Weekly Market Review & RMC recap
Michael Acho
Guardian of the Wealth of the Most Productive People on Earth | Creating, Protecting and Distributing Wealth for Clients
?Good afternoon,
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Welcome to the holiday shortened 4th of July week. I hope you take some time to enjoy the holiday with friends and family.
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As I include each year, here is the 4th of July scene from a WMR favorite movie, The Sandlot. Safe for work. Enjoy your week.
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?Sigh….
The same young lady with whom I disagreed about inflation last week was back this week. This time her talking point was about a “billionaire’s tax” and how “the rich should pay their fair share.”
Sigh….
Without getting too bogged down in her inaccurate, or more specifically, uninformed opinion, I pointed out that the top 1% of income earners pay nearly 50% of all income taxes. The top 10% of earners pay 75% of all income taxes. I contend that is more than their fair share.
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?This sounds like a perfect example of “buy low, sell high.”
The 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics are up for sale.
The announcement occurs only weeks after the team won the championship. Can’t get much higher than winning it all.
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?An all electric Ferrari is on the horizon,
I’m not anti electric car, I’ve seen some nice ones, Porsche Taycan, Rivian R1S, Tesla Model S Plaid, and others. But I’m also a car guy. Which means that I also like the sound that cars make. A classic late 60’s or early 70’s muscle car for example. An old school air cooled Porsche 911, the screaming whine of high revving Formula 1 race cars, and the iconic exhaust note of the prancing horse Ferrari. How will they recreate that with an electric Ferrari? Hmmm.
I get the appeal of electric powered supercars, instant torque, ridiculous acceleration, no gear shifts and so forth. And most people don’t take their supercars on vacation so limited driving range isn’t a big deal for your six or seven figure additional vehicle, but I still love the sound of a powerful internal combustion engine.
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Speaking of electric cars, I got to spend some time with a team of engineers from Lucid Motors a few weeks ago. They showed me a video of the Lucid Sapphire in a drag race v. Tesla Plaid v. Bugatti Chiron and v. a racing motorcycle. The Sapphire, a 4 door sedan, beat them all in a quarter mile. All of them, including the motorcycle. That’s just crazy. Stupid fast. Wow. Look that one up if you have interest.
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?Disclaimer – Osaic FA does not participate in the crypto currency markets nor does it endorse crypto as an investment strategy.?
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Mike, what’s new in the crypto arena?
Not much. Crypto is real, it’s still around and will continue to be around, but not much new to report lately.
Now, as promised and widely anticipated (or not), here is the report from this year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic PGA golf tournament at the Detroit Golf Club. If you have no interest in the RMC, or golf, or my opinion and experience with either, you can stop reading here.
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Your 2024 winner is a repeat champion, Cameron Davis. He also won the event back in 2021. He fought off a few bad breaks on the back nine as well as a couple of challengers over the last few holes. My guess is that Cam will be back to Detroit for future events since he’s done so well here.
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It was the 6th year of the tournament, and here are the winners.
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2024 – Cameron Davis
2023 – Rickie Fowler
2022 – Tony Finau
2021 – Cameron Davis
2020 – Bryson DeChambeau
2019 – Nate Lashley
?Mr. Davis earned just north of $1.65 million for his victory over the weekend. Not bad for few days work. But of course, it’s not just a few days, it’s a lifetime of commitment to his craft. The pros I walked with on Sunday, Patton Kizzire and Ben Kohles, finished tied for 20th and each won $113,000.
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Here is how much the rest of the field earned from the $9.2 million purse this year, https://golf.com/news/2024-rocket-mortgage-classic-money-how-much-every-player-made/
I’ve mentioned before that golf is a meritocracy, aside from sponsorships, on the PGA tour, you only get paid if you win.
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This was my 6th consecutive year as a volunteer and here are my notes from last week, along with previous WMR commentary beginning in 2019 for comparison purposes. 2019 comments are in black, 2020 in RMC red, 2021 in blue, 2022 in green, 2023 in Rickie Fowler orange and 2024 in purple.
