Keith Akre Promoted To Stillman Bank Vice President & Trust Officer Stillman Bank has recently promoted a key member of its successful team in northern Illinois. Keith J. Akre, CFA, CFP® has been promoted to the position of Vice President and Trust Officer, according to Martin C. Larson, Chairman and CEO. In his new position,… Read More
Jennifer Wheeler
Books of Interest Part III: 2020 Reading Recommendations For the past two summers, we have curated a list of our employees’ favorite reads. Given the current social distancing guidelines everyone is under, we thought it would be a good idea to release part three of this blog post early for those that are looking to… Read More
The Coronavirus Correction It has been a difficult week for investors after troubling news last weekend regarding the spread of Coronavirus beyond China. Risks of this disease turning into a global pandemic have worried investors. Since hitting an all-time high on February 19th, the S&P 500 has dropped by 12.04% – its worst weekly decline… Read More
Your 2020 Investing Resolution: Pay More Attention to Risk Barring any sudden year-end calamities, investment returns in 2019 have been outstanding. As of the end of November the S&P 500 is up 27.63% this year. Even the relatively more conservative bond investments had strong returns as the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index has gained 8.79% during… Read More
Spend Some Time on Your Company’s Retirement Plan Retirement plans can be a tremendous benefit for employees. Unfortunately, often times they can also be frustrating and time consuming for small and mid-sized business owners. The reality is that offering this great benefit comes with a great deal of responsibility. If done mindfully, business owners like… Read More
Stillman Bank’s Annual Christmas Food Drive A Huge Success In conjunction with our annual Christmas Open House, we also held a food drive to benefit area families this Christmas. 1,407 pounds of non-perishable food items were collected during the weeklong event. Now in its twelfth year, our annual food drive has collected over 12,000 pounds… Read More
2019 Cardinal Community Christmas Tree Decorating Contest Stillman Valley held its seventh annual Tree Decorating Contest in conjunction with the Cardinal Community Christmas event in downtown Stillman Valley on Sunday, December 2, 2018. There were 28 groups that participated, including local schools, businesses, and community organizations. Prizes were awarded in four categories based on creativity/originality,… Read More
Economic Update – Fall 2019 Edition The US Economy – Safe as Houses In the movie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the evil Professor Moriarty sends some thugs to kill John Watson and his new bride Mary as they travel by train en route to their honeymoon. While the train speeds over a bridge,… Read More
Stillman Bank Receives 2018 Award of Distinction From United Way Stillman Bank is honored to receive the 2018 Award of Distinction from the United Way. This award is given to the organization that has a high employee pledge participation in their workplace as well as a total contribution of more than $10,000 during that year’s… Read More
Negative Interest Rates As Told by Alice in Wonderland “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.” Let’s start with the basics – as of August 2019… Read More