The Markets
 

February saw a few days of strong performance from the stock market which provided the majority of the gains for the month. The Dow Jones Industrial Index had a couple very strong days mid month with gains of over 100 points on the 13th and 90 points on Valentine?s Day.

February?s gains were primarily attributed to positive news from the Fed and recent corporate mergers. During his Monetary Policy Report to the Senate Banking Committee on February 14th, Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, indicated that he feels that inflation appears under control. While Mr. Bernanke cautioned that interest rates could increase should inflation push too high, investors widely felt that the Fed may be done raising interest rates for some time.

February has also been the month for M&A activity. Most recently with the potential merger of XM and Sirius satellite radio stations, mergers and acquisitions this year are occurring at a near record pace. There have even been rumors that GM has interest in buying Chrysler from Germany?s DailmerChrysler. The markets react positively to M&A news when it appears the companies will benefit from the consolidation. This can occur through cost cutting and combining businesses that compliment each other.

There has also been a host of negative news this month. Housing showed very weak numbers in January, HSBC warned it underestimated the increase in sub-prime defaults, and core inflation figures came in higher than expected. While many believe the housing market may have reached bottom, HSBC?s warning raises the concern that other large banking institutions may also begin to see higher mortgage default rates. Additionally, if core inflation continues to increase too rapidly, the Fed may have to increase interest rates to keep inflation in check.

While February showed modest market gains, concerns about inflation, housing, and the economy still linger. The market has produced solid gains over the past 4 ½ years, but that is no reason to neglect your portfolio. Make sure you have your investments properly diversified and that you maintain an eye on the market. You may find that a prudent approach to investing might be ideal for 2007.

Research Publications 

 The Office
 

Last year was a transition year for the office and one of improving the service and advice we offer. As a result, our focus for 2007 will continue to be client service as well as expanding our marketing efforts. We are looking forward to revitalizing our monthly newspaper article on financial planning topics for domestic partners as well as our corporate educational programs.

While we utilize several different marketing methods, the ideal way to meet new clients continues to be through referrals. Receiving referrals from clients allows us to focus more of our day providing superior client service and to maintain our high quality of advice standards and less of our day away from the office. More importantly when our clients introduce us to family, friends, and co-workers, it shows us just how important we are to our clients. We appreciate the referrals we have received during our transition over the past year and a half and look forward to establishing relationships with many more.

This year we started sending an annual survey to our clients. We are sending this to 25% of our clients every three months. Our goal for the survey is to learn how our clients feel about the work we do for them. This allows us to make changes in the areas that we need to improve as well as continuing our focus on the areas in which we excel. We want to thank everyone who completed our first quarter survey. Remember, everyone who returns a survey is entered in a drawing at the end of the quarter.

As part of our culture of giving back, Brenna will participate in the Delaware MS Walk on Saturday, April 21st. Please take a minute to follow the link below to learn more about the event and ways to help sponsor Brenna. Thank you for your support!

Brenna's MS Walk website 

 The Family
 

Last month?s family section had a photo of Fenway and his ?best friend?, Edgar. I received calls from many of you asking if we adopted another dog, and my reply was a resounding, ?No!? As many of you may know, Labs and Aussies have an abundance of energy. Wrap those two breeds into one, and you have your hands full. Another dog in our home may just push us over the edge.

Due to the cold weather, we were unable to provide Fenway with the proper amount of exercise for a couple of weeks. We know someone who takes her dog, Sophie, to an indoor dog pool as physical therapy for her arthritis. From what I understand, it seems to be working wonders for Sophie. When the cold hit, I gave the pool a call and learned that more than half of the dogs that swim there do it just for fun. Of course we signed Fenway up immediately. He has only been a few times, but it has worked wonders for burning off his energy. As long as we do not mention the word swimming around the house, everyone is happy.

As you may recall from our last newsletter, my dart league had their season ending tournament at the beginning of the month. Because it was my first season and with my 9th place finish in the division, I truly was not sure what to expect. Much to my surprise, I finished in second place. I believe I will have lost my "rookie" status for next season.

Heidi and I took advantage of February's weather to try out a few winter sports. Early in the month, we traveled to Ski Liberty to participate in their luge instruction. Every year Ski Liberty has athletes and instructors from the Olympic luge team give novices a chance to learn and enjoy the sport. Heidi and I had a blast.

During the last weekend of February, Heidi and I tried another winter sport: curling. We had not heard of curling prior to the last winter Olympics, but I gained an interest after watching the countless hours of exposure NBC gave the sport. I do not know that Heidi is ready to give up her day job to train for the Olympic team, but we did enjoy sampling the sport.