Episode 117 - Marks on the Markets: All Investing is Impact Investing
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Once a month, we take a look back at what God is doing in the world of Faith Driven Investing and the global markets. We also spend time looking at current trends and outlooks with great interest and discernment in hopes to identify God’s redemptive work in the world. Tune in as Matt Monson of Sovereign’s Capital, Daniel Phillips of EverSource Wealth Advisors, and Ross Roggensack of Oak City Consulting push the conversation forward about faith, investment philosophy, and the frontiers where innovation is happening. This is Marks on the Markets for June 2022.
All opinions expressed on this podcast, including the team and guests, are solely their opinions. Host and guests may maintain positions in the companies and securities discussed. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as specific investment advice for any individual or organization.
Episode Transcript
Transcription is done by an AI software. While technology is an incredible tool to automate this process, there will be misspellings and typos that might accompany it. Please keep that in mind as you work through it.
John Coleman: Welcome back to the Faith Driven Investor podcast. This is John Coleman. And today we have our monthly marks on the Markets podcast where we find experts from around the industry to dig into the most prominent trends in the markets and the underlying economy as well as within faith driven investing. Today we have three extraordinary people on the call who can guide us through this. The first is Matt Monson from Sovereign's Capital. Matt leads the public equities capability at sovereigns and has a long and distinguished career at other equity managers around the United States. We have Daniel Phillips from Eversource Wealth Advisors. Daniel is the director of investments at Eversource. He helps to position individual portfolios as well as to select and screen investments for Eversource and also has a long and established track record in the industry and a deep understanding of financial markets and the instruments that access them. And then finally, our dear friend Ross Roggensack of Oak City Consulting. Ross is a founder and the leader of Oak City. He advises large institutions about their portfolios and selects investments on their behalf and has been a longstanding not only participant in the financial markets, but also a real pioneer and longstanding contributor to faith driven investing. And someone I know a lot of other folks in the industry look up to for his innovation in that space. So thanks so much for joining us, gentlemen. And we're excited to dive in.
Ross Roggensack: Good to be here.
John Coleman: So just to start again, we are living through exciting Financial Times right now and sometimes rocky Financial Times. Matt, I was hoping you could kick us off with just your opinion on what the latest is in financial markets, what's driving that declines this year and what do you see happening in the remainder of the year?
Matthew Monson: Thanks for the question, John. Good to be with you today. So if we rewind and start back on January 1st. What we've seen is that January 1st through the recent trot on June 16, the Russell 3000, you know, broad market indicator for market returns was down 24% and 24% is a big number. In fact, it was the fifth worst pullback that we've seen in the last 32 years. And so for perspective, the Great Recession, back in 2008, 2009, we were down 56% over a year and a half. And when COVID started, we were down 34% over two months. And the two other large pullbacks we saw were 2000 and 2002 connected to the tech bubble and 9/11. And those were also down in the 36 - 30% range, both of them. So that leaves this 24% pullback that we saw through June 16 as the fifth largest since 1990. So since June 16, now the market's been up 6.7%, which leaves us now year to date, down about 18 and a half percent. And no one really knows whether the recent trot on June 16 was the bottom of this pullback or if we have further down side to go. If we look at the data, though, there's two key things that I look at just to assess where we're at. First is the multiple on earnings and then second is the absolute level of earnings. And so if we look at the multiple on earnings in over the last 20 years, the S&P 500 has traded at about 16 times forward earnings. And as of January 1st, when we were at a peak in the market, we were trading at 22 times forward earnings. And since that time, we've fallen down to 16 and a half times today. And so now we're back in line with the historical earnings multiples. In terms of where earnings are at, you've seen a really nice run up in earnings. You know, pre-COVID, when things were, I think I'd say fairly normalized in 2019, you had $138 earnings in the S&P 500, whereas consensus earnings for the 12 months forward today is 237, which is a big number. So if instead you take that 138 pre-COVID number 2019 and you were to grow that at something normalized, call it 8%, and then layer in all the incremental inflation we've seen above and beyond normal run rates. You know, that would put us at a number about 15% lower than where consensus is today. So is there about 15% lower earnings that could roll through consensus? I think there is. You know, could we see that as an incremental draw down in markets? I think so. But that doesn't mean that markets will get all the way there. It's possible that they do. And it's also possible that markets won't go all the way there and people start buying and buying the dip. So we don't know what'll happen. But as we try to gauge what our downside looks like, that's what we think about. One thing that I think is interesting is that off a trot there's usually a really fast recovery. So within the first 90 days after those big seven trots that I just mentioned, you know greater than 20% drawdowns in the market, that first 90 days out of the trots, markets are up 27%. And so investors are really rewarded for being fully invested. At the bottom. And so as I just think through markets, if the draw down feels significant and if we feel like the multiple is a reasonable multiple on a normalized level of earnings, I'm focused on assessing how much more downside there could be, but also thinking through how much upside there's going to be coming out of the trot and not wanting to miss those first few days and weeks of it.
