Optimistic in a Sea of Investment Frustration

The dog days of August have come to an end and I can’t be happier for our investors.

July showed us the bright spots of the current markets with a nice rally. Except for the Energy and Commodities Sectors, which we have in our portfolios, most other Equity Investments and Fixed-Income Investments are down significantly for 2022. Virtually 99+% of equity investors are down this year, according to many financial resources. 

Why am I optimistic? 

After all, inflation is still with us. Government borrowing is at all-time borrowing highs, interest rates are certainly going up again thereby slowing down the housing market, gas for our cars is still more than 40% higher than a year ago and we all know food and other commodity price increases are negatively affecting our wallets.

And did I mention that what we have going on right now is the definition of a recession or two negative GDP (Gross Domestic Product) quarters in a row? If you like to follow national politics, then you know it appears that we remain completely polarized between the Democrats and Republicans with little hope for change in sight. And Russia and Ukraine…

So, why am I cautiously optimistic?

Because I believe that most of the negative news is now baked into our economic cake. There are a few negative surprises ahead of us now. Yes, we will have more interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve. Inflation may have peaked but isn’t going away. The equity markets may have bottomed out and are beginning a slow climb, albeit painful, back to positive growth.

However, it appears that 2022 may end up not being overall positive for growth investors, but much higher than the worst of 2022. We will look back at 2022 as the year we needed to reposition our clients’ portfolios constantly and tactically, and we have been doing this aggressively, as our clients now expect from us.

Should you have questions or concerns about your portfolio or would love a second set of eyes to see a competitive portfolio, then let’s Zoom or meet for coffee. You can reach me at 925-314-8503 or elliot@prosperityfinancialgroup.com.