If there is one word to describe the current public sentiment, it’s “tired.”
For the better part of the last three years, it seems, we’ve been moving from crisis to crisis to crisis, and people are simply exhausted.
It began with the life-bending changes that came with the pandemic, and the government’s well-intended but socially and financially damaging, and often contradictory response. We’ve been subjected to forced isolation which has exacerbated already prevalent mental health and substance abuse issues. Despite the daily sacrifices, more than a million of our friends still succumbed to the disease.
And now, even the most trivial political issues are being leveraged to pit family against family and neighbor against neighbor on a daily basis. Many of us walk on eggshells in order not to inadvertently wade into a political fight, while others troll for sport to instigate them.
For the last year, we watched as the wanton printing of money spawned the highest inflation in over four decades, absolutely eviscerating the purchasing power of the middle and lower-middle classes, and decimating their ability to provide for their families. All the while, the Fed’s ham-handed strategy of rapid monumental interest rate increases to rein in inflation, which it insisted against every economic principle was “transitory”, has already resulted in a handful of notable bank failures, and greater economic uncertainty.
There’s an old Chinese curse that says, “May you live in interesting times.” I think it’s fair to say that we are, and have been, and the hits just keep coming.
For the last year, market conditions have been the worst we’ve seen in nearly fifteen years. As a Certified Financial Planner® professional, people ask me all the time if my phone is ringing off the hook. People assume there is a lot of panic among those planning for their major financial goals. The truth is, I rarely get any panicked calls.
People have been living with heightened stress for so long that most seem to be taking the market in-stride. While past performance is no guarantee of future results, every US market downturn, no matter how deep, has eventually resolved itself, with markets going on to find new highs. The US economy is so massive and diverse that it has successfully grown itself out of every problem it has ever faced. This time should be no different.
I know you’re tired. We’ve all been coping with the experiences of the last few years in our own ways. The tide is out right now, but it will come back. We’ll all appreciate it a bit more when it does. Continue to keep your chin up, and your head on straight.
Remember to work with your trusted advisors to help you navigate these uncertain times. Things will get better.
Stephen Kyne, CFP® is a Partner at Sterling Manor Financial in Saratoga Springs and Rhinebeck. Securities offered through Cadaret, Grant & Co., Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Sterling Manor Financial, LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor or Cadaret Grant & Co., Inc. Sterling Manor Financial and Cadaret, Grant are separate entities.
