Rock Point Advisors is a wealth advisory firm focused on helping clients make sound financial decisions and take advantage of the benefits of long-term investing. We are dedicated to managing portfolios in the context of plans carefully developed with our clients.
Since our founding in 2004, our financial planning and investment management efforts have been guided by our fiduciary duty to our clients and our belief that doing what’s right matters. We work hard to deliver practical advice and responsible investing to help clients achieve their goals.
Turbulent from the start, 2022 will be remembered as the year when inflation surged to levels not seen in forty years. Suddenly aware of the need to quell inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve and other central banks changed gears and began jacking up interest rates. Investors were clearly surprised by the policy shift and are still absorbing the implications of the apparent end of the “easy money” regime that had supported asset prices over the previous decade.
The quarter started with investors thinking the US was near or past peak inflation, and stocks gained 15% from their June lows. Hopes that the Federal Reserve would be able to fight inflation without risking job losses and/or a recession played a role in the rally - no doubt fear of missing out did too.
Any way you look at it, investment returns so far this year are among the worst on record. Not since 1970 have stocks dropped 20% in the first six months. Foreign stocks haven’t done any better, in part because most currencies have lost significant ground to the US dollar. Bonds have offered little respite - it has been a sell-off for the ages.
Context is important, however.