John Coleman: And Daniel and Ross, just building on what Matt saying there, obviously a couple of fears that he's highlighting are that this inflationary environment, which has got people scared, will be doubled with a recessionary environment, one in which the economy contracts. We had a little bit of contrary news this morning where jobs are actually looking better than anticipated. As you hear what Matt said with, you know, as much as 50% additional downside in the markets, although that's certainly no guarantee of that. How are you thinking about the remainder of the year? Do you see those risks as high or are you keeping an eye out for a recession right now? I would love to get your thoughts on what you think the potential risks moving forward for the rest of the year are.
Ross Roggensack: I think that we never really know. I've been around for all of the dips that Matt was talking about. So I'm the old guy on the call. So I've seen all this before and you never there is no bottom, you know, we don't know the bottom until well after. We don't know if we're in recession until well after. I think the biggest surprise for us this year, not surprise, but the biggest pain point for us has been the bond market. The bond market is usually the way that we can lever against a big drawdown and the bond market through June 30th. Just to Bloomberg [...] is down over ten. Corporates are down 15% and emerging market bond funds are down over 20%. So this sort of free lunch, we've always been used to where we can put bonds up against stocks and it will ease some of that pain. It's only made it worse. And so, you know, with positioning is pretty hard right now unless you're already in cash, unless you're already in something else, it's really difficult to, for example, pull money from bond funds or bonds to put in stocks because they're already down a lot, too. So it's a tough position if you aren't already ready for it, if you're in a tough spot.
Daniel Phillips: Sure. So I would just add to that that just given where we are following up on Matt and Ross's comments, it's just going to be very difficult for the Fed to manage inflation back 600 basis points or so to their policy target without creating a recession. And that really hasn't been done before. And I just think the real question is how long does it take us to enter a recession and then how deep is that recession going to be? We know it's coming at some point, but timing is always just the big variable. We're in the late part of the economic cycle from all of the coincident indicators, and the Fed's just using very blunt hammers of monetary policy to create enough demand destruction to cool the economy off. And we've seen the market's response today, but the Fed isn't still halfway done, given their guidance at the same time. On the other hand, corporations and households are overall in pretty good shape, strong corporate profits, strong cash balances. And the employment numbers that, John, that you mentioned, we had a great employment number this day, although initial claims are starting to lift off again. So that's the counterbalance. And so the question, of course, is when inflation is stretching everyone, especially those in the lower incomes that are most impacted and haven't recovered from COVID, but I go back to it would be really helpful if you guys could let me know when and how deep.
John Coleman: So yeah, we'd all like to know that maybe just to pick up on what you're talking about, Daniel, because I think this is a really important topic and then we'll circle back to how you all are thinking about positioning your clients portfolios, which I think is an important thing to touch on. Obviously, the question right now is how the Fed and the federal government in the US can implement their tools to try and tame inflation while preventing a severe recession. You know, the danger whenever you're trying to raise interest rates and tame inflation is that you go too far, too fast and tip us into a more dramatic recession or that you don't go far enough and we end up with both an inflationary and a stacked environment. Stagflation like the late 1970s. I would love your perspectives on just how you think the federal government and the Federal Reserve are responding right now and what tools you would encourage policymakers to use to ensure that we do tame inflation, but do so in a way that's not too dramatically impactful to the underlying economy. And maybe, Daniel, would you mind starting there?
