Farewell 2010

(Editor's Note: Paul Schatz, President of Heritage Capital, LLC, in Woodbridge, will be contributing to Fi$callyFit every Friday. Read his biography here)

The main purpose of this contribution is to wish you and your family a very happy, healthy, safe and prosperous New Year. Let's hope the world is a better and more peaceful place one year from now! As I take my usual time away from the office to be with my family this time of year, it's been the most fun with my wife and the kids ever. It's amazing how much they've grown and matured during the past year.

As one of my friends and ski buddy often says, "It’s always something in your house". And this time has been no different with a plethora of stories and incidents, not limited to my youngest son separating his elbow (nursemaid's elbow) on Christmas during the blizzard in Vermont. With the ER 30 miles away and over the mountains, there was little chance of risking further injury by going out. Instead, we called a local family practitioner who literally walked me through snapping my son's elbow back in place over the phone. Simply incredible that after screaming bloody murder for five minutes, he was back to his usual self, high five'ing me and wrestling with his siblings.

While I do the much needed battery recharge with everything from eating to skiing to eating to napping to eating to working to eating to visiting with friends to eating to falling asleep on the couch watching the groomers on the mountain, I want to say that I've never been more excited about the beginning of a new calendar year. And no, it's not because I think 2011 will be a blockbuster, record setting year in the financial markets. I rarely come in with that feeling and usually start out with more modest expectations.

I do feel very strongly about the value we provide you and our clients, not only from our investment process and strategies, but our information, education, service and communication. We continue to build a sensational team and I can't wait to attack our growing list of projects in 2011.

In the coming weeks, you can count on reading my annual financial market forecast, top shockers for 2011 and a host of other outside the box and sometimes controversial topics. I'll do my part to contribute as long as you continue to share your questions and comments, both pro and con.

That's about it as we say adios to 2010. It’s been one of my favorite and most satisfying years since I entered the business in 1988. From the looks of the picture at the top of the page, I’ve heard the wisecracks over and over that it doesn’t look like I am old enough to drive or graduate college or run a business or have a family, etc. Yes, that photo is very old and one of my projects for early 2011 is to update it, graying hair, wrinkling skin and all!

In the stock market, we are dancing very close to the door as the worries and concerns I've had continue to mount. That's unlikely to change without a significant pullback or outright correction. Stocks have been grinding higher all month without so much as a .75% daily decline as Bernanke & Co.'s tsunami of liquidity sees no end. When the train stops, we are likely to see at least a sharp decline that wipes away much or all of the recent gains in short order. I'll have much, much more to say on this early in the New Year.

FYI, I will be on CNBC's The Call on Jan. 4 at 11:05 a.m. as well as on Squawk on the Street on Jan. 11 at 9:35 a.m.

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments at Paul@investfortomorrow.com.


Until next time…

Paul Schatz

Heritage Capital LLC
http://www.investfortomorrow.com/
http://RetirementPlanningConnecticut.com/