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Like previous years, I worked as a Walking Scorer, inside the ropes alongside the players and caddies with a handheld computer keeping track of their round. The data I gather about the players positioning, their scores, etc. is what the announcers use and the world sees during the broadcast. https://shotlink.com/volunteers/walking-scorers
#mathwins
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2019 was highly attended, upwards of 50,000 fans per day. 2020 was eerily empty, with just players, staff and limited volunteers only. 2021 was in the middle, not crazy busy, but not empty either. Ditto 2022.
2023 was busy, but not crazy crowded and we had some weather challenges, rain, which may have kept attendance lower than it might have been. I worked/walked almost every day of the tournament this year and without keeping exact count, I think I logged somewhere around a million steps over 5 days.? The course was in great shape, despite having 12 trees fall during a storm on Sunday of tournament week. The greens were rolling and the rough, especially around the greens, was challenging if you found yourself there. Kudos to the grounds crew at Detroit Golf Club for keeping the track playable and in great condition. My group assignments this tourney were good, and one of my guys was the leader as we finished round 3 on Saturday. He made the playoff on Sunday, but missed a 22 foot putt just before Rickie drained his 12 footer for the win. You may recall that in 2021, I was assigned the last group on the last day, in which there was also a tie for first place. So my guys tend to do well when I walk with them. I’ve started calling it the Macho Effect.
2024 had good attendance and only some slight rain delays on Saturday. My various pros performed well during their rounds, so the Macho Effect still applies.? Here were my pros for the week, Wednesday- Erik van Rooyen & Doug Ghim. Thursday- Wesley Bryan, Taylor Montgomery, Matti Schmid. Friday- Paul Barjon, Hayden Springer, Blain Hale, Jr. Sunday- Patton Kizzire, Ben Kohles. Good guys all. The field didn’t have very many big names this year, but there were a ton of young guns. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing many of their names in the future. There was also one youngster, a 15 y/o high school freshman who qualified for the RMC by finishing well in a Korn Ferry event. Alas, he played the opening rounds, but didn’t make the cut for the weekend.
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Here are some anecdotes from my time there last week. In no particular order…(originally published July 2019, updated July 2020) (Updated again July 2021) (updated again July 2022) (Updated again July 2023) Updated again July 2024.
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2019 – I enjoyed being a walking scorer. It wasn’t as difficult as it was portrayed to be and it was cool being inside the ropes with the pros. I’ll do it again next year.??
2020 - AGREED. NO CHANGE FROM 2019.
2021 - AGREED AGAIN. IN FACT, I’VE BECOME MORE THAN A BIT SPOILED. AFTER ONE OF MY SHIFTS, MY STANDARD BEARER (THAT’S THE KID THAT CARRIES THE SIGN WITH THE PLAYERS NAMES ON IT) AND I STOPPED TO WATCH A COUPLE OF OTHER GROUPS FINISH. WE WATCHED FROM OUTSIDE THE ROPES LIKE REGULAR SPECTATORS. NOT COOL, WE’RE USED TO BEING ON THE FIELD OF PLAY WITH OUR GUYS, NOT WATCHING FROM THE OUTSIDE.
2022 – Agreed. I might even be a little jaded by my job now. Like Forrest Gump meeting the President, “they invited me and the ping pong team to the White House. So I went. Again. And I met the President of the United States. Again...” I walked with the pros, again.
2023 – Agreed. I am definitely spoiled now. After one of my shifts, I tried to walk around as a spectator. I say “tried” because it wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as being inside the ropes.
2024 – Agreed again. I took notice of some other volunteer jobs, including marshal, spotter, crowd control, etc. and none of them appeal to me more than scorer.