Daniel Phillips: Sure. So the two big policy tools you mentioned are monetary policy and fiscal policy. And on the fiscal side, the Biden administration has been noticeably silent about any new stimulus measures really for the last several months after pushing very hard last year. So they've gotten the message and they've pulled back. And so don't expect support from the economy on that side or more stimulus on that side any time soon. On the monetary policy front, the Fed is now aggressively raising rates and some people would argue that they're already going too far, too fast. But they are really trying to avoid a situation in which inflation expectations get ingrained in the consumer psyche and corporate expectations. And we have a runaway situation like we had several decades ago. And so they're moving fast. We'll know in hindsight, with the bit of hindsight, whether they were right or wrong. But it's hard to differ with them for that aggressive response that they're now having after being very slow and claiming it was a transitory problem for the last 12 months leading up to their more aggressive stance earlier this year.
John Coleman: When it is, you know, and Matt, I want to get your perspective as well. But it is such an interesting confluence of events right now. I mean, we had almost a decade and a half, actually very low interest rates with fiscal stimulus at various times. COVID obviously led to a ton of fiscal stimulus, even though employment recovered very quickly out of that. And then we've had these supply chain problems, whether in gas and oil or in other parts of the economy, which are also inflationary. They raise prices. And so there has been this confluence of easy money, fiscal stimulus and supply chain disruptions that have really ratcheted up inflation. And it was unfortunate that it was thought of or characterized as transitory for so long when it did seem to be structural earlier and earlier, action might have been helpful. Matt, as you think about that question of the tools that our policymakers have at their disposal, what do you hope to see from the Federal Reserve or the federal government moving forward in order to manage this problem?
Matthew Monson: I think the Fed will be able to accomplish demand destruction through raising rates. The other side of the equation, though, is supply. And as the both of you have already commented on briefly, if we see China move away from a zero-covid policy and start putting people back to work and delivering goods, then that starts to ease supply chain issues. And we've also seen through just a really strong economy over the last couple of years. There's a number of businesses, both domestically and overseas, that brought on more capacity. And some of that capacity has already come on. Some of the capacity, you know, like semiconductors, everyone sees on the headlines. Some of the capacity is coming on in a year from now or whenever that might be. And so both sides of that equation are important, because if you destroy demand but supply is going down, then you could still see high prices. Whereas if you destroy demand and you see supply neutral or going up, then I can see inflation coming back in check. And as Daniel said, I think that a recession is not just an obvious conclusion, but it's probably a necessary conclusion to bring inflation back in check in. The faster we can do it, the better. Because otherwise you can enter this death spiral of, you know, picture it where there's high prices of goods on the shelves. And so the worker goes to the employer and says, I need higher wages because I'm getting pinched on what I'm buying. And next thing you know, they make higher wages so they can afford higher priced goods on the shelves. And it just goes in cycles because if there's no obvious end to that.
John Coleman: Ross, I want to come back to you because you were talking about the fact that, you know, with bonds also suffering right now, there hasn't been an easy answer to positioning client portfolios. You advise sophisticated institutions with large pools of capital. How are you helping those institutions weather this period of volatility right now? And how are you positioning their portfolios to do that effectively?
Ross Roggensack: Well, like today's news so often and again, I'm the old curmudgeon in the crowd here, John, it's often just noise. And you have to be careful to differentiate news from noise and what makes you do something. And so this spring, we finally had enough news that it felt to us like it was time for us to make some adjustments. The Federal Reserve kind of reversed course. Inflation was not transitory. And then the Russian invasion of Ukraine, all those three things together made us stop and finally reduce equities a bit. Pullback, fixed income as much as we could. It was already at a minimum level, so we pulled the bed more, we raised cash and we added to our allocation to real assets dirt, oil and gas, things that are inflationary in that way. And so we've already made those changes. So we have a lot of cash and a lot of real assets and less equities. I think if you're scrambling now to adjust your late, it doesn't mean you can't do it. It just means it's a lot more difficult because of what I said before with with just a 50:50 allocation is down 11% through June. That's a really hard time to try to reallocate those assets. So that's what we've done. I do think, as Matt was saying before, equities are getting a lot more interesting. I think that if you look at stocks over five and ten year rolling periods, if you are a long term investor, it's very seldom that you lose money over a five or ten year rolling period. It's really hard to do. And so we think you don't want to panic here. Certainly you should be eyes more wide open to adding to, especially to US small caps, value oriented companies that are much cheaper. They've gotten beat up a lot worse than large cap even. So, we're looking in those kind of areas right now.
