💰 📫 The Black Tax | Monthly Digest #39

💰 📫 The Black Tax | Monthly Digest #39 | Mar-24

Published: Mon, 04/01/24

Sweat Your Assets Monthly Digest - March 2024

Hi ,

March was another excellent month for Investors. Every Asset Class performed well regardless of what you hold, from gold to crypto to equities. Clearly, it matters a lot when and at what price you bought them first.

While it is great to see a portfolio performing well, coping with any F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out) effect and the trade-off between buying more now (at high prices) and waiting for any upcoming correction can be stressful.

While these questions might look like simple "Investing 101" concepts, we are never completely immune to second-guessing. No matter how seasoned we are, we still have to manage such feelings.

That's why a dollar-cost averaging method and a well-balanced portfolio sound, for many, a good solution.

MARKET BAROMETER

An eye view of Stock Market Indicators, as of March-29, 2024:

US Fed Funds Rates: 5.25-5-50 (no changes)
ECB Interest Rates: 4.50 (no changes)

[This month | previous month | previous two months | % changes over five years].

VIX (volatility index) - the fear gauge: 13.60 |13.44 | 13.83 | +6,61% (Fear perception has been rather stable over the last quarters).
S&P 500: 5,254 | 5,096 | 4,906| + 81.64% (Record High and growing).
S&P 500 P/E Ratio: 28.52 | 28.11 | 26.63. (Historically, the median value is 17.86, with a typical range between 19.33 and 27.91. We are now over the high end of the P/E Ratio ranges).
BND: USD 72.63 | 72.22 | 73.66 | -10.03%.
VNQ: USD 86.48 | 85.55 | 85.41 | -1.55% (stable real estate trend in the US).
GLD: USD 205.72| 189 | 190 | +68.65% (Gold valuations are at all times high).

SWEAT YOUR ASSETS QUOTES

Happiness. Nobody wants to believe happiness is a choice, because that puts responsibility in their hands. It’s the same reason people self-pity: to delay action, to make an outcry to the universe, as though the more they state how bad things are, the more likely it is that someone else will change them. Brianna Wiest
Time. Time is the friend of the consistent and the enemy of the inconsistent. Anonym
Being Broke. Broke is such a harsh word. I prefer illiquid. Raymond Red Reddington

MY LATEST POST: THE BLACK TAX

Have you ever heard of the Black Tax?
I learned firsthand about the Black Tax by observing the enormous sacrifice and dedication of several friends of mine—economic migrants—to support their families and communities back home. Still, it took me some reading to fully grasp its complexity.