Your Money

Oil is back in the headlines.

Military strikes in Iran pushed prices sharply higher in a short period of time. This is not a demand story tied to strong growth. It is a supply disruption, and those tend to feel more unsettling.

That naturally raises questions about what it means for portfolios.

Historically, the relationship is not as simple as it seems. Even with higher oil prices, markets have often held up better than expected. Over time, stocks have actually performed slightly better in years when oil was rising than when it was falling. But that does not mean there is no risk. Supply-driven spikes can feed inflation and create pressure, and there have been periods where both oil and markets moved in the wrong direction at the same time.

The key is that oil, even at moments like this, does not dictate outcomes on its own.

At PWM, this is why we believe in diversification. Not just stocks and bonds, but large and small companies, U.S. and international, public and private. Different drivers, different behaviors, built to navigate whatever environment comes next.

How Do Higher Oil Prices Impact Stock Market Returns?
by Ben Carlson

Your Life

Movement tends to get framed as discipline. Something you have to do, something you should be better at, something you keep putting off until the “right time.” But for most people, the issue is not knowledge. It is motivation. Somewhere along the way, movement stopped feeling natural and started feeling like work. The reality is it does not take much to change that. Going from inactive to just moderately active can have a meaningful impact on health and longevity. This is not about intensity. It is about consistency.

What tends to make the difference is not willpower, but structure. Lower the barrier. Make it easier to start. Tie it to something you already enjoy. Put it on your calendar instead of leaving it to chance. Even better, do it with someone else. Community has a way of turning effort into something you actually look forward to. The goal is not to overhaul your life overnight. It is to rebuild a relationship with movement that lasts.

Secrets to Finding Exercise Motivation
by Dr. Jordan D. Metzl and Mike Zimmerman

Complexity Simplified

You have probably heard about the wonders of tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Grok. Then you try one yourself and get an answer that sounds polished, but is clearly wrong.

That happens because these systems are built to generate plausible answers, not automatically separate truth from error. The solution is to use them with more structure. Ask narrower questions. Tell it to take its time and think step by step. Require it to separate facts from assumptions and flag uncertainty. Blacklist weak or unreliable sources if you are asking it to research something. Better prompts do not make AI perfect, but they do make it much more useful.

Guide to Fixing AI Hallucinations
by Maria Prokhorenko

Trivia