2022 and especially the last few weeks have been emotionally challenging. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, inflation news, and the uncertainty of the economic affects of the Fed’s increased interest rates provides plenty of news that can cause uncertainty and fear for the near-term economic impacts. Allow me to offer some historic facts that may provide a bit of calm to the apparent chaotic news.
What is your outlook? Where is your focus? Fretting over past mistakes? Celebrating past successes? Worried about your future? Looking forward to the future? Or merely experiencing the moment? All of us have been in each of these places many times in life. This is the first week of May 2022. As a financial advisor, I will do my best to “keep to my knitting” as they say and attempt to avoid waxing philosophically about the larger life questions. Last week I was on vacation and only late on Friday afternoon did I overhear someone comment on the stock market performance for the day. Holy s___! That was a tough day. What to do next?
Why Are Gas Prices So High? Allow me to begin with a few “truths” that may have very little to do with the price of petroleum products in the US. The US is the top oil producer in the world. (1) The US had been getting less than 10% of its oil from Russia. (2) The US produces almost as much oil as it uses…” energy independent”
As if we have not seen enough of dramatic events and uncertainty in the last two years, the events in Europe on February 24, 2022, I think has surprised everyone. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Ukraine and their European neighbors. The loss of human life and violation of international borders for reasons so difficult to articulate is very hard to understand. As a financial advisor, I am challenged with explaining the affect events such as these could have on the financial futures of my clients.
