Good luck and thank you for trying. not covered by the $250,000 limit for FDIC insurance.

It was very fortunate that a contagion was avoided, as the U.S. government response was swift and e ective. Once the facts were released and average depositors realized they were not involved in a bank that does high-risk lending, some of the pressures eased.

Investors will likely review their portfolio to make sure they are not invested in small banks in the venture capital space or have heavy exposure to commercial real estate.

Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” was able to instill trust in his customers to survive a run on his bank during the Great Depression. In real life during that time, the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 formed the Federal Deposit Insurance known as FDIC. ese days you don’t really run to your bank and can click to manage transactions on your phone. It is not recommended to keep large deposits in any one institution, just as you would not put all of your investments in one individual stock. Work with your wealth advisor to determine the right amount to leave in the bank, which is usually designed for transactions or emergency reserves, not large sums that could be working harder for you elsewhere.

Patricia Kummer has been a Certied Financial Planner professional and a duciary for over 35 years and is managing director for Mariner Wealth Advisors.

FROM PAGE 12 be a little kinder, well actually, a lot kinder. One respondent was so convicted of this that she felt that, “If we could all just show up with kindness every day, we could actually have a greater impact on the world than climate change e orts, economic shifts, and voting in the right candidate for president.”

BYOS, bring your own strength. Sometimes life deals us a bad or di cult hand. Sometimes we nd ourselves in a season of life where we succumb to our weaknesses, or we see the situation as too much for us to handle; Illness, divorce, addiction, or death in our circle of family and friends, and so many other horrible life events that can cause us to cave. BYOS means that we nd our inner strength, and if we don’t have that strength or can’t nd that strength, we need to BYOS, bring the strength of others who come alongside us, just when we need them the most.

BYOP, bring your own peace. Wow, could this be the most proli c of all BYO’s? In the agitated world that nds us reading news about road rage, random violence, wars, school or community shootings, or any other topic that drives a wedge between humanity, peace is the most desired of human emotions right now. We live in a world of violence on TV, in the movies, in video games, and it’s all tolerated or worse, accepted as the norm of the world in which we live. BYOP, bring your own peace, this means we can own how we react or respond to each and every news feed or situation we nd ourselves in with peace. e choice is yours; the choice is ours. It doesn’t matter what other BYO might be, we get to select our own BYO. What’s yours? If your BYO is kindness, please live it. If it’s strength, please own it. And if it’s peace, please keep it. And if it is any other quality or trait that can have a positive impact on our world, please share it. I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@ gmail.com and when we can decide which BYO to live, it really will be a better than good life.

You get the point, right? BYO isn’t restricted to restauranteurs, BYO means we can bring our own anything to each and every situation we face. We all face seasons of life that bring us heartache and anguish, seasons of joy and celebration, and well, just seasons of life. No matter what we face, we, and only we, can determine what we bring to the game or situation. Will it be kindness, strength, peace, hope, grace, love, awesomeness, courage, or hope?

Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.

BY OLIVIA JEWELL LOVE OLOVE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

In a state that has over 400 breweries and almost 100 distilleries, approaching the topic of sobriety can be a hard conversation for many people to have.

But with low-key, no-fuss non-alcoholic options at many establishments across the metro, it doesn’t have to be a big deal if you don’t want to drink, whatever your reasons.

Mocktails that you wouldn’t even know were NA

Golden Moon Speakeasy in Golden uses all its own distilled spirits and creates unique craft cocktails at’s all the more reason that general manager Kayla Veatch sees to o er quality, non-alcoholic options.

“My overall philosophy when I changed the menu was to have the same options as the alcohol menu,” Veatch said.

So no, you won’t have to order a water if you’re the designated driver. e mocktails at Golden Moon use highly steeped teas to replace alcohol and utilize many of the same syrups and NA ingredients the cocktails use.

Mocktails are a great option for people ready to slow down on alcohol for the night, people taking certain medications, pregnant people and people exploring sobriety, Veatch said. e speakeasy even serves mocktails to children before 9 p.m.

Having an inclusive menu makes an establishment like this a gathering place for groups, Veatch explained.

“People can still come together….if I didn’t have mocktails, I wonder if they would still be excited to come,” she said about group members who don’t consume alcohol.

Some of the mocktails Veatch makes include the Cloud City, which features an earl grey tea base, ginger, lemon and elder ower, or the Cheshire Cat, which features a butter y pea ower tea base, passionfruit juice and lime. Veatch even makes a copycat smoked whiskey.

Golden Moon Speakeasy is located at 1111 Miner’s Alley in Golden.

An alcohol alternative

For those looking for another NA drink option, perhaps with health bene ts, kombucha has been a popular choice.

Kombucha has been added as an option at many breweries, bars and co ee shops around Colorado; but Marc Gaudreault owns one of only two kombucha tap rooms on the front range.

Before the pandemic, the Trubucha tap room in Lone Tree had space for people to sit inside and enjoy a glass of kombucha. According to Gaudreault, Trubucha actually grew during the pandemic, and the demand for his product is so great he needs most of his shop space for fermenting the kombucha in huge vats.

Still, Trubucha boasts 31 taps in the store and has a spacious patio for people to enjoy kombucha, lemonade, ginger beer or cold brew.

So, what is kombucha? Put simply, Gaudreault explained, it’s lightly fermented tea. But the health bene ts are much more lengthy, he said. Most notably, the drink has an abundance of natural probiotics,