“Optimism sounds like a sales pitch. Pessimism sounds like someone trying to help you .” Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money I do believe parts of the stock market are due for a reality check. But our big-picture, combined with our investment process says to hang in there. Connect with us now, especially if anything has changed for you. Remember April and Tariff Tantrums? Portfolio risk still matters Does is feel like stocks have done better than they actually have this year? Last year was a bumper year. And this year many have likely already forgotten the sharp April tariff tantrums. In recent history, market reality checks have been brief. For example, COVID caused stock markets to drop aggressively, followed by a wild recovery. Then 2022 reminded investors that taking imprudent risk can burn you. This rapid cycle of loss and recoveries makes it easier to get complacent. Yet, historical patterns suggest this isn't the time to ignore risk. It's easy to take on more risk after enjoying strong returns. But this can be dangerous—history doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes. Let’s talk portfolio risk; risk can = rewards; but at what price? Let’s take a humble breath. Recall the math and logic of portfolio losses. Bigger portfolio risks require a higher pain tolerance. Large portfolio losses are hard to recover from. If a $100,000 portfolio loses 20%, it drops to $80,000. To get back to even requires a 25% return on your $80,000.  It’s easy to take on more and more risk when we are being rewarded. But many experienced retirees know, “easy come, easy go.”