1/2 Investment Process Update

2 Book Review: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

3/4 Insert: Retirement Income Analysis Tool

5 Medicare Enrollment Confusion

6 Justin’s New Home

6 Save the Date - O’Keefe Stevens Advisory Quarterly Investor Call

Inside This Issue

ConnectionThe Value

Written by Peter O’Keefe

As many of you know, I’m overly excited to discuss our investments and explain the thought process supporting why we own the companies you see in your portfolio. This passion for research has always been a source of energy for me and one reason my work as an advisor is so fulfilling. Because this kind of update often falls outside the parameters of our normal conversations, I’m using this space in our newsletter to give you an update on what’s happened to our Investment Process since we started O’Keefe Stevens Advisory.

One goal we maintain is to create a continually improving investment process that leads us to being more intimate with our core holdings. We are making continued, incremental progress and I’d like to share what we’ve been doing to improve.

The key opportunity in setting up O’Keefe Stevens Advisory was the switch to a full-discretionary investment advisory model. This change allowed us to consistently make investment choices aligned with our client’s best interest, without seeking the approval of every investment change. This simple switch gives our team a great deal more time to focus on other aspects of the investment process and makes the purchasing of compelling investments far more efficient. The freed-up time has created more space in our day for reading, attending investor conferences, studying investment research, talking with investment mentors, and visiting with the leadership and investor relations teams of the companies we own. Furthermore, our documentation procedure is becoming increasingly detailed and the files we maintain on each business are more useful now than ever before.

What this means for you as our client is that we have a much deeper understanding of our investments and in the long run we believe this will yield favorable investment results. Being intimately familiar and current on what’s going on at the business level of our holdings is necessary to maintain the patience required to be a successful value investor.

Our mission is to be responsible stewards of our clients’ financial lives.

Investment Process Update

Volume 6 Issue No. 3 July 2019

Continued on next page...

1The Value Connection

2 The Value Connection

Investment Process ContinuedIn a recent speech I listened to by Peter Kaufman, he made the point that the three hallmarks of a great investment are 1) superior returns, 2) low risk, and 3) long duration. While most of the world is concentrating on the first point, these three points are co-priorities and should be attended to with equal amounts of focus. We continually emphasize the risk-forward thought process to investment selection in our quarterly calls and in these newsletters. We’re striving to keep your focus on the next 5 to 10 years, because that is the amount of time it takes to adequately measure whether the strategy is succeeding.

I recognize our communication changed when making investments and because we’re not speaking with you personally at the point of purchase, some of the enthusiasm and conviction we have for the company might not translate. To compensate for this, we’ve created purchase and sale email notices to provide an overview of the company, our reasons for the transaction, and our investment thesis. We’re making efforts to share useful links to the company’s website for those of you who want more information. I welcome phone calls for more discussion to clarify my thoughts and to listen to your comments and possible concerns. The bottom line is, we want you to know that we’re doing our homework to make sure the holdings you own are appropriate in terms of risk (the primary risk being permanent loss of capital) and that our time horizon when we’re selecting companies is always going to span multiple years. Because of these two qualities, we are comfortable and confident when a stock might languish or decline, and we may even decide to add to these positions. We’re patient when it comes to results because we’re paying attention to what is going on at the company level and we know positive developments will yield price appreciation over a multi-year period. Sometimes prolonged underperformance or stagnation in the stock can provide us with the best opportunities to build out a sizable position and experience long-term results.

It’s usually too much to share everything I’ve learned about the businesses we’re selecting for you, and I understand that’s a large part of why you choose to work with us. Nevertheless, if you’re curious or interested in learning more, I’m happy to share this information with you at any time. Our Investment Process document is available to provide you with even greater clarity on what we stand by when selecting stocks. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments.

Book Review Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Chapter 16 written by: Yuval Noah Harari Review Written by Justin Stevens

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is a New York Times Bestseller and recipient of incredible praise from some of the world’s greatest thought leaders. The book provides a massive overview of humanity from pre-history, through current day, and into what our future may hold. It’s an academic read and can be parceled into sections that pique your interests. I highly recommend Chapter 16: The Capitalist Creed. These thirty pages are the best succinct overview of capitalism, economics, and how money works that I have ever come across. The author reduces the complicated subject of capitalism to its underlying components: trust in the future, extension of credit, and innovation in industry.

If you’re interested in understanding how our world operates from a monetary perspective, I’m happy to share the chapter with you, or you can purchase the book. My hope would be that reading this chapter would instigate a desire to read further into the book, to learn about the foundations of religion, governments, and other important global infrastructures that shape the world we live in today.

Confusion

5The Value Connection

Written by Jayne R Van Zile of JVZ Strategies

Enrolling in Medicare is not intuitive. The rules are confusing and differ depending upon your age, your or your spouse’s work status, and existing employer provided health insurance. Below is the number one question I receive daily about turning 65 while still working:

I’m turning 65 in a few months and everyone says I must enroll in Medicare or I’ll be penalized, but I want to keep my own health insurance. Should I enroll?

Maybe. If you work at a firm with less than 20 employees OR your employer coverage is not considered Medicare creditable, you must either enroll in Medicare or change to your spouse’s coverage assuming it meets Medicare requirements.

If your employer has more than 20 employees and the coverage is considered creditable and the plan does not include an HSA account, you may want to enroll in Part A only. Do not enroll in Part B.

If you or your spouse participate in a high deductible health insurance plan with a HSA as an employment benefit at an organization with 20 or more employees do not enroll in any Medicare; including Part A. Enrolling will trigger tax penalties that can be significant.

The employed spouse and employer may contribute to an HSA regardless of the employee’s or spouse’s age. Everyone should stop contributing to their HSA 6 months prior to retirement.

There will be no penalties if you are over 65 and enroll in Medicare within 8 months of work stoppage or if your spouse has employer provided creditable coverage, you may enroll in that instead of Medicare.

Medicare EnrollmentConfusion

Upcoming Medicare Planning Seminars with O’Keefe Stevens Advisory & JVZ Strategies

Buffalo - September 10th

Buffalo Niagara Marriott1340 Millersport HighwayAmherst, NY 14221Event begins at 5:30 PM.

Rochester - September 17th

The Legacy Tower1 Bausch & Lomb Place, 2nd FloorRochester, NY 14604Event begins at 5:30 PM.

About JVZ Strategies:My practice focuses on helping our mutual clients from O’Keefe Stevens Advisory protect their retirement capital against the devastating consequences of an unexpected health event through savvy Long Term Care and Medicare planning.

One Bausch and Lomb Place, Suite 920, Rochester, NY 14604

info@okeefestevens.com

585-340-6538

Investment advisory services offered through O’Keefe Stevens Advisory, Inc., an SEC Registered Investment Advisor.© 2017 O’Keefe Stevens Advisory, Inc. All rights reserved. This content cannot be copied without express written consent of O’Keefe Stevens Advisory, Inc.

Please be advised that our disclosure document, Form ADV, is available upon request. As a reminder, always let us know if your investment objectives have changed.

When: Wednesday, September 11th at 4:00 PM ET

Details on how to join the call will be emailed to you at a later date.

O’Keefe Stevens Advisory Value Conversation Investor Call

Save the Date!

Justin’s New Home

The Value Connection 6

O’Keefe Stevens Advisory Happenings:

The Stevens family has moved and is loving their new home in Pittsford, NY. Fortunately, there was no TV show accompanying this move and everything is going smoothly. There are a number of summer projects going on to make the new house their home. Justin, Beth, Brynne and Caden are thrilled to be in the new house - which came with a garage!