Landon DeCoursey
Associate Wealth Advisor
Truly Unforgettable
We live in a world obsessed with what comes next.
A new trend, design, or idea, each one quietly suggests we are behind if we do not keep up. The cycle never slows, and I have always found it exhausting. Maybe that is why I have never been drawn to shiny things. I am more interested in what lasts.
My grandparents shaped that early on through music. The voices of Johnny Cash, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Don Shirley, and Frank Sinatra filled their home and eventually mine. There was something steady about it, something timeless. Those songs did not belong to a moment. They existed outside of it.
And decades later, they still do.
You hear them everywhere, not because they are trendy, but because they endure. Romantic. Smooth. Almost magical.
As someone who spends most days focused on numbers like returns, tax efficiency, and long-term outcomes, those songs remind me that not everything valuable can be measured. Some things are meant to be felt.
We are quick to call music or art impractical. But imagine if those voices had chosen the safer path. We would have lost something far greater than a paycheck.
My sweetheart and I try to create what we call “magic moments”—small pockets of time that pull us out of the noise. Recently, we found one in an unexpected place: a small schoolhouse in downtown Salt Lake.
It was quiet and intimate, like stepping into another time. We were the youngest in the room, surrounded by people closer to the era being celebrated. It only made it better.
Then the music started.
The performer did more than perform—he entertained. Bringing songs like “Unforgettable,” “When I Fall in Love,” and “Strangers in the Night” to life in a way that felt personal and real. This entertainer opened a window for me, and it left me with a simple thought: “Maybe I was not born at the wrong time. Maybe I just need to be more intentional about finding what endures in this one.”
Because in a world that chases what is new, there is something grounding about returning to what lasts.
Those are the things that stay with you.
Those are the things that matter.
Those are the things that are truly unforgettable.
“If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.” — Booker T. Washington
A Note for Mother’s Day…
It has been a while since I have written one of these personal notes, and with Mother’s Day around the corner, this felt like the right moment to come back to it.
Many of you knew my mother, Chris, from her 15 years in our office. She retired a few years ago, but I still hear from clients who remember her warmth and the way she made everyone who walked through our doors feel like the most important visitor of the day.
One memory has been on my mind lately. Early in my career, I was badly injured in a paragliding accident. I had a PICC line in my arm for weeks, was on heavy pain medication, and was barely functional. The timing could not have been worse. I had just secured an engagement to teach retirement courses for employees being separated through a reduction in force, people facing one of the most uncertain seasons of their financial lives.
So my mom drove me. Day after day, to medical appointments and to teaching locations, some more than a hundred miles from the office. She got me there, helped me hold it together long enough to do the work, and got me home again. She had cared for me as a child, of course, but in that season, she cared for me as a grown man with a young practice and a commitment I could not have kept without her.
Before her years with us, my mom taught Love and Logic parenting courses through FranklinCovey and in local school districts. She is one of the finest speakers I have ever watched, equal parts grace, conviction, and practical wisdom. Watching her teach shaped the way I work with clients: meet people where they are, respect their dignity, and trust them to make good decisions when they have the right information.
So much of who I am traces back to her. Her faith is deep, her character the kind built over a lifetime of small, faithful choices. She raised me with high expectations and an even higher confidence that I could meet them.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. Thank you. For all of it.
With gratitude,
Thom Hall
Managing Partner, Wealth Advisor
Matt Johnson
Wealth Advisor
Rachel Roadtripper’s Summer Dilemma
Rachel had been looking forward to this summer for months. She had it all mapped out, starting in Zion National Park, winding through Colorado, and eventually making her way to the California coast. No flights, no rigid schedule, just open roads, playlists, and memories with her family.
Then she stopped at the gas station: $3.99 a gallon and climbing!
Suddenly, her carefully planned road trip didn’t feel quite as carefree. So, when Rachel came in for her review, she asked a simple question,
“Should I rethink my summer plans?”
It’s a fair question. Oil prices have surged past $100 per barrel recently, and when that happens, it doesn’t just affect gas. It ripples through travel, food, and everyday costs. Even airlines, hotels, and restaurants eventually feel the pressure, which can make vacations more expensive across the board.
In a recent episode of The Glass Half Full with Ryan Detrick and Sonu Varghese, the takeaway wasn’t panicked. It was perspective.
While rising oil prices can create short-term pressure, markets often take a glass-half-full view, expecting that disruptions may not last forever and that supply will eventually stabilize. In other words, prices can spike quickly, but they don’t always stay elevated long-term.
So, should Rachel cancel the trip? Not necessarily. Instead of canceling, Rachel made a few thoughtful adjustments. She shortened a few driving legs, planned stops more intentionally with less backtracking, budgeted a bit more for fuel and flexibility, and looked for experiences closer together.
She didn’t give up the trip. She refined it.
Just like with investing, markets change and conditions shift, but long-term plans should not be abandoned because of short term noise.
Watch the complete Glass Half Full podcast.
