It’s week four of 2024, and time is seemingly flying by. If you are still miles away from attaining your New Years goals, do. not. fret. You have time, and it works if you are patient.

We’ll get to the topic of faith in the later part of this newsletter. Until then, let’s cover the happenings in the stock market.

So far, the January has been a bumpy month. The stop-start nature of markets, have few on edge, but deserves to be noticed. Year-to-date the S&P 500 has returned -0.7% while the MSCI World Index is down -5.1%.

In past years, investors relied on an old adage that reads, “as January goes, so does the rest of the year.” This means, if January was a “positive” return month so would the entire year. If January had a “negative” rate of return, the rest cumulative return of the calendar year would follow suit.

I’m here to tell you to disregard this old adage.

Since 1900, out of the 15 times when January started with negative returns, only 6 years ended negatively.

If you’re struggling to process volatility, let time work for you. If you aren’t, tell a friend it will be okay and be a friend to those who are struggling with volatility.

Let’s dive into the rest of this weeks newsletter.

A word of encouragement: risk to align

In the financial services industry, we spend a significant amount of time discussing risk.

We talk about ways that we can reduce client risk, help them to diversify risks, and how we can increase their risk-free rate of return. These conversations are important, valuable and need to be had.

Yet, what is risk? 

I’ve really paid special attention to this concept over the last year. Still, it’s hard to find the exact answer.

The answer applicable to most is that the biggest risk that you can take is not aligning with your most ideal life.

Often, I find that many of the people that we serve do not know what their individual mission is in life which makes it hard for them to align their dollars and their actions with their goals. This in itself is a risk.

There’s work to be done. Some of that has to do with financial planning, most of it has to do with the choices you make daily, monthly and annually that get the idea of your best life out of your mind and into the world.

Formerly, this work was seen through the lens of retirement, and typically only retirement planning. Now, I challenge you to think about goals and risk as they are applicable to the design and attainment of your most fulfilling life.

Here are some questions to think about:

• What is my mission?

• Am I living my mission?

• What is stopping me from living the life that I desire?

• Am I acting in a way that can help me to attain my desired life?

• Who can help me?

No matter who you are, how old you are or where you are. It is not too late to start to pursue your pursue. It belongs in the world, and you deserve to have it.

Think about this opportunity cost - the cost of not pursuing your ideal life - as you move through your week.

We’re on YouTube!

Our firm has a YouTube channel! Our goal with this endeavor is to teach business owners and professionals how to align their money with their purpose.

You can watch our first video and subscribe below:

Go out this week and be your best self. Until next week ….

Team Yarnway Wealth