This Week in History

🗓️ On June 10th, 1916, the Great Arab Revolt against the Empire of the Ottoman Turks begins.

🐪 On the eve of World War I, the Ottoman Empire was a relic of centuries past, outdated and providing little value to its citizens. Revolutionaries stumbled upon an effective communicator who helped them create a grand strategy and kept their motivation up when things went wrong. His name was T.E. Lawrence, and he penned a quasi-autobiographical account, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, about his service. After his death, it became the basis for the movie Lawrence of Arabia. To quote from the book: “All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes to make them possible.”

😴 Allow me to translate for investment purposes; don’t become a relic. Today, the shifting sands of the financial industry have many investors revolting against investment models that are likewise outdated and provide little value. Dreams are important. They give us a place to strive for, something to work toward. But they are meaningless unless we have the strategy and tactics to make them real. This is a time where the tactics are especially important. As you can see at this link , since bottoming in October of 2022, the recovery from the most recent bear market in stock and bond markets has been uneven, with more conservative options lagging more aggressive ones. Bonds (represented by the aggregate bond index or AGG) have had a terrible time as interest rates have risen and stayed higher for longer than expected. But opportunities abound with other instruments like T Bills. Making that shift in tactics is important for making your dreams possible. So, dream on.