The Ontology of Power
Why Context Has Become the Most Dangerous Asset in the World By Vaughn Woods, CFP, MBA Vaughn Woods Wealth Management | July 2026 “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” — Romans 7:15 What My Thesis Didn’t […]
When Your CEO Is Ranting About Chips, Ontology, and Models…
Vaughn Woods, MBA, CFP® President & Founder, Vaughn Woods Financial Group | San Diego, California Did anyone else catch Alex Karp going off (again) about chips, ontology, and models? Palantir’s CEO has basically turned “chips + ontology” into his personal drinking game at this point. You can almost see the CNBC host thinking, “We […]
The First 90 Days as Trustee: What Actually Happens After a Parent Dies
Most families create trusts. Far fewer prepare the human being who will actually have to run one after death. By Vaughn L. Woods, CFP®, MBA Founder and Senior Portfolio Manager, Vaughn Woods Financial Group, Inc. No one ever feels fully ready to become trustee when the moment actually arrives. In the abstract, families imagine […]
What If Everything Goes Right?
The most dangerous word in finance right now isn’t “recession” — it’s “impossible.” Oil at $77, a new Fed chair, falling mortgage rates, and America turning 250: what if, just for a while, everything goes right? What If Everything Goes Right? A Mid-Summer Case for American Optimism Vaughn Woods, MBA, CFP® President & Founder, Vaughn […]
A Brief History of How We All Became Efficiency Freaks
By Vaughn Woods, CFP®, MBA I recently left the training ground for multi-generational dialogue. Instead, I found myself standing in my kitchen, screaming—“REPRESENTATIVE!”—into my telephone. I was trying desperately to keep my voice at a civilized pitch so the robotic voice on the other end wouldn’t politely inform me, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.” […]
They’re Not Selling Because Something’s Wrong. They’re Selling Because You’re Buying.
By Vaughn L. Woods, CFP®, MBA | Vaughn Woods Financial Group, Inc. When markets sell off sharply on no apparent news — when your portfolio drops 2% on a Tuesday morning with no earnings miss, no Fed surprise, no geopolitical shock — most investors assume they’ve missed something. They scan headlines. They check their phone. […]
The Art of Patient Capital: Why We’re Holding More Cash — and Why It’s Working for You
By Vaughn L. Woods, CFP®, MBA Founder and Owner, Vaughn Woods Financial Group, Inc. In investing, patience is not passivity. It is strategy. Right now, we are carrying an above-average cash position in your portfolio — and we want you to understand exactly why that decision is deliberate, what it is earning for you today, […]
The Price of Meaning: What Every AI Answer Actually Costs
By Vaughn L. Woods, CFP®, MBA Senior Portfolio Manager | Vaughn Woods Financial Group, Inc. Executive Summary Every time someone asks an artificial intelligence system a question, something extraordinary happens — and almost no one sees it. The machine does not simply “look up” an answer. It processes language one tiny piece at a […]
Inference Vectors and Finance
Or: Why Your Brain Is a Terrible Stock Picker Let’s talk about how you think. Not what you think — but how your brain actually gets from Point A to Point B when it’s trying to figure something out. Because here’s the thing: the way you reason through problems isn’t random. It follows patterns — […]
Trustee Education: Why Families Need to Learn the Job Before They Inherit It
By Vaughn L. Woods, CFP®, MBA Founder and Owner, Vaughn Woods Financial Group, Inc. Most people agree to serve as successor trustee because they want to help. A parent asks. A spouse asks. A trusted friend asks. The answer usually comes from love, loyalty, or a sense of duty. Then the day arrives. The person […]