Danger Zone
There are protests in China, the yield curve is out of whack, crypto is in a tailspin, everyone in Tech is getting laid off, nobody can afford a house, the war in Ukraine won’t end, and the railroads might shut down. It feels like we are entering some sort of economic and political Danger Zone.
As always, the news media loves getting the populace riled up and worried. Will there be a recession? What about unemployment? Will the market take a nosedive again? What will the Fed do about interest rates? When will Putin give up? The headlines flash across our screens like little ad-supported anxiety bombs.
But trying to predict the future is a fool’s errand, and worrying is a waste of time. It’s better focus on what’s in our control, right here and right now, and make a plan. Once we’ve taken care of those things, it’s time to rest easy. The future will come - that’s a guarantee - and it will probably be way weirder than we thought. Especially if you live in China. Everything is different in China.
Remember Seneca’s maxim: “There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.” In other words: we’ll be OK.
Devin Faddoul, CFP® is the founder of Adda Financial | Outsource your financial life. Focus on your real life.