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2019 - The pros are generally very nice guys. They introduce themselves at the beginning of each round and hand us a signed golf ball at the end of each round, which is a nice gesture. I gave them to my son. Not to be snooty, but their autograph would be more valuable to me on some new account paperwork, but a golf ball is nice too.?
2020 - AGREED. NO CHANGE FROM 2019.
2021 - CONFIRMED. NOW THAT I’VE DONE THIS FOR SEVERAL YEARS AND MET PROBABLY 30-40 DIFFERENT PLAYERS, SOME OF THEM ARE NICER THAN OTHERS, BUT IN GENERAL THEY SEEM TO BE GOOD GUYS. I REMARKED TO ONE PLAYER THAT I HAD WALKED WITH HIM LAST YEAR AND HE SAID HE REMEMBERED ME. WHICH I’M SURE IS NOT TRUE, BUT WAS NICE OF HIM TO SAY.
2022 – Confirmed. All the pros I interacted with this year were very nice. That is true of the caddies as well.
2023 – Confirmed. After 5 years, I have yet to meet a pro or caddie who isn’t nice.
2024 – Confirmed. I calculated that I’ve walked with at least 70 different pros and just as many caddies over the years and there hasn’t been one bad apple yet.
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2019 - A small handful of the pros aren’t so nice, as I heard that a few of them stiffed our locker room attendants, leaving without tipping the guys for their work during the week. That’s not cool.?
2020 - HAVEN’T HEARD ANY BAD REPORTS ABOUT ANYONE THIS YEAR.
2021 - DID NOT HEAR ANY BAD REPORTS THIS YEAR.
2022 – No bad reports at all this year.
2023 – No bad reports at all.
2024 – No bad reports at all.
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2019 - The big name guys can’t go anywhere without being mobbed. That has to get old.
2020 - NOT A PROBLEM THIS YEAR SINCE NO FANS.
2021 - EVEN SOME OF THE LESSER KNOWN GUYS HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE PRICE OF SEMI-FAME.
2022 – There were some popular players there this year, Finau, Rickie Fowler, Will Zalatoris, but many of the formerly big names have left the PGA for the LIV Tour, so name recognition wasn’t super high this year.
2023 – Yep. Rickie had a huge gallery all week long.
2024 – Not a lot of big names this year, but there were fans at every hole for every shot for every player.
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2019 - During the practice rounds, the guys are friendly and talkative.?
2020 - AGREED. NO CHANGE FROM 2019.
2021 - CONFIRMED. ONE OF THE PROS I HAD DURING THE PRACTICE ROUND WAS A 37 Y/O SPANIARD. TALL, ATHLETIC, GOOD LOOKING. HIS BROTHER WAS HIS CADDIE, ALSO TALL, ATHLETIC AND GOOD LOOKING. AND THEY BOTH HAD SPANISH ACCENTS. I SAID ‘THAT’S NOT EVEN FAIR, TALL. ATHLETIC, GOOD LOOKING AND ACCENTS?? CAN’T YOU LEAVE SOME WOMEN FOR THE REST OF US??” THEY LAUGHED.
2022 – Confirmed again. Pros don’t mind chatting during practice and they try to make it fun for the amateurs that are playing with them and spectators who come to watch practice.
2023 – Confirmed.
2024 – Confirmed again. I learned the names of the children of one of my practice round pros, where he was from, where he was staying, etc.
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2019 - During the tournament, they are laser focused and I learned not to speak to them unless they spoke to me.?
2020 - AGREED. NO CHANGE FROM 2019.
2021 - CONFIRMED. THE PLAYERS ARE AT WORK, DON’T BOTHER THEM.
2022 – Confirmed. Although one of the caddies did initiate some light conversation with me on Sunday.
2023 – Confirmed.
2024 – I won’t even get within 20-30 yards of the players while they’re playing. I’m in the background unless they need me.
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2019 - The fans who ponied up $10,000 each to play in the Pro-Am tournament have too much time and too much money.? ?
2020 - PRO AM WAS CANCELLED THIS YEAR.
