Welcome to the Third View Perspectives Newsletter, your monthly source for financial intelligence and trusted advice to help you make more informed decisions on behalf of you, your family, and your legacy.

Forwarded this newsletter? Subscribe here to receive future editions.

Third View Private Wealth is proud to congratulate Co-Founders and Managing Partners Frank J. McKiernan and Jerry R. Sneed, CFA, CAIA, on being named to the Forbes | SHOOK Best-In-State Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors 2026 list.

The annual ranking recognizes leading wealth advisors under age 40 who have distinguished themselves through their experience, client relationships, business practices, and approach to wealth management.

Congratulations to Frank and Jerry on their third consecutive recognition!

Written by Frank McKiernan and originally published in Barron’s

We didn’t stumble into modern civilization by accident. We got here because, across centuries, someone was willing to bet time, effort, resources, and reputation on outcomes that weren’t guaranteed.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook parent Meta, has said the best piece of advice former Meta board member Peter Thiel gave him was this: “In a world that’s changing so quickly, the biggest risk you can take, is not taking enough risk.”

Our brains evolved to survive immediate threats, not optimize long-term outcomes. A rustle in the grass might be a predator, so overreacting was often the safer choice. That instinct helped humans survive. But in modern decision-making, it can cause us to interpret uncertainty as danger, even when uncertainty is also where opportunity lives.

Behavioral finance calls this loss aversion: the tendency for losses to feel more painful than equivalent gains feel pleasurable. That is why risk often feels obvious and opportunity feels abstract.

A market drawdown, a business failure, a difficult estate-planning conversation, or the discomfort of admitting you don’t know something are all visible risks.

Compounding of investments, optionality, deeper relationships, better decision-making, and the future payoff from avoiding a preventable mistake are opportunities that initially feel invisible and uncertain. Said another way, the risks are loud and opportunities are quiet, and that is why so many people miss it.

I spoke at an industry conference once where the moderator asked me, “How should investors think about the concept of risk?” My response was that…

A: For some clients, yes. The more useful question is where it sits and how much of it you own, not whether it belongs at all.

We treat venture as a satellite position, the smaller slice of a portfolio set aside for opportunistic investments, sitting alongside a core built to carry your plan. Sized that way, usually 5% to 10%, a venture position that goes to zero is disappointing. It isn't damaging.

Venture locks up money for years, often a decade, with no way to get out when your circumstances change or something else needs the cash. That's the real cost of admission. The money you commit should be money you've already decided you won't need in the near future.

So the test we come back to is simple. If an opportunity requires bending your plan around it, it's too big. A venture allocation should fit inside the portfolio you were going to build anyway.

Wondering how to evaluate a specific deal that's landed in your lap? We walked through that in an earlier edition this year that examines how professionals vet investment opportunities.

Have a question you'd like us to answer in a future newsletter? Simply reply to this email to submit it to us.

That’s all for this month. If you enjoyed the newsletter, the greatest compliment would be to forward it to someone you think would find it valuable. We’ll be back with more next month.

- Frank, Jerry, and Zoltan

Sign up here to receive future newsletter editions in your inbox.

Any media logos and/or trademarks are the property of their respective owners and no endorsement by those owners of the advisor or firm is stated or implied.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. The material above has been provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal or investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security or strategy. The investment strategy and themes discussed herein may be unsuitable for investors depending on their specific investment objectives and financial situation. Information obtained from third-party sources is believed to be reliable though its accuracy is not guaranteed, and Third View Private Wealth makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, which should not be used as the basis of any investment decision. Information contained on third party websites that Third View Private Wealth may link to is not reviewed in their entirety for accuracy and Third View Private Wealth assumes no liability for the information contained on these websites. Opinions expressed in this commentary reflect subjective judgments of the author based on conditions at the time of writing and are subject to change without notice. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission from Third View Private Wealth. For more information about Third View Private Wealth, including our Form ADV brochures, please visit https://adviserinfo.sec.gov or contact us at (203) 408-0098.