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When someone says “The Stock Market,” often the images that come to mind are screaming traders in blue jackets or a large mahogany desk perched atop the glass and steel of Wall Street’s skyscrapers. While everyone has a different image of the stock market, when gauging how well the market is doing, most investors think of the same two or three market indexes. The problem with using these popular indexes as the comparison is that investors are often much more diversified and conservative than these “benchmarks.”

I have heard and read arguments by very financially astute individuals that it is unnecessary to purchase life insurance on an infant because they do not produce an economic value. Another way of saying that is because the infant does not produce an income there is no loss of income to insure against. I believe that argument is completely and utterly ridiculous.

“Annuity” now there is a word that generates some mixed feelings, and along with those feelings a myriad of conflicting opinions, both personal and professional. How can someone possibly determine if annuities are a useful financial tool for them?

I can admit when I’m wrong… Sometimes. When it comes to digital assets and cryptocurrency, I’ll admit that a few years ago, I was pretty critical and skeptical. However, I have since changed my tune and have become an investor and perhaps even an enthusiast. I could give you many reasons for my previous skepticism, but it amounts to not knowing the asset class well enough.

We are facing a bump in the road right now, and I can feel anxiety and panic coming from some clients. I’m writing this today to hopefully relieve some of those emotions and explain what has happened in markets, why it has happened, and what FSG is doing. In addition, this past Monday, the 9th, Mark Carter and I recorded a video talking about many of the same things.

We are living in a period of great uncertainty, economically and socially. The world is faced with a geopolitical and humanitarian crisis in Eastern Europe. The effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are beginning to reverberate through the world economy in the form of rising oil, natural gas, and commodity prices.

Once every 18 months. That is how often the S&P 500 drops 10%, also known as a “correction”. We all remember the last correction (also commonly referred to as a “crash”), which happened in March of 2020. But what you may not remember is how long it took for the market to recover from that crash. The market took less than 5 months to rebound, bouncing back in August 2020. That was an enormously quick turnaround. August of 2020 was 18 months ago, and guess what we have not had in 18 months? That’s right, a correction!

The first season of a great television series is often hard to top. The excitement of a new plot, meeting the major characters, and understanding the themes of the show means that every subsequent season will be compared to the first. Well, if 2020 was season one of the pandemic 2021 was the promising albeit repetitive second season. The stock market was great for investors in seasons one and two (more on that in a minute), but the cast of villains had some changeover.