2021 - CONFIRMED, ALTHOUGH THE AM’S SEEM TO ENJOY IT.
2022 – Confirmed. The Am’s this year were a very pleasant group of guys and turned out to be reasonable golfers.
2023 – Confirmed. The amateurs get one pro for the front nine and a different one for the back. And I discovered that I don’t really enjoy walking with the am’s. They’re nice enough people, but our round took 5 hours and 40 minutes and everyone I ever play with is an amateur. I don’t need to walk with them too.
2024 – OMG, I do not care for walking with the amateurs, They’re nice, but it takes forever. And they don’t even play from the same tees as the pros. We don’t use golf cars the entire week, all the players, including the am’s, walk the course. Some of the amateurs aren’t used to walking an entire round so they start to get gassed after 7 or 8 holes which only slows things down more.
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2019 - Most of the spectators are great.
2020 - N/A. THERE WERE A FEW HOMES AROUND THE COURSE WHICH SET UP SMALL VIEWING AREAS, 6-10 PEOPLE, AND THEY WERE PLEASANT AND SUPPORTIVE.
2021 - CONFIRMED. HAVING FANS BACK WAS BETTER. MOST OF THE PLAYERS SEEM TO LIKE A LITTLE FAN EXCITEMENT.
2022 – Confirmed. Spectators seemed to be having fun.
2023 – Confirmed.
2024 – All spectators were well behaved. And there were/are fans of all shapes/sizes/ages/etc.
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2019 - A few of them are not. Yelling inappropriate things and just generally being jerks. The pros ignore them.
2020 - N/A, EXCEPT FOR PROTESTERS WHO CHANTED PEACEFULLY OUTSIDE THE MAIN ENTRANCE.
2021 - CONFIRMED. ONE OF THE PROS MENTIONED TO ME THAT 98% OF THE FANS ARE GREAT AND THE OTHER 2% ARE (UNPUBLISHABLE DERAGATORY TERM.)
2022 – Didn’t hear anything negative this year. Although, one of the caddies did say that fans don’t really understand the game that the pros play. They’ll shout “great shot’ or whatever when, by pro and caddie standards, it isn’t. That’s not a negative necessarily, just an ignorance of how different the game is to the pros.
2023 – No negativity this year. And lots of happiness for Rickie to win.
2024 – Nothing bad to report.
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2019 - Spectating is fun from pretty much anywhere, on the course, from a corporate cabana or whatever, but most especially from inside the ropes with the players.
2020 - STILL FUN TO BE WITH PLAYERS.
2021 – CONFIRMED, BETTER TO BE INSIDE THE ROPES.
2022 – Inside the ropes for sure.
2023 – Inside the ropes for sure.
2024 – Inside the ropes is the way to go, but corporate cabanas with food and beverages available is nice too.
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2019 - Walking with a group past a cabana in which your friends are having fun is a unique experience. They begin shouting your name as they see you walk by. Fans of our own, so to speak. Strangers in adjoining cabanas don’t know why they’re yelling, but they begin to look too. One of the pros turned around and gave me a smile as I waved to my crew. Shout out to the Go Team.
2020 - N/A THIS YEAR.
2021 - CONFIRMED. I HAD FRIENDS CALLING OUT TO ME ON THE COURSE, SO DID MY STANDARD BEARER, WHICH WAS FUN.
2022 – A few shout outs, which is always cool.
2023 – A few shout outs, which is always cool.
2024 – A few shout outs, which is always cool.
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2019 - Professional golfers, in general, have attractive wives or girlfriends.
2020 - I WOULD ASSUME THIS IS STILL TRUE, BUT NONE WERE IN ATTENDANCE THIS YEAR.
2021 - CONFIRMED. WIVES AND GIRLFIENDS WERE BACK THIS YEAR.
2022 – Confirmed.
2023 – Confirmed.
2024 – Uh huh.
