Russian Roulette - 2nd Quarter 2022
Dear Valued Client,
When considering the standing of today’s current chaotic global landscape, it felt only appropriate to title this letter as an homage to a morbid game of chance whose definition reads:
“A game of high risk in which each player in turn, using a revolver containing one bullet, spins the cylinder of the revolver, points the muzzle at the head, and pulls the trigger.”
Investing in the midst of turbulent times like these can often feel just shy of such sport; a queasy, see-saw-like back-and-forth gamble on whether the next turn of events in the world will inevitably lead to one’s (financial) demise. Speaking of things Russian, there is no understating the cruel and horrific siege that we’ve witnessed upon Ukraine from afar in these past weeks. In addition to the core humanistic violation of it all, we’ve already begun to see an economic ripple effect that has driven up commodity prices worldwide due to Russian economic sanctions being instituted from the West and thus only worsening the inflation concerns we’ve already been feeling in the wake of COVID’s continued supply chain breakdown as well as zealous if not downright extravagant federal spending. This surely makes one’s first-world brain mutter “Can we ever catch a break??” It has undoubtedly been a non-stop morale-draining chain of events these past two years with the appearance that rockier times may well lie ahead.
In some ways, two years has felt like an eternity when considering how much the world has changed, in other ways, it seems like just yesterday that people lined up outside of retail stores in a panicked frenzy to load up on…toilet paper (insert rolling eyes). Just to be frank, the inflation we’ve begun to experience will not temper itself overnight. Interest rates will almost certainly tick up religiously over the next couple of years to counter said inflation putting a potential damper on economic growth which would make it very difficult to find appreciation in most existing investments. Essentially, the open waters of the investment world COULD get…well…rough for the foreseeable future. That is why now, more than ever, it’s important to have an “investment policy” and just as important…having the resolve to stick to it. Please know that not only will storms such as these pass but also that we have worked together to diversify and structure your investments in such a way to withstand and potentially thrive in the wake of market turbulence…all of this assuming that one doesn’t panic in the middle of the proverbial storm.
As clients, I want to challenge you this year not only for us to review your investment plan but rather the bigger scope of your financial plan overall. The more we can understand together regarding your long-term goals and all of the areas of your financial health that need to be addressed, the better we can custom tailor your investments to meet those goals under a specific “investment policy”. We’ll continue to address this concept on an ongoing basis as it should reshape the way one goes about creating an actual plan for their investment holdings and thus being confident that they do in fact have a plan. Neither is the investment world one big giant casino when approached with the proper diligence, nor is your investment portfolio a game of Russian Roulette. Understanding and believing that is where your investment policy begins.
CRN4637673-032422