The Weekly Insight

All you have to do today is turn on a TV, or open a website, or listen to a podcast and you will be flooded with folks absolutely certain about their latest read on the market and the economy. Inflation is coming! The market is crashing! You know what we’re talking about. But the problem is the study of economics never offers those certainties – even if they play well in our hot take society. 

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-one-handed-economists/

This is a weird time for markets. To some degree, it seems like there is so much going on. The volume is cranked to a 10. One needs only look at last week’s spat between two very powerful men which lead the market to be off by nearly 1% in a day. But do those moments really matter? We’d argue they don’t in the long run. But we’re going to have to be patient for the big items that are going to move the market.

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-the-waiting-game/

As May wrapped up last week, the financial world was touting the month as the best performing May since 1990. That’s great news! But it’s also an artifact of timing. If you stretch the window you’re measuring out to the beginning of the year, things don’t look as good. The market is essentially flat. But we take a longer view on portfolio health than a week, a month, or a year. We’re working to build successful investment strategies for the long haul. Which is why we made some fairly significant changes in two of our strategies last week.

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-timing-isnt-everything/

Last week started with the big news that the U.S. and China had agreed to a temporary reduction in tariffs. The market rallied and ended the week up more than 5%. But, as much as the market would love to assume we can move on to the next conversation, there is much yet to be determined regarding trade policy.

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-far-from-completed-agreements/

Last week was Fed week which is always must-see TV at Insight (whether we like it or not). Unlike the last few years, this meeting was largely without market drama. But it did leave us with some interesting tidbits to understand the interplay between the Fed – holding dry powder for a potential recession – and the ongoing discussion on tariffs. What did we learn? The Fed still thinks the economy is “solid”, but they’re also seriously worried about “uncertainty” on the policy front. What does that mean for rates and the market going forward?

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-the-feds-dry-powder/

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-choose-your-own-economy/

The volume today around the markets and the state of the world is at a “10”. You can go to any news source you want and you’ll find some version of “The sky is falling!” or “The world is ending!” sentiment. But here’s the thing: the world hasn’t ended yet and – as pointed out by famed investor Howard Marks – the planning necessary to avoid the pain when the world ends is 1) impossible; and 2) would be catastrophic to a portfolio if the world doesn’t end.

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-most-of-the-time-the-world-doesnt-end/

If you’ve been paying attention to our commentary over the years, you know we believe strongly that there are some “big things” in the world that must be understood to be a successful investor. 

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-three-big-things-tariffs/

We all survived yet another week of wild swings in the market. Today (so far!), they’re the good kind. Last week, it was a bit of both. And while we could continue to retread the ground covered in-depth on tariff policy, we thought we’d go a different direction. This week we wanted to dive into the psychology of the markets – specifically the psychology of loss – and address why you’re not well suited for it. None of us are. 

But with the right information, we can start to understand why our genetic makeup is battling against the best decisions you can make for your portfolio. And hopefully it can help alleviate a bit of the stress of moments like these. 

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-survival-of-the-fittest/

The topic of these week’s memo and podcast won’t surprise you: tariffs. And it would probably be good business to tell you we have all the answers for what the market is going to do in response over the coming weeks. The truth is this: no one has those answers. But we do know how we need to respond, because history has taught us this lesson before.

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-fortitude/