We focus on long-term investing through the lens of the ancient proverb: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."

The Fed is taking strong action to combat inflation now, while also attempting to not slow down the economy too much. We consider this rate hiking cycle to be front-end loaded meaning there have been large moves made early on.

The goal of quantitative tightening (QT) is to help reduce inflation. At this time, inflation is at a multi-decade high, with headline inflation just over 8%. The Fed is attempting to apply QT without slowing economic activity too much.

When inflation is high, consumer sentiment tends to be low. This makes intuitive sense; as we're shopping and seeing higher prices, our dollars are not going as far as they used to. This is not the first time we have seen this setup with sentiment low and inflation high.

A "zombie company" refers to those barely alive companies that may be highly leveraged or unprofitable. They may not have earnings to pay their debts, so they walk among us waiting for lightning to strike.

A well-diversified portfolio is not reliant on any single asset class or factor for success. Diversification can seem sleepy at times, however, when markets diverge, the benefits sometimes shine.

Remember that the total return of any investment is the combination of income received (interest & dividends) and principal price changes. A low-interest-rate environment can lead investors down a path of taking on unintended risks.