Chad and I were playing baseball in the front yard. We heard him coming down the street. The muffler gave him away. We wondered what would be on the roof this time? Old tires? 30 year old lawn chairs? Whatever he was bringing had to be on the roof because the Plymouth Horizon was full of newspapers stacked from seat to ceiling. As he pulled in his driveway, we were a bit perplexed because there was nothing on his roof. When he got out, he was carrying two huge bricks of something, something wrapped in cellophane. Government cheese.

I mentioned last time that we were going to wade back into bonds. We have done so as bonds are now returning north of 4% in many cases. We are still cautious on stocks as we see continued chop until the Fed is finished raising interest rates and the slowdown has run its course. We remain overweight value stocks that pay dividends and expect to move back toward growth stocks in the near future. If the Fed gets its way, we may all hear that enjoyable “cha ching” sound a little less until a recession clears the way for more growth.

In this video, I look back to the 80’s and all the bad things that happened. And yet the market went up. 40 years later, we are still here worrying about all the things that will keep the market down. Time for some deep breaths!