2022 Q3 Client Newsletter

Of Markets and Hurricanes

As a native Floridian, Hurricane season ALWAYS captivates me. I’m not sure if it’s the power of the storm, the drama of its impending arrival, the culture of preparedness or the community response that seems to arise from its destructive path.  One thing seems to be a fact—the risk of hurricanes hasn’t stopped our southeastern coasts from becoming a popular place to live.  Despite the risk of destruction, millions of people have chosen to make these ‘at risk’ areas their home.  Families make this choice for a myriad of reasons, perhaps to have convenient beach access, or to avoid ever having to shovel snow.  They choose to live their lives based on the odds of a hurricane, although expected to visit from time to time, being a relatively rare and non-regular event.  They choose to focus on what their typical day will look like, focusing on daily lives, rather than the worst-case scenario, but many will still have a plan in place for how to deal with that worst case scenario.

Investing isn’t so different.

We save and invest to create opportunities to work less, and perhaps, live a bit more freely sometime in the future. We focus our investments on what the typical day will bring, a positive investment return, and have an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) in place to help us focus on our strategy when our portfolio experiences the inevitable market decline.  Unlike a hurricane, we don’t get a warning three days in advance, giving us time to adjust before a market decline.  Just like a hurricane, however, we can continue to follow our plan of action to improve our odds of long-term investing success so that we can live our lives and our dreams as we see fit.

Where We Should Focus

Sadly, it is sometimes the hard news of hurricanes or personal hardship that help us to see what matters in life.  I recently read a story about a family of six where three of the four children were diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that could ultimately result in complete blindness.  The parents were advised by doctors to fill the kids’ ‘visual memory’ with lots of ‘pictures’ of things like elephants and giraffes…from books.

The parents[1] instead decided to fill the visual memory of those children with things like elephants and giraffes in real life.  Those parents have achieved some amount of hero status in my book, figuring out what really mattered in their lives, the part they could control, and working to make the finances work. It’s that kind of logic, thankfully without the medical necessity, that led Jillian and I to take our big trip around the world before we had kids and now to take our first Tobias Family Study Abroad to Mexico this past summer.  A year abroad isn’t something we’re striving for, but we are thinking about our next family adventure.  As the pandemic, and now Hurricane Ian, help to remind us what matters most in life, let’s continue to get back to focusing on the big picture goals we’re working toward together.  Now most covid-era restrictions are lifted, it’s a great time to get plans derailed by the pandemic back on track.

Live Long and Prosper,

Dan Tobias, CFP®

[1] https://www.instagram.com/pleinleursyeux/

Please note: The above is a copy of the 2022 Q3 Passport Wealth Management client newsletter attached to quarterly statements from October 2022. The newsletter is published to the website for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. You should consult a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional for financial advice. 

Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Indexes are not available for direct investment. Investing involves risks, including the potential for loss of principal. There is no guarantee that markets will act as they have in the past or that any investment plan or strategy will be successful.