Last week we officially hit bear market territory for the S&P500, the widely used barometer of US stock market prices. As of the writing of this article, the market is down ~22% on the year. We all want to know how bad this will be. Is there anything we can learn from previous bear markets that might help?

I don’t know much about the real economic costs of cybercrime. (Pretty, but out of date infographic.) The majority of the costs are borne directly by government and businesses, but redistributed broadly in the form of higher prices and taxes. The costs are not all economic. Digital safety is critical in so many privacy concerns, civil rights issues and important debates about surveillance and freedom.

In the last few years almost 200 specialized 'thematic' ETFs and mutual funds have been created. The asset growth of thematic funds quadrupled. Thematic funds offer unique, tactical bets on investment opportunities grouped by a subject or motif. Typically, it’s about technology and our changing future. Thematic funds tend to be a bull market phenomenon, possibly a result of investor overconfidence and enthusiasm. (There’s a good line that bull markets make everyone look smart.) It’s an intuitive strategy: “Let’s invest in a handful of really smart innovative companies that people are excited about, the growth potential is incredible.”

I'm getting a lot of 'what do you think about the market right now?' questions from clients, friends, and neighbors. CNN’s ‘fear index’ says we are all in extreme fear. I don’t know about that, but maybe it's time to reflect.

Lifetime Financial has morphed into something more important to me. My wife, the mother of my two daughters, died from breast cancer in 2012. We spent the years before she passed travelling to over 40 countries with our young girls. It was financially risky, but we did it anyway. I would have a larger 401(k) now if we hadn’t, but who cares? We have stellar memories and stories with her. I’m trying to keep that ethos alive with clients. Last year I became a Registered Financial Life Planner with the Kinder Institute. I learned how to encourage clients to do fulfilling things they might otherwise have been afraid to do because of money fears. I still develop a safe, smart plan for retirement, but together the client and I find balance that leads to a flourishing life.

College has a big impact on a family’s long term finances. It’s a large expense that comes relatively quickly in the family financial lifecycle, so there isn’t a lot of time to see salary improvements and allow for beautiful, beautiful compound interest to do its magic. Most of us know college prices have gone up a lot faster than the Consumer Price Index, our general benchmark for inflation. But how much faster? What should you and I assume today about the cost of four-year college in 18 years?

What is umbrella insurance? It’s liability insurance. It pays for your legal expenses and losses if sued for a variety of incidents related to injuries to other people, some lawsuits, and damage to other people’s property. It doesn’t protect you from professional or work issues and it doesn’t protect your property or costs in an accident. Why do you need it? It’s strictly to help pay the costs of someone else’s misfortune, for which you are somehow financially responsible.

The question I get the most is ‘Should I invest my emergency fund in the stock market?’ Bank interest rates are at all-time lows and are not rising with interest rate hikes any time soon. Banks have enough consumer deposits and don’t need to compete. With inflation surging and the S&P 500 returning a blistering 14.36 % for the last 10 years, it’s painful to see your .5% bank account lose money in real terms.

If you checked your 401k statement for the last quarter, you lost money. (If you didn’t, I want to invest with you!) Even your usually boring and reliable bonds are down a lot. Bonds, broadly, are down more in the last three months than any same period since 1980. Worse, they are going down at the same time stocks are going down, another rare occurrence. Since last September the entire US bond market is down more than the entire US stock market by 5 percent!

What is a 403(b) and why does it exist? If you’ve ever asked you were probably told ‘it’s the nonprofit version of a 401(k)’ and that’s true more or less. The 403(b) was indeed created by Congress 1958 specifically for nonprofit organizations. It is the grandparent of the 401(k). 403(b) plans are fine if set up correctly, but there are many bad ones with lousy investments and high fees sold to trusting nonprofits by consultants and brokers that are not fiduciary financial advisors.

You are no doubt familiar with the group of mostly anonymous investors who last year coordinated the leveraged buying of GameStop, AMC, and other stock options, pushing up the price to the point that some hedge funds lost a lot of money. It was a good David and Goliath story and a new development in consumer investing. When I placed my first and only stock trade for GameStop in January of 2021, it was not with the idea that I believed in the stock. I simply wanted to see what it was like to buy into a frenzy. (I’ll cut to the chase; it was terrifying.)

Six months ago, I wrote my first weekly piece for this newsletter, or blog if you prefer. Since then, many people have joined this little community and it’s growing quickly. Each of these articles requires research, it’s not just musings. For every post you see here, there are dozens of articles read, half blogs written, and notes on scores of topics for future use. In the long run the real benefit of writing this blog is that it keeps me better informed for clients.

Imagine you pass away and leave $75,000 in a bank account (approximately the median inheritance for the 50th-90th percentile of total wealth.) That sum represents money you didn't you didn't need to earn, right? Effectively, says author of 'Die with Zero' Bill Perkins, you worked for 'free'. I would add you might have missed out on experiences (like travel) . You could have taken an amazing safari or two with that money!

According to Morningstar.com, smaller 401k plans, which includes most nonprofit orgs, are paying double the 401k fees of larger plans. Smaller 401k plans are defined as $25M total plan assets or smaller and make up 27% of the nation's 401k assets. Though fees have come down over time, small 401k plans have total expenses that are more than double the national retail investor average and larger 401k plans. That difference, .47%, doesn't sound like much but it is. In the meantime, how do you find out if your plan is expensive?

In 2007, Trish and I took the girls abroad to France, the UK and Ukraine, as my late wife's ancestors were from that area. As kids, 3 and 6, my daughters played on the Volga. Our hearts are with the people, the defenders, the vulnerable, and the families losing loved ones. I shed no tears for the men causing this war — my cynicism expects them to not suffer deeply. For nearly two decades of my professional life, I worked for international nonprofit organizations promoting rule of law, freedom of speech and fair elections. So where are the Socially Responsible Investing funds supporting democracy?