I am writing this on December 2, 2025.  For all I know, you may be reading this in 2026.  But my goal is the same – to thank you for placing your trust in Majestic Financial.  We have grown so much as a firm and as individuals over the past 5 years, and I wanted to share my view of this growth with you.

When we formed this firm and opened our doors in April of 2021, we were coming out of a pandemic and the world was still a little off kilter.  Brandon convinced me to take a leap of faith with him.  With 4 of us (out of the original 6 employees) coming from another firm, we wanted to create a company that did things a little differently than we were able to before.  The name, Majestic Financial, came from a vacation to Alaska with the colors and designs from the brain of Josh Budlong.  The staff were all personally recruited by Brandon and me. 

Originally, we were all going to be based in one location – the current Plainwell office.  However, an opportunity to open a second office in the same Hastings location that Brandon had worked out of for 8 years was too good to pass up, and suddenly we had two offices.  Isiah, Alyx and Becky joined us shortly after we opened our doors, with Leon and Jaime following a month later.  Just after Thanksgiving of 2021, we had our first open house – even though we had over 200 clients by then.

As I look back to the beginning of Majestic Financials’ life (yes, to me it is a living, breathing life form), I am amazed at how much has changed and how much has stayed the same.  We chose to affiliate with Raymond James Financial Services because we believe in their platform, and they allow us freedom and flexibility to do what is right for our clients.  Almost 5 years later, I don’t regret this decision and have great respect for the people I work with at RJFS.  I now do our compliance in accordance with RJFS and we take our fiduciary responsibilities seriously.

When we added our first clients, our portfolios were very similar to the firm we had left.  We used a lot of mutual funds, ETF’s and some individual stocks.  But we created Majestic Financial to expand our offerings, and so we applied and were granted discretionary authority for those clients that want us to manage their portfolios without having to call for every trade.  Kendra and I began to open options accounts for clients where appropriate, while Brandon and I spent hours learning about structured investments (not available where we came from) and how different annuities could help clients.

Gradually our portfolios changed – while the changes are dramatic, they didn’t completely change overnight.  Faith Based portfolios run by Brandon show just how differently our clients’ money can be invested.  Same for our personnel.  We have had 3 different summer interns, and one of them became a full-time employee.  Kendra became an advisor, Mark went from a client to an advisor, and Max is studying for his Series 66.  Leon opened our third location in downtown Kalamazoo, and we added Trey, Cobey, Evan and Andrew to the team.

All these changes are encouraging to me.  They mean more people are asking to become clients, and that means we are doing things right.  But the most meaningful change was the original one – the reason we formed Majestic Financial is now clearer to our clients than ever before.  When Brandon dreamed of Majestic Financial, he dreamed of being a part of a team that made a difference in clients’ lives – not just the pocketbooks of home office partners.  While it took time for the entire firm to get to know all of our clients, we believe we are living that dream today.

When we meet with clients, there is always more than one advisor that is a part of the plan.  You the client may not interact with multiple advisors every time, but trust me when I say that your goals, risk profile and portfolio are being evaluated by a team of professionals, not just one person in between Christmas shopping on Amazon.  When we sit down with clients or prospective clients, it is often 3 or 4 of us meeting the person/couple together.  We do this to make sure that more than just one person at Majestic is aware of your goals, needs, and the strategies we are using to achieve success for you.  We want our clients to be comfortable talking to any one of the advisors when something is needed.  That doesn’t mean that Brandon isn’t “your guy,” but what if “your guy” has the day off to chase chickens in Plainwell (a true and long story)?  Sean, Mark or Kendra can make sure your financial needs are taken care of. 

So, to go back to the beginning, thank you for placing your trust in me, Brandon and Leon.  But also, thank you for allowing that trust to grow into a relationship with the entire firm.  Being a part of a team is a great feeling when our clients are at the center of the team.
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I hope you have/had a wonderful Holiday Season.
 
