The following is the August 5, 2020, Earth Equity weekly email sent to clients and friends.
Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I touched base with everybody. My last communication was the quarterly webinar we hosted on July 15th. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, it is still available to view online. I’d like to say I slowed down some over the past few weeks, but unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.
Not much has changed during these past few weeks. Coronavirus cases continue to spread throughout the United States, deaths continue to rise, and the markets continue to ignore it all. Congress is fighting over how best to provide additional stimulus and safeguards to an already stretched-thin populace. The first hurricane of the year made landfall and brought a deluge of rain to the East Coast, while parts of California are burning…again. And of course, we’re in the middle of possibly the most important election of a generation.
All of this, and much that I’ve missed, can certainly put a strain on one’s psyche. I’m sure we’ve all had our moments of weakness as the pandemic, the fight for social justice, and the election cycle through our attention.
I found a great article from Thrive Global, providing some suggestions on how to stay positive during this incredibly challenging time. Below are my favorite suggestions, but please check out the article for a deeper dive.
- Practice gratefulness – every night, I spend just a few minutes writing the three things I am grateful for that day using an app called Day One on my iPhone.
- Start your day with a positivity routine – I’m not perfect with this, but every morning I make the bed, have breakfast, and set aside time for meditation before getting started.
- Relax your body – Along with the meditation, I’ve been practicing gentle, back care yoga a couple of times a week as well.
- Exercise – Although I haven’t been able to get back to my intense workouts with my trainer, I do regularly walk, either in our neighborhood or out at Biltmore.
- Incorporate humor and laughter into your day – And finally, we’ve been watching a series on Netflix hosted by Jerry Seinfeld called Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. It provides just enough laughs before bed to lighten the mood.
I’m a big fan of the phrase, This Too Shall Pass – and it will. The world will, no doubt, look different on the other side. But we will carry on, working together to make our world a better place.
On to business…
Markets continued their march back up to historic levels over the past few weeks. We experienced a bit of volatility, but the bulls took over again drove us upward.
This week, we rebalanced our diversified mutual fund portfolios, made a change of our international manager, and increased our international exposure. The rationale behind the decision is that much of the developed world is recovering faster than the United States, and we felt it was an opportune time to increase our exposure to those markets. In terms of our stock allocation, we still have the majority invested domestically, but believe the move to diversify more internationally will pay off in the long term.
We believe that there is still a good chance that we will see a W-shaped recovery, as I mentioned in the webinar, which is why we are maintaining the capital preservation strategy in our mutual fund portfolios. Those portfolios continue to perform quite well, however, considering their conservative nature. Check with your advisor to see your specific return numbers.
Some Earth Equity news to share – our new platform, ALIGN DIGITAL, has begun beta testing and should be open to the public in early September. This offering is for folks who don’t meet our minimum investment level of $250,000 but still want to invest sustainably and responsibly. It starts out at only $5,000. Check it out here and share it with anyone who you feel might be interested.
Additionally, we’ve had an incredible amount of new clients transition to Earth Equity in the past few months. They’ve seen the value of responsible investing during this difficult time. Many of those new folks have been introductions by current clients and friends – thank you so much. We are eternally grateful. Please continue to share my updates and Earth Equity information with your friends and family!
As always, thank you for your business and friendship. It’s good to be back writing my weekly updates again. Please send us your feedback and any questions or concerns you may have.
My Best,
Peter Krull
CEO & Director of Investments
Earth Equity Advisors, LLC
