Happy New Years! What a great way to start the year with a new goal for the LBF dividend portfolio! The goal is to add 500 shares of the Q’s! The purpose of this goal has to do with making my investments more passive overall. Buying individual stocks come with homework! Don’t get me wrong I love the homework, but I do want to focus more of my attention towards other areas in life moving forward.

The other plan for this year is to focus more on exercise to compensate for all the crazy eating we have been doing. We have been eating about $4000 worth of food on average every month. I know I know it’s crazy! But soon enough we will be stopping this food adventure! Perhaps it is time to start that gym membership once again or invest in a home gym system.

It is now that time of year to be honest with yourself and get some thoughts down on paper. I like making rough projections and expectations down on paper so a year later I can come back to find out how inaccurate one can be and be reminded how the markets can humble you. 😌

Notes

Market correction in 2022 did not quite temper investor optimism as much as I had anticipated.
My expectation for market returns this year is about the mid single digits. However, we started this year coming out swinging as the Nasdaq is up a whopping 10.6% for the month of January. I do expect the Nasdaq to be the best performer this year after a horrible last somewhere in the low double digits.
Inflation will likely continue to come down quicker than most expect near 3% by end of year.
Earnings and guidance will likely continue to guide lower for many companies tempering investor optimism.
More layoffs are likely to be announced over the entirety of this year.
Unemployment will trend upwards but not enough for FED’s to reverse course.
Rate increases will come to a stop for the year after another quarter or two raises.
Home prices could come down 15-25% over the course of next 2 years.
Anticipation of FED pause may have been priced into the market this month.

The current normalized rates will likely be with us for the foreseeable future unless an unexpected event forces the FED hands. I tend to believe normalized rates are a good thing for the overall market. It does make investing more challenging, but it does create a healthier economy overall.

Let’s get this update in the books!