I come into a plethora of Financial market commentaries, no doubt.  If you’d like to see 3 or 5 or 7 of them, just let me know.

Interesting times. . . led primarily by the Ukraine conflict but also inflation effects that were already in play and now exacerbated by the Ukraine effect.  We have looked a lot at history of markets at times of conflict and, while there is certainly no crystal ball for this environment ahead, the history of occurrences supports that the markets experience a short term correction of some magnitude and that it remains short term.  In historical instances, the markets were fine and rebounded generally within 6-12 months following.

Regardless of the actual reason this time, we could also say the markets are experiencing a periodic correction that, as of late this week, is still within a magnitude of relative frequency.  Markets have typically experienced a 10% correction every 1-2 years.  And as we said before, we were overdue based on that “average”.  All that to say that no real “alarms” are currently sounding in regard to the financial markets, even though it is very sad for so many Ukrainians and their country.  This garners our prayers.

The TWO most common questions that come up in times like this, and for which no one has certain answers, are:  How bad will this correction get? And “Is this time different?”   Of course we still do not know on either topic.  However, as it is always good to remind ourselves (myself included) that quality investments, if left alone, have historically persevered and ended up fine.   And being able/willing to tweak and reposition DURING these times in effort to take advantage of true opportunities the market gives us has made it all the more fruitful after the correction is over.

As always, available to talk further and will be in touch along the way.

Best regards,

Key