Written by Sean Budlong, CFP®, AAMS, Chief Executive Officer, Majestic Financial, Financial Consultant, RJFS

*Disclosures: Any opinions are those of Sean Budlong and not necessarily those of Raymond James. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected, including diversification and asset allocation. Every investor's situation is unique and you should consider your investment goals, risk tolerance and time horizon before making any investment. Prior to making an investment decision, please consult with your financial advisor about your individual situation. There is no guarantee that these statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein.

At Majestic Financial, we hear from a lot of new clients that we “do things differently” than where they used to invest.  At first glance, that shouldn’t be true.  We have no proprietary investments.  We use the same research tools that millions of people use.  We use the Raymond James platform, which means we agree to use investments that Raymond James has vetted.  We use mutual funds, exchange traded funds, individual stocks, and bonds just like every other investment company.

However, when I dig into what our clients are saying – and I really do ask them – there are just two differentiating factors.  What makes us different is our team and our philosophy about investing outside the “normal” mutual fund platform.  I am proud of both factors and so I will explain how I view them.

First, I believe we have a great team in place to help clients achieve their financial goals.  Many firms have multiple advisors, and many of these advisors come from different generations.  But few investment firms work together as a team quite the way we do at Majestic Financial.  While our clients are used to hearing from a specific advisor (or “lead” advisor), we all work together on the accounts.  Every Monday morning, me, Kendra, Mark and Max sit in my office and discuss (argue?) investment strategies and positions.  What makes this both unique and beneficial to clients is that we are all arguing for positions that we believe are best for clients – not for our personal biases.  Another aspect of this style of strategy meeting is the fact that a 22-year-old (Max), two 30ish (Kendra, Mark), and one 50-year-old are all evaluating portfolios together.  While I may not truly know what Pinterest is/does, I know how to evaluate the stock’s financial position.  But without the younger mindset, I would never think of looking at it.
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Another unique aspect of the Majestic team is that while Brandon and I are doing our best to help Max (who has passed two of his licensing exams), Kendra and Mark grow as young advisors, we are also listening to them.  Kendra, as a female advisor, certainly brings a different perspective than I do.  Not better or worse, but different.  I have been described as blunt and even a curmudgeon (that was by family by the way) while Kendra has clients laughing and hugging her.  Brandon may not be that much older than Mark, but he’s a grandfather of 2 while Mark has a newborn child.  Each of our life experiences and world/economic viewpoints help us make the right choices for our clients.  And it also helps us to adjust portfolios when an investment is performing differently than what we hoped.

This brings us to the second differentiator.  As I stated, four of us discuss investment positions each week.  That is probably four more people with an in-depth understanding of investments than most clients have ever met.  Brandon runs faith-based portfolios and buys structured investments for our clients.  There is no single perfect investment for every client, and that is true of those I just mentioned.  However, by talking to clients about their goals, risk profile, and what they are really looking for (even if they don’t know these investments exist), we can use the full spectrum of the investing world to help our clients.  Mutual fund portfolios exist at Majestic Financial but they are a part of a clients’ strategy instead of being the only strategy.

So, whether you are new to Majestic Financial or have been with us from the beginning, we hope that you understand that we really “do things differently”, even if you can’t define exactly what that means.
 
Written by Sean Budlong, CFP®, AAMS, Chief Executive Officer, Majestic Financial, Financial Consultant, RJFS
 
*Disclosures: Any opinions are those of Sean Budlong and not necessarily those of Raymond James. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected, including diversification and asset allocation. Every investor's situation is unique and you should consider your investment goals, risk tolerance and time horizon before making any investment. Prior to making an investment decision, please consult with your financial advisor about your individual situation. There is no guarantee that these statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein.

At Majestic Financial, we have employees in almost every age range.  From Sean at 40 years old (for the 18th time in September), to Brandon and Leon (both in early 40’s), to Max (22 years old but wise beyond his years), we cover each of the “GEN…”  What interests me is the differences in the ways we communicate with each other and our clients compared to just a few years ago – let alone decades ago.

