Last month a long-time client stopped me after a review meeting and said, "this finally feels good again" . . . and that is what worries me.

A client once told me about a covered wooden bridge near his childhood home. Each winter, fierce storms would shake it and rattle every board. Yet it never collapsed. As he grew older, he learned the secret. The bridge was designed with flexible joints that allowed it to bend under pressure instead of breaking. 

When Marjorie ordered her usual morning latte, she did a double-take; the price was higher . . . again.  This was her one thing, however small that she really enjoyed a coffee at her local coffee shop, a quiet moment alone reading a book but even that was getting more expensive.  Her Social Security check would arrive on schedule, but it wouldn’t stretch quite as far. That small moment captures something much bigger: .....

Tom (name changed for privacy), became convinced that a particular tech stock was destined to keep soaring. Tom was so sure he insisted we double down despite our repeated advice to maintain a more balanced portfolio. The headlines seemed to validate his conviction: analysts were bullish, quarterly earnings sparkled, and the stock reached new highs month after month. Then, the company was hit with a surprise legal issue that sent shares tumbling, erasing a year’s worth of gai

It was just past 7 a.m. on a Monday when a longtime client, a seasoned and busy executive with two decades of C-suite experience, called during his commute. “I skimmed three headlines about the Fed, inflation, and some bad news about chip stocks,” he said, “but I don’t have time to connect the dots. You’ve got this right?” 

If you’re a Gen-Xer like me, you probably have put more than a few quarters in pinball machines in your time.   Something about that was just a lot of fun.  Now, imagine yourself inside that machine, and that is what the markets have felt like so far this spring, and as we head into summer, it may not get much better.