John Coleman: Daniel, any differences in the way that you're thinking about advising individuals right now? Obviously, you have the opportunity to speak with a number of individuals. What are you advising them during this period?
Daniel Phillips: Right. Well, just for context at Eversource, Wealth Advisors obviously were asked allocators for private individuals and families. And we really allocate to three major asset classes, equities, fixed income and then the private markets section of a broad alternative space, which would include private credit, private real estate and private equity. And so when we're thinking about the big themes we've all mentioned that are impacting markets that our clients lives, it's just very important to us that we have a thorough understanding of each client's objectives, that risk tolerance and their time and liquidity constraints, because that's what really dictates how defensive or opportunistic we can be in this environment. So back to your question. Headed into 2022, we saw very elevated valuations in both US equity and fixed income markets and sectors and many of our clients were under allocated to private markets. So we were taking advantage of the opportunity to allocate to more defensive strategies that would perform well and a already very inflationary environment. Those included private market strategies like adding to core or value add real estate, primarily focused on multifamily or direct lending to US middle market companies primarily and senior secured floating rate debt funds. Now, as this correction in equity and fixed income markets has continued, that opportunity set, I would say, is shifting. And as a general rule, private markets tend to lag. Public market valuations and public markets tend to recover more quickly, as already been mentioned today, as this correction continues, if it continues in a significant way, we would probably shift our capital allocation focus back to public markets, equity and fixed income on the margin.
John Coleman: That's super helpful. Daniel. Ross, I want to come back to something that you touched on earlier and then maybe also ask Matt to comment if he has anything to add. As we zoom out from the U.S. economy. You talked about emerging markets earlier, Ross. I know that you watch those markets closely. You talk about the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on global markets. If investors are thinking about their international exposure, what are the similarities and differences between some of those international markets right now in the U.S. markets? And are there opportunities or risks that you see abroad that are very different than those we're facing at home?
Ross Roggensack: Well, they're certainly they've been exposed in Russia and in China. Those have been terrible markets to be in. It's been a real focus on U.S. equities for so long that you have to wonder just a reversion to the mean will international and emerging come back? And we've avoided international markets mostly were in U.S. and emerging. We've avoided Russia and China as we have a freedom waiting to our emerging markets investment. But I'm certainly curious about emerging markets. We've also had at the same time, we've had this profound rally in US stocks. We've had a profound rally in the dollar, which is really hurtful for international and emerging market equities. And so should we get a situation, for example, like China, who is about to really stimulate their economy? I don't know when it's going to happen. We all know it's going to happen. And when that happens, we're probably going to see the dollar go down a bit, which would really be helpful for emerging international stocks. So we're sort of keeping our eye on China right now. We're not investors in China, but we certainly think that can drive returns going forward in emerging. So I would certainly keep my eye on that happening. And if it does, you should start to see some money flow back to emerging international equities for sure.
John Coleman: And before I ask Matt to pick up on that comment, Ross, one thing I love that you mentioned in passing is that Oak City incorporated, is this idea of a freedom waiting and monitoring the ethical behavior of countries outside the United States to determine whether you have exposure. And, you know, for a long time, people have argued on two fronts. First, that that's the right thing to do from a values perspective. And secondly, that long term that's actually a financially beneficial thing to do, and that you have higher hopes for countries that are respectful of human rights, that are more prone to democracy, etc., than you would have autocracies or countries that are disrespectful of human rights. And I think certainly that Russia in particular has proven an affirmation of that thesis right now. And and I think a lot of the same risk factors are at play in China right now, not just with some of the ethical lapses that people rightly highlight, but also the risk factors that if they were to invade Taiwan or if there were other international disruptions, that they could face a similar contraction or dynamic like Russia. So I think that's something that Oak City has done that I find really interesting in both a line from a values perspective and also from an economic perspective. Matt, are you seeing anything substantively different in international markets right now or do you have a sense for other factors that might be at play?
Matthew Monson: Yeah, I would say I'm in full agreement with Ross. His comments about those were spot on. A couple of those that really resonate with me are just kind of waiting for some of that mean reversion and non-U.S. equities to occur and any of the strength in the dollar to unwind. But in general, we're domestic equity investors and at these valuations we're excited.
