We are spending part of this week chaperoning the Florida State Thespians Festival. 3 days with thousands of dramatic teenagers is a pretty entertaining experience. We gathered a few observations during our visit:
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- Ronald Reagan was right when he said “Trust, but verify.” Teenagers will surprise you with the things they remember to do AND the things they manage to forget.
- The Tampa Bayshore Linear Walk trail and Riverwalk are really nice places to get some exercise. Miles and miles of waterside walking and good people-watching.
- The Westin Tampa Waterside is cashless, as are more and more hotels. If you want to leave a gratuity for a housekeeper, you need to come prepared ahead of time. This is increasingly common in many places.
- Some stories endure for a reason. We enjoyed Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, a great student production from the Miami Arts Studio. Young and old members of my group were moved by the story and its timeless look at family relationships.
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Q: Now the market has had a correction- what can we expect?
A: We’re not fortune tellers, but we think there continues to be benefit in reviewing past experiences. Those don’t predict what will happen, but they can provide context that helps support good decision-making during challenging times.
Chris Fasciano does just this, showing how markets have performed following previous corrections and drawing lessons from the tariff policies of the first Trump administration.
In a nutshell, good investment principles have been rewarded; namely balance, diversification, dollar-cost averaging, and other classic (if unsexy) practices.*
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*Dollar-cost averaging is a systematic investment plan that involves continuous investment, regardless of market conditions. Markets will fluctuate, and clients must consider their ability to continue investing during periods of low price levels. Systematic investment plans do not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets.