One thing I am learning during this bear market is we have all the tools to help economies grow. The markets can shift, companies can be creative and adapt, governments can print money and give it away to make sure it doesn’t free dive, BUT we only have one tool to fight inflation…

It hurts when we use it – it’s called raising interest rates.

Here is the quote of the week:

“We have got to get inflation behind us. I wish there were a painless way to do that. There isn’t.”

~ Fed Chairman Jerome Powell

We started raising rates in March of 2022 from effectively zero, we are now at 3.25% and inflation isn’t showing any signs of stopping.

All that to say…Thank YOU for helping those in the retirement red zone protect their retirements!

I tweaked an age old saying:

“The best time to buy an FIA is 5-10 years ago. The second-best time is TODAY”

Here are your Quick Hits:

Lead Like it Matters – 2 part podcast – Craig Groeschel

• This was an incredible 2 podcast series on leadership that I had to share.
• Few of my favorite lines:
  • Your potential is determined by the leaders you empower.
  • How to empower… delegate authority not tasks
  • Your true impact is a reflection on when you are not there compared to when you are there.
  • Great leaders empower but are appropriately controlling.
  • Don’t confuse activity with productivity

Housing affordability hits worst level in 37 years

• It now takes 35.51% of the median household income to make a principal and interest payment on the median home with 20% down
• “It would take some combination of a 40% rise in incomes, roughly a 3-percentage-point decline in 30-year rates — getting closer to that low 3% range — or a 30% pullback in home prices”

Where You Can Find Stock-Market Bargains

• S. companies may be so much more innovative that they deserve to be more richly valued than stocks elsewhere in the world. But how much of a premium do they deserve? Could the vast outperformance of U.S. stocks be blinding investors to the simple fact that international stocks are cheap?
• With pessimism this pervasive, it wouldn’t take many positive surprises to overturn the obvious—and make global diversification lucrative again.

Predicting the Next Recession

• Most of the post-WWII recessions were caused by the Fed tightening monetary policy to slow inflation.
• If the Fed tightening cycle will lead to a recession, we should see housing turn down first (new home sales, single family starts, residential investment). This is now happening, but this usually leads the economy by a year or more.  So, we might be looking at a recession in 2023.

Make it a great week!