John Coleman: I want to pivot a little bit now just away from the pure economy. One of the benefits of all three of you is you're not just really smart investors. You're also deep in the faith driven investing movement, which is obviously important to the folks listening to this podcast. Daniel I might ask you to lead off and then Ross, I would love for you to follow. If you don't mind, why don't you just give us an update on the state of faith driven investing as you see? What progress are you seeing in faith driven investing right now? What trends are you most excited about and where do we need to make more progress?
Daniel Phillips: So in the public markets within the last year, I think the primary thing I've noticed is a marked change in the conversation, moving away from an emphasis on avoiding companies with objectionable practices to more of an emphasis on engagement. So John, I think your message than all investing is impact investing is getting through and investors are starting to wake up to the influence that they're giving these large asset managers like BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street and the ESG practices those firms are pushing in boardrooms all across corporates in America. And some of those policies are good, they're helpful. But others don't align well with the Christian worldview, and they don't value the flourishing of people, which is where God's heart is. So I'm thinking of even that conversation this last week with a client who was just very focused on this just in an active, vocal way. So I think that there's just going to be a growing demand for asset managers that will build excellent products like Vanguard and BlackRock to take their stewardship responsibilities seriously from a Christian worldview.
John Coleman: That's great. Daniel. Ross, what are you seeing right now in the evolution of the industry?
Ross Roggensack: Well, usually the institutional market leads the retail market, but the opposite has happened here. We've seen the smaller retail market, individual investor, lion's den sort of investor lead us out. And so we're starting to slowly see better and better quality and think about people like Victor and James at Lumos and think about Patrick Fisher at Creation. I think of other people that are very high quality investors that are in our world now in the institutional space. And so what we're starting to open up to is that there's real quality in solving the problems like education and world poverty and other things that are in front of us from people that are well trained and well positioned, that are, you know, have excellent product to offer us to offer to our clients. And so it's really exciting. The last five years and five years ago, we really didn't have very much, to be honest, to offer. And it is exploding and getting better. And I think, you know, like Daniel said back to your all investing is impact investing. I think it's getting through. I think the ESG movement is getting through to the faith led movement to say, hey, we can do this. And so really highly qualified people with pristine backgrounds are coming to the market and that's very exciting for us. On the institutional side, for sure.
John Coleman: That is encouraging. And Matt, I know you're very focused on the public markets and on driving faith driven, investing in the public markets, but aware of others doing great things as well. What's your view on how the public markets are evolving and are you seeing the same thing that Daniel is in terms of engagement and more positive screening as well?
Matthew Monson: Yeah, building off of Daniel's comments, which I fully agree with, you know, the market and public equities is really built on a foundation of negative screening and those tools have worked really well for us for a long time. But I see a transition towards, as Daniel mentioned, coming alongside companies and CEOs that are doing incredible things for the flourishing of man. And what we've found through data is that you can stand alongside companies like that and achieve investment returns that are very attractive [vis a vis] the market. And through strategies like that, you can also deliver impact, which is historically something that's been difficult to achieve in the public equity markets, in private markets. It's easier to achieve impact coming alongside companies, delivering them primary dollars they can put to work that you can see the impact on employees, communities, customers. Whereas in the public markets, impact has historically been more challenging because you're buying secondary shares and the companies don't really know who their shareholders are. But what we've seen is the ability for investors to come alongside CEOs to encourage them with the best practices they see from other faith driven CEOs, and to drive spiritual integration deeper across corporate America. So I think it's a really exciting time for this next leg forward in what faith driven public equity can do.
John Coleman: That is exciting. And as Ross mentioned, you know, the space is evolved so much over the last five years, it still has further to go. You all highlighted some great progress that we've made so far. If you had a magic wand to kind of wave and introduce additional strategies or additional ways of approaching faith driven investing here, what's the next horizon for the industry? What do you think are the big gaps right now and what are you looking for? And Daniel, perhaps you could start, if you don't mind.
Daniel Phillips: Sure. So just back to just my earlier comment, I think we need to see more institutional level asset managers come into the public market space and create high quality product, particularly product that can gain scale on the index side and really compete with the high quality products that BlackRock and Vanguard have created. But product that really focuses on engagement from a Christian worldview perspective with U.S. corporations and really balances out a lot of the pressure that these corporations are getting from the other side of the spectrum. So we would be very excited to see movement on that front.