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2019 - The professional caddies are very smart guys and usually excellent golfers themselves. They know exactly where they are on the course at all times and they know exactly how far their guy hits every club in his bag.
2020 - AGREED. NO CHANGE FROM 2019.
2021 - CONFIRMED.
2022 – Very true indeed.
2023 – Confirmed. PGA caddie is not a job for amateurs either.
2024 – Confirmed.
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2019 - The logistics of putting on an event like the RMC is fascinating. There must be a gazillion (that’s the technical term) of items to handle and decisions to make.
2020 - AGREED. EVEN WITH A SMALLER EVENT, THE LOGISTICS ARE AMAZING.
2021 - CONFIRMED. STILL AMAZING. AND TO THINK THAT THE PGA TOUR DOES AN EVENT NEARLY EVERY WEEKEND ALL SUMMER LONG WITHOUT ANY MAJOR HICCUPS IS ASTOUNDING.
2022 – Still astounding. Preparations begin months in advance. Getting the course in prime condition, construction of the grandstands and tents, cabanas, hospitality areas, coordinating dozens of sponsors, 150 pros, nearly 2000 volunteers, parking, food, security, miles of cables for TV and wifi, ropes to mark off spectator areas, temporary fencing installed around the entire club, both courses, with RMC and FedEx emblazoned upon them every few feet. And much more. And BTW, some of the bigger structures erected are not tents in any sense of the word. They are multi level, semi permanent facilities with air conditioning and elevators.
2023 – Still astounding. In addition to everything above, let’s not forget the grounds crew. They are on the course only minutes behind the last group of the day preparing the course for the next round.
2024 – Still amazing. Now 6 years in, everything runs rather smoothly. I neglected to include the nearly 200+ courtesy cars and transportation available to the players.
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2019 - And finally, the game that the pros play is nothing like the game that the rest of us play. They are so much better on every level that there really isn’t a comparison to us amateurs.
2020 - AGREED. NO CHANGE FROM 2019.
2021? - CONFIRMED. WHAT THE PROS DO AND WHAT WE AMATEURS DO IS BARELY EVEN THE SAME SPORT. THEY ARE MAGNITUDES BETTER THAN EVEN THE BEST AMATEURS
2022 – Confirmed. Pros are light years better than the average golfer. I do wonder why they won’t let the pros use range finders to get yardage. Seems like it would speed up play and it doesn’t make executing your shots any easier.
2023 – Confirmed.
2024 – Every shot, all of them, each one, is carefully calculated in advance. A stroke or two saved can mean making the cut or not and/or a significant difference in a paycheck.
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Some additional comments from 2020. The PGA has lots of “official” sponsors. Official insurance company. Official beer. Official wine. Official spirit (not to be confused with beer or wine.) Official newspaper. Official tire. Official multi function printer. Official at home colon screening sponsor (yep, that’s an official thing.) Official tech partner. And so forth. I’m guessing, just guessing, that there is a sponsorship price which once paid, gets you an “official” title.
2021 - Confirmed. Lots of advertisements everywhere, but with a purse of $7.5 million, that money has to come from somewhere. Several people asked me how the members feel about having the tournament, how long the course is out of commission for us, etc. In short, we love it. I think it’s great for the club and great for the city of Detroit. We’re off the course for a total of about 10 days, which is no big deal. And we have reciprocity to play other courses in town, so it really isn’t much of an inconvenience. The set up of the tents and cabanas and stuff takes several months but it doesn’t affect play and the breakdown takes only a few weeks. By the end of this month, the course will be like nothing ever happened.
2022 – Saw the Goodyear blimp this year. That was new.
2023 – They had some drones on the course this year, that was new. And there is a small contingent of members at the club who are tiring of the tournament. They don’t like the months of construction and they don’t like not being able to use the club for a week or two. I’m not in that category. I think it’s good for the club and it’s good for Detroit. I mentioned to one of my friends who complained a bit about not being able to use our course for those 10 days or whatever, that he could easily call any number of his friends and have no problem playing any other course around town. He agreed. So the small inconveniences are well worth hosting the event.