My first job out of Alma College was working for Lanier Business Products, in Livonia, MI.  I was tasked with calling on law firms (as well as other major companies) in Troy, MI and selling them dictation equipment and this new technology called “voicemail.”  While almost every office understood the benefits of dictation equipment, no one in our Lanier office was able to convince any company of the value of voicemail.  “Why would I buy voicemail when I have people to answer the phone?”

Now keep in mind that this is 1990 – pagers were common, cell phones didn’t exist.  Want to call someone for a ride?  Use the payphone to call a cab.  Calling your sweetheart at college?  You might have to wait for someone to go get them and bring them to the phone in the hall or find the right dorm room to call.  Calling someone in Detroit from Kalamazoo?  That’s long distance, so watch the charges on your bill.  You may not get ahold of the person you wanted to talk to, but someone will pick up a ringing phone – just in case the call was for them (how else could you ever know who was calling?).

To some of Majestic’s employees – Max, Mark, Alyx, Kendra? – this may seem like a comedic movie.  After all, why would anyone answer the phone if you didn’t want to talk to the person calling?  But many of us – Sean, Laurie, Becky – lived most of our lives without caller ID.

While this is humorous to look back on, it also makes the differences in communication seem light years apart rather than just a few decades.  At Majestic Financial, we have employees in 3 different physical offices, plus one in Denver, CO.  We have clients in more than 30 different states, and in every county in MI.  Yet we are in constant communication with our clients and fellow employees.  It’s just often a different form of communication than when I entered the workforce.

At the office, we are all talking via Microsoft Teams.  Not only does this allow real-time communication, but if someone is busy or gone, the messages will still be waiting for them when they are available.  We have meetings with clients in person (just like 30 years ago), but also via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WebEx, and using this thing called a telephone.  Ironically, I have more meetings with MI based clients via the computer than I do in person!

At Majestic, we are trying to make sure that we stay in contact with clients in a world that makes it seem easier to connect, but in fact it is harder.  While everyone has a cell phone, getting them to answer it is much harder when they can decline the call, send it to voicemail and find time to call back (assuming they remember that they need to call us back).  We can’t communicate via text while the rest of the world seems to ONLY communicate via text.

So, this is why we send our clients emails, produce a quarterly newsletter, host client events almost monthly, and host quarterly virtual meetings for various topics.  We want to make sure we are on the same page as our clients – even those clients who have granted us discretionary authority.  We are aware that life changes and this can change goals or liquidity needs.  Hopefully we are top of mind for our clients when their needs change.

Being one of the dinosaurs of Majestic Financial, I understand that sometimes it seems like clients get too many emails, or too many phone calls.  I also wish that there were more hours in the day available for in person meetings – even though a larger % of clients prefer to meet virtually than in person now.  I can envision the day when Max is having a client appointment with his boss (Kendra) and they are projecting their avatar into their client’s home office.  That would make many clients happy, and hopefully I’m long retired when that’s happening.
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Please feel free to let us know how/when you would like to communicate with us.  If you are “old-fashioned,” we’ll just explain to Max how to use a rotary phone.
 
Written by Sean Budlong, CFP®, AAMS, Chief Executive Officer, Majestic Financial, Financial Consultant, RJFS
 
*Disclosures: Any opinions are those of Sean Budlong and not necessarily those of Raymond James. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected, including diversification and asset allocation. Every investor's situation is unique and you should consider your investment goals, risk tolerance and time horizon before making any investment. Prior to making an investment decision, please consult with your financial advisor about your individual situation. There is no guarantee that these statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein. 

It is June 2, 2025.  Almost halfway through the calendar year.  The optimism that existed among some investors after the election has seemingly disappeared.  The pessimism among some investors after the election has seemingly been proven correct.  In just over 7 months, the questions that our advisor team have been receiving went from “what stock should I buy?” (in December), to “what the heck is happening?” (in April).  And now, we are hearing more “is the market going to crash?” than we have heard since early 2022.
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First, let’s address an issue right up front.  While this whiplash in questions/attitudes seems excessive, it makes perfect sense in a 24-hour a day news cycle.  After the election, people took sides that can often drive everything – purchasing behaviors, worries, and even friendships.  Politics has bled into almost every area of our lives.  So, the questions don’t bother or surprise us at Majestic Financial.

