Investment Updates From Savvy Financial

Patience is easiest to admire in hindsight and hardest to practice when everyone else appears to be making money.

That pressure seems particularly strong when a highly anticipated company enters the public markets. Early gains create urgency. Headlines reinforce the excitement. Waiting can begin to feel less like discipline and more like an opportunity slipping away — and this summer, no debut generated more of that feeling than SpaceX.

What makes these moments difficult is that the discomfort is real. Nobody enjoys standing still while others appear to be moving. But the feeling of falling behind and the fact of falling behind are two very different things, and markets have a long history of rewarding investors who can tell them apart.

This month’s Note examines the excitement surrounding initial public offerings (IPOs), how the fear of missing out can influence investment decisions, and why a disciplined, repeatable investing process asks a different question than the crowd.

But first, here’s a summary of the global asset classes utilized in our portfolios and their exposures for August.

Certainty has a way of sometimes working against investors in both directions.

When markets are falling, it shows up as conviction that losses will continue. When markets are rising, it can reappear as confidence that gains have gone too far, that a correction is overdue, or that strength itself is a warning sign.

June offered a useful illustration. Equity markets softened during the month, but the broader second quarter remained exceptionally strong. That combination tends to produce discomfort. The data points to a constructive market environment, while instinct often argues for caution.

This month’s Note examines previous periods of unusually strong quarterly equity returns, what tended to happen afterward, and why strong markets have often deserved more respect than investors are inclined to give them. It also explores why a systematic investing process can help with navigating the space between evidence and uncertainty.

But first, here’s a summary of the global asset classes utilized in our portfolios and their exposures for June.