2024 – After 6 years, everything seems to be running pretty smoothly. I didn’t notice, nor did I hear about any significant hiccups. Other than a slight rain delay on Saturday. A couple of small complaints, more like minor observations. One – I now have 6 red volunteer polo shirts. I don’t really wear red shirts outside of RMC week. I wish our uniform came in other colors. Two – instead of providing us with food inside the volunteer tent, as in previous years, this year we got food vouchers to be used at various concession stands around the course. A voucher for a sandwich, another for a snack and another for a beverage. That’s all fine. But when the concession people gave me my bottled water, they removed the cap before handing it to me. Why did you do that? I asked. “They told us we have to because otherwise some people might throw the caps onto the course.” What? That’s dumb. Do they think this is the WWE or something? “I don’t know, but they told us we have to remove them.” That’s a dumb rule.
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2020 - The named presenting sponsor, Rocket Mortgage, had its name plastered pretty much everywhere. There wasn’t a blank space around a TV tower or fence line that didn’t have the logo.
2021 - Yep, and we’re happy to have them. Without them and Dan Gilbert especially, there would not be a Rocket Mortgage Classic. There is one more year left on the contract for the RMC at DGC, but I’ve heard that we’re working on an extension.
2022 – Same. And the club and PGA recently signed a 4 year extension so the tourney will be around at least until 2026.
2023 – Same. Despite higher interest rates, the mortgage business seems to be treating Rocket ok.
2024 – Same. Two more years left on the current contract. Full disclosure, that I should have mentioned last year, I am a Rocket Companies shareholder.
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2020 - Golf can be a painfully slow sport. The pros, this is their job after all and a stroke or two saved can mean a vast difference in paychecks, are very deliberate. In between shots, there is a lot of hurry up and wait.
2021 - Confirmed.
2022 – Confirmed. Practice round was very slow with 4 Am’s and 1 pro. Early round on Sunday morning with only 2 pros who weren’t really in the mix went much faster.
2023 – Confirmed.
2024 – Confirmed. Practice round with 1 pro and 4 am’s took 5 ? hours. Sunday final round with 2 very deliberate pros was finished in under 4 hours.
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2020 - I do plan to volunteer again next year. Hopefully, it will be more normal than this year.
2021 - Confirmed.
2022 – Confirmed. Of all the available volunteer positions, and there are many, I still think the walking scorer role is my favorite.
2023 – Confirmed. Walking scorer is the only position I want. Can’t see myself in the merchandise tent or practice range or on food service duty.
2024 – Confirmed.
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If you’ve read this far, thanks for indulging my ever expanding annual RMC diary. If you enjoyed it, I’m glad. If you didn’t, my apologies for wasting a few minutes of your life.
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And finally, here is your friendly reminder that my half hour virtual office hour is back this Friday. Hop on at noon and ask me anything.
Michael Acho is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
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Join Zoom Meeting
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This week’s chuckle is the original trailer for The Sandlot,
Safe for work.
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LF30 – “Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots, you get good breaks from bad shots, but you have to play the ball where it lies.” – Bobby Jones.
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Have a great week and stay healthy.
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This material is for informational and educational purposes only. Opinions and forward-looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice.? Links to external content are provided for your convenience and for informational purposes only. They do not constitute an endorsement or approval by Osaic FA, Inc. nor does the firm receive compensation or remuneration for your access to such content. Osaic FA, Inc. bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or substance of the external content or for that of any links within such content. The opinions expressed are those of Michael Acho and not necessarily those of Osaic FA, Inc. CRN-6755245-070224
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Michael J. Acho, MBA, CFP? Private Wealth Advisor --------------------------------------------------- Osaic FA, Inc. 20505 West 12 Mile Road Southfield, MI? 48076 248-948-5100 direct 248-948-5101 fax 248-933-4339 cell
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