Second, in today’s world most people have gotten used to using their phone/tablet as their main source of information.  Unfortunately, this often means some form of social media.  Heck, I’m writing this as a blog instead of talking individually to clients!  However, not all information is created equal.  Last week, I simply Googled (there’s a new verb for you) “Will the market crash?” and over 5,000 websites were pulled up.  Some of the most interesting were the videos of “financial experts” posting videos on YouTube.

Here is an example of someone who’s posting videos, claiming to know enough to give financial advice, and is saying he believes the sky is falling.

Paul Gabrail has over 2,700 videos and claims more than 265,000 subscribers.  Google him and some of the first videos that come up are on Value investing, what 18 stocks he’s buying, and interesting days in the market.  When you dig into his bio, you will find that while calling himself a “value investor renowned for his value investing strategy,” he made whatever money he has made from buying real estate (specifically apartment buildings).  He doesn’t bother to define value investing or specify why he is qualified to give advice.  Does he make some good points on the market or highlight some good stocks?  Yes, he does.  Does he know what the viewers’ goals, risk tolerance, time horizon, and experience are?  No.  I can only hope our clients don’t view this style of information as quality advice.

I am fairly certain that Mr. Gabrail doesn’t have a direct line to President Trump or any of his economic advisors, and I am also fairly certain that Tim Cook (CEO of Apple) isn’t answering his phone calls.  Full disclosure, I also don’t have President Trump or Cook on speed dial.  I will never claim special knowledge, but I will do the work on research – and trust the quality research of analysts.

Third, everyone has an opinion and most of our opinions are based on our own experience.  So, if you lost 50% of the value of your investments in 2008 and you hadn’t made any changes as the market fell, chances are pretty good you are concerned if the market drops 5% and we don’t make any adjustments.  If you started investing after March 9, 2009, you probably consider yourself a genius.  But what happened in 2008/09, 2011, 2021, etc, doesn’t have anything to do with what is happening in the market or your portfolio on June 2, 2025. 

At Majestic Financial, we are aware of the politics, the geo-political situations, interest rate factors, inflation cycles, and investor worries about all of this.  We are also aware of market opportunities and the fundamentals that can drive an investment up or down.  Our job is to take all the fears and politics out of your portfolio and focus on your goals, risk tolerance, liquidity needs, and time horizon.  I promise you we won’t always be perfect in our timing or investment choices, but if we pay attention to what’s really important and the long-term benefits/risk to our clients, we know we can help clients achieve their goals.
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So, to answer the original question, “is the market going to crash?”  We don’t see it happening based on fundamentals, but we can promise that we are looking at real data to position our clients in the best manner possible each and every day. 
 
Written by Sean Budlong, CFP®, AAMS, Chief Executive Officer, Majestic Financial, Financial Consultant, RJFS, alongside Kendra Omans, Associate Advisor, Majestic Financial, and Max McGuire, Client Service Manager, Majestic Financial
 
*Disclosures: Any opinions are those of Sean Budlong and not necessarily those of Raymond James. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected, including diversification and asset allocation. Every investor's situation is unique and you should consider your investment goals, risk tolerance and time horizon before making any investment. Prior to making an investment decision, please consult with your financial advisor about your individual situation. There is no guarantee that these statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market. Past performance is not a guarantee of future result

Imagine you are coaching a NCAA basketball team that went 30-4 during the current season.  You won your conference regular season and tournament.  You are selected to play in the 2025 NCAA men’s basketball tournament against a team that was 25-9 and lost 4 of their last 5 games prior to winning their conference tournament.  You lose the first-round game by just 3 points…and if you would have won it would have been considered an upset.  You are the #12 seeded UC San Diego Tritons, and you lost to #5 seeded University of Michigan.  How many brackets would have been busted if the results were changed?  Everyone is looking for that one (or two) teams that they can choose for an upset in the hopes of winning their bracket challenge, but often choose primarily teams that have name recognition.

