The investment committee recently met, so as always, we wanted to keep you up to speed with our discussions and thoughts as we continue to keep a close eye on the economy, the markets, and our strategies.

What we like about the market and economy:

• • Unemployment remains low
  • Companies are still profitable despite inflation and higher interest rates.
  • Historically, this is a great sign for the economy. However, we believe the most recent interest rate hikes haven’t worked their entire way through the economy, which is something we’re watching closely.

What concerns us:

• • One third of our nation’s debt is on variable schedules and is set to be “re-upped” at higher rates in the next year or so. Our nation is already running a deficit, and higher interest payments will only make it worse.
  • This could hurt some companies and consumers as they may not be able to afford the payments at these higher rates.
  • Inflation is still hurting all classes of citizens and while it isn’t increasing as fast as prior months, inflation is still here.
  • Student loan payments are about to start back up again. The average payment is over $500/month and there is some concern how consumers will fit this into their monthly budget.

Other thoughts:

• • Over the next few months, we expect to be continuing to deal with higher rates, stock volatility, and inflation still present. We feel over the next 6 months we will get much more clarity economically on if interest rates are paused or lowered, if inflation continues to drop, and how big of an impact these higher rates will have on company profitability and consumer pockets.
  • Our team continues to refine our internal process of studying managers for big up and down years performance wise, and knowing when to hire/fire/rehire or bench managers and bring new ones in.

All of this to say, just as we have done in the past, we are being proactive, having meaningful conversations with the right parties, and building plans for each profile of clients we have in the firm. We expect to continue to find areas for growth in this current landscape.

As always, we encourage you to continue to focus on the right things like family and health and know that we are watching out for you and your families. let us know how/if we can help you or your close friends or family 😊