Branzan Advisors Commentary | December 2025

 As 2025 comes to an end, we wanted to reflect on what we accomplished and our goals for 2026.

The past year was a whirlwind. On the business front, we created a wealth management firm, BZ Wealth Advisors, LLC with our new partner, Wade Calvert who is based in Boise, Idaho. Since Branzan’s founding in 2002, we have been focused on sourcing and investing in unique alternative investments through our private funds. Over the years, our partners, family and friends have asked us to help them navigate and manage their more traditional investment assets. With the formation of BZ Wealth Advisors, we are now able to offer comprehensive financial planning and wealth management services.

If you would like to hear more about the services offered by BZ Wealth, please let us know and we can provide you with additional details. We believe Wade’s expertise in wealth management and Branzan’s focus on alternative investments bring a unique solution to investors seeking more sophistication than what other wealth management firms can provide. Wade holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) designation as well as the Certified Value Growth (CVGA®) advisor certification.

In 2025, we enjoyed connecting with our partners and clients outside of traditional business environments. We hosted a Beach day at Arapahoe Basin ski resort in February 2025, and a number of our partners turned out for a day of networking, cocktails and great skiing. We also hosted our annual fall event at Breckenridge Brewery in October 2025. We really enjoy chatting with our partners in casual, non-business settings and plan to do more events in 2026. If you’re interested in all things outdoors - skiing, hiking, fishing, hunting or cycling - let us know and we will add you to the list for our upcoming events.

On the market front, one word summarizes 2025: uncertainty. On again, off again tariffs, continued war in Europe, threatened war in Venezuela, volatile oil prices, lofty tech valuations (especially anything AI related), continuing Middle East tensions, high-profile corporate bankruptcies spotlighting private credit concerns and uncertainty regarding interest rates all come to mind. And the list goes on.

With all this uncertainty, one might think equity markets would suffer. Not the case. The S&P 500 is up over 15% YTD as we write this. Foreign and emerging markets have done even better, but the real stand out has been gold and silver (up over 60% and 100%, respectively). Demand for precious metals remained strong as investors and central banks continued to diversify away from U.S. Dollars and other fiat currencies.

As we think about about 2026, we believe we will see more opportunities in oil and natural gas. Oil prices are weak in 2025, hitting lows not seen since 2021, but we believe the pessimism around oil oversupply and softness in demand is overstated. Oil isn’t going anywhere, and we expect demand will continue to increase globally, even in unlikely places, like Europe, where internal combustion engine bans were recently rolled back. Demand could certainly decrease further if the U.S. economy weakens, but we believe that will be transitory and a good opportunity to buy oil-focused mineral rights and equities of oil producers at attractive prices. We remain bullish on natural gas, particularly with the expected demand for additional power generation required for AI data centers.

We remain cautious on real estate, but are encouraged to see assets starting to trade at more realistic valuations. Lenders are starting to force sales of properties (we have even seen a number of office properties come on the market in Downtown Denver at unheard of discounts). We believe that is the first step in a real estate recovery. We are not believers that real estate investors will be bailed out by lower interest rates. While we may see a couple rate cuts in 2026, we don’t anticipate those cuts to be significant enough to make a difference for many real estate projects (unless the U.S. economy enters a deep recession, in which case all bets around interest rates are off).

We appreciate your continued support and confidence. Thank you for your partnership.

Best,

Branzan Investment Advisors

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