UC San Diego has been playing NCAA basketball for 60 years and has moved from Division III to Division II (where they hold the all-time record for CCAA Tournament Titles) to the big time in 2021.  This year was the first year they were eligible to play in the DI tournament and they were selected to play.  They are a strong program with a history of success at every level – some would even call them a “Blue Chip” basketball team.  Yet they were underdogs because they didn’t have the national name recognition.

We face the same situation in the financial markets.  Everyone is looking for an edge, a hot stock, the next Amazon or Nvidia, and comparing their portfolio to the Dow Jones or S&P 500.  The question is why?  Not why are you looking for a great investment opportunity, but why does the appropriate investment have to be the next Amazon?  Perspective and expectations are critical to this conversation.  When people talk about the “markets,” they often refer to the S&P 500 and assume that all 500 companies have an equal effect on the movement of the index.  Therefore (the assumption goes), a portfolio made up of select S&P 500 companies should mimic and perhaps even beat the index.  But just like the NCAA selection committee giving preferences to the 4th, 5th, 10th place team in the Big Ten over UC San Diego, four stocks make up 23.76% of the weighting of the S&P 500.  According to Investopedia.com, Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon have almost 25% of the total value of the index – which means the daily movement of these 4 companies can carry more weight than the movement of 100 other stocks combined.  If we add the next 6 largest weighted stocks, that % increases to 36.12%! 

Imagine if I came to you and said, “you have $500,000 to invest, and I would like to buy $180,600 worth into just 10 individual stocks.”  You may start to wonder about my financial planning responsibilities.  In 2024, you may have called me a genius, because 7 of these 10 are now called the “Mag 7” for their extreme growth over the last 2 years.  However, in 2022 these same 7 companies combined for -46% return (compared to a -19% drop in the S&P 500).  So, while (theoretically) you should have bought the Mag 7 in 2022 when they were significantly lower in share price, you would have thought I was crazy for suggesting it and perhaps looked for another financial firm.  And in fact, many clients of Majestic Financial were asking us whey they still owned Amazon and Google during 2022 and even most of 2023.  Many of these same clients asked us why they didn’t own more Amazon and Google because of the growth from mid-2023-2024.  As we prepare for April of 2025 to begin, some of these clients are now upset when they see their portfolio a little down – as only one Mag 7 stock is positive for the year (META).

Am I saying clients are being fickle or unreasonable?  No.  But the short-term perspective and expectations can get in the way of allowing strategies to work for them.  We all want to choose the right “Cinderella” team…but it’s a Cinderella for a reason – it may make a huge splash but fade quickly.  Congratulations to those who get lucky and choose correctly but remember that only six teams have made it to the tournament semi-finals as a #11 seed, only one #8 seed has won the tournament, and only two #16’s have ever beaten the top seeds.
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So, is this an argument for just selecting the top seeds – the Mag 7?  Not at all.  My point is that the Mag 7 will change again, just like the top stocks of 2022 were not the Mag 7.  The next big stock may already be in the S&P 500, or it may not even be incorporated yet.  The key is to know what your goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon are and find the right current asset allocation each quarter and year.  Sometimes the portfolio is going to be great for months or years.  Sometimes, adjustments must be made in shorter time frames.

I think we can all agree that selecting the NCAA Tournament Champion would be easier if you picked round by round instead of before the games were played.  Investing would be easier if the universe of stocks was only 10 or 20 companies, and they all grew every year.  But alas, that’s not the case.  So, we will all just keep our eyes open for opportunities that make sense for our goals and hope our Cinderella team dances at the ball.
 
Written by Sean Budlong, CFP®, AAMS, Chief Executive Officer, Majestic Financial, Financial Consultant, RJFS
 
*Disclosures: Any opinions are those of Sean Budlong and not necessarily those of Raymond James. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected, including diversification and asset allocation. Every investor's situation is unique and you should consider your investment goals, risk tolerance and time horizon before making any investment. Prior to making an investment decision, please consult with your financial advisor about your individual situation. There is no guarantee that these statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results