INVESTORS SHOULD AVOID THE FOLLOWING AREAS: o Long term bonds — rising interest rates will cause bond prices to fall further o Commercial real estate — rising interest rates, falling occupancy levels and soft prices will continue to cause problems o Regional banks — rising interest rates, coupled with potential cash run, increases exposure to liquidity risk on LT bond investments o Highly speculative stocks with long-term horizon — as interest rates rise, future cash flows have lower value CONCENTRATION RISK AMONG MAJOR INDICES IS NOW GREATER THAN EVER • Russell 1000 Growth Index has generated 50% of returns YTD from 3 stocks (AAPL, MSFT and NVDA) • Russell 1000 Growth Index has generated 75% of returns YTD from 6 stocks (AAPL, MSFT, NVDA, AMZN, TSLA, GOOGL) • Many funds also generate most of their returns from 5-10 concentrated positions • Concentration risk in major indices is now among the highest ever • Investors are exposed now, more than ever, to a handful of stocks that could plummet. • Investors should examine that concentration risk of their investment portfolios and reduce the weight that is generated by only a few stocks • Investors should try to spread out their holdings to many stocks or investments to improve safety
WHERE WE ARE INVESTING NOW o
Entrepreneurial companies — with diversification across many holdings o Reduce concentration risk — more equity positions o Entrepreneurial companies with shorter duration o Entrepreneurial companies with low debt (bank exposure to companies that have refinancing needs) o Entrepreneurial companies that do NOT have elevated Market Cap/Rev or relative valuations o Markets will recalibrate with new interest rate scenario — stock pickers market o Pockets of optimism still exist, earnings have provided mixed results
US UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS STILL NEAR A 50 YEAR LOW – SOFT LANDING STILL MORE LIKELY THAN A RECESSION Despite Federal Reserve tightening, the US unemployment rate has, until recently, actually dropped (now 3.7%) • Unemployment rates are among lowest US has experienced in 50+ years • Technology companies continue to announce 100,000+ layoffs o Most layoffs are coming at the expense of H1B foreign workers o H1B foreign worker layoffs do not appear in unemployment statistics o US has 80m baby boomers which have started to become eligible for retirement since 2012 o 4.3m are becoming eligible per year (6.1m workers are unemployed as a basis of comparison — 3.6%) o As more baby boomers retire, the unemployment rates will drop even lower o The Federal Reserve is worried about wage inflation — this could become a problem in the future as companies rehire tech o There may be pent up demand for retirees to leave work force
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