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2023 was a favorable year for the equity markets, as represented by a 26.3% increase in the Index. A somewhat remarkable result set against the backdrop of the fastest pace of Federal Reserve rate increases in 40-years, a regional banking crisis and an escalaing war in the Middle East. In our view, it demonstrates the resiliency of the of the broader U.S. financial system and the sustainable competitive advantages of large industry leading companies.

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Please find attached your Talbot Financial third quarter 2023 portfolio review to supplement your monthly account statements available from Schwab. The report provides a performance summary of your investment portfolio compared to the S&P 500 Total Return Index (“Index”), Talbot Financial’s benchmark, and lists your investment portfolio holdings by industry sector.

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Please find attached your Talbot Financial second quarter 2023 portfolio review to supplement your monthly account statements available from Schwab. The report provides a performance summary of your investment portfolio compared to the S&P 500 Total Return Index (“Index”), Talbot Financial’s benchmark, and lists your investment portfolio holdings by industry sector.

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The year began with investors focused on the Federal Reserve’s aggressive policy to further increase interest rates to slow inflation. Then in early March a new issue surfaced when a liquidity crisis led to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Despite these events, the stock market demonstrated its resilience as the Index increased 7.5% during the first quarter.

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2022 was a historically difficult year for the financial markets driven by higher inflation, rising interest rates and continued aggression by Russia in Ukraine. The stock market, as measured by the Index, declined 18.1% for the year, marking the worst one-year calendar return since 2008 and the fourth worst calendar year return since the Great Depression. Results were similar with both International and Emerging Market stocks. The bond market, which historically provides support during periods of equity volatility, did not fare much better than the equity markets. The Barclay’s U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, widely considered a proxy for the U.S. bond market, declined 13.1% for the year, its worst annual performance in its 50-year history.

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