John Coleman: Ross, anything on your mind on that topic?
Ross Roggensack: Well, I was thinking the other day, I would really love to see somebody figure out how to invest in the ability to clean water across the world. I think that it's really hard for us and if we can find a faith driven kind of organization that would try to tackle that, it affects so many people. I would love to see more things that affect human flourishing, like affordable health care and again, clean water, a better environment that can sort of love our neighbors in a way that's tangible and also be good investments for institutions. So I would I would love to see that I'm looking forward. If anybody wants to holler at me, I'm glad to listen.
John Coleman: Well, as we conclude our podcast today, I want to ask a couple of questions here. First, I'm going to do a lightning round and put you all on the spot with a couple of basic questions about the economy. And then we'll conclude just with a quick question to each of you about what you're learning from God through his word right now that you think might be helpful to others just to prepare you for that. If you don't mind, in a few sentences. But the lightning round first and maybe as we go through this, I'll ask Matt to lead us off and maybe Daniel, you go second, Ross you go third. What do you expect inflation to be over the course of the next 12 months? If you had to put a number to it.
Matthew Monson: I would bet that we come down from the level of 8% we're at today and we start to enter way down. We won't reach all the way down to the Fed's target, but I think that we'll start making progress in that direction.
Ross Roggensack: Higher, I'd say 10%.
Daniel Phillips: So as the supply chain eases in China, we'd hope to see that trend down more towards 5% towards the end of the year. But it's there's still a significant part of that that's structurally persistent. Still, without the Fed creating enough demand destruction.
John Coleman: I got a little divergence of views there.
Ross Roggensack: Yeah, sorry. I think I don't think the Fed can handle it. I think inflation goes higher, oil goes higher, grains go higher, and they just can't. But who knows? That's why it's a market, right? Yeah.
John Coleman: I'm a little nervous.
Daniel Phillips: God's in control. The Fed is not.
John Coleman: Ross has seen more cycles than the rest of us, so that does give me pause. Similar question. Do you think we're in recession right now? And if we slip into recession, how long do you think it lasts? Matt, maybe lead us off.
Matthew Monson: I don't think that we are yet. And just my gut is that if the Fed could manage it and we slip into one, I think it's a shorter term, more shallow recession. Maybe that's too much of a glass half full kind of answer. I'd love to hear from Ross second, because he had a really good contradiction last time around.
Ross Roggensack: Yeah, I don't know if we are in a recession. I think that I don't really worry about it. I think we're in a bear market for sure. And I think that we're in a position where the government is not our friend and the Fed is not our friend. If they're raising rates and if the government's trying to figure out ways to spend more money, and then bode well for capital markets for a while until we figure out maybe we can get through the midterm elections and maybe there's some hope that comes through that we can kind of right the ship. But for now, you know, and recession or not, we're in a place where it's usually not great for capital markets.
Daniel Phillips: Right. Well, the official arbiter of who decides when a recession starts will tell us, I'm sure, 6 to 12 months down the road. But my instinct would be just know from how strong current corporations and individuals are, financially speaking, that were fast moving in that direction. And inflation has really been like a rubber bands just stretching, stretching, stretching. And the Fed is trying to ease it back without popping it pretty bad.
John Coleman: Last lightning round question this time next year, is the S&P500 higher or lower than it is today? Let's start with Ross.
Ross Roggensack: Well, it's always a coin flip one year, right? So I think the odds are higher. 60:40 is usually the way it is, so it's probably higher, although we'll see how much higher.
John Coleman: Daniel, what do you think?
Daniel Phillips: So I have to contradict Ross just for the sake of argument and so probably lower, but there's no confidence going into that answer right there.
John Coleman: Matt, any difference of opinion? You might be the tie breaker here.
Matthew Monson: I would place my bet on the same or a little bit higher.
John Coleman: Okay. Okay. So we've got a relatively optimistic view of the public markets over the next year. Just as we conclude, gentlemen, given that we are the Faith Driven Investor Podcast, I want to go around and just ask you for a brief word of encouragement, something that you're learning from God through his word right now that you think might be useful to others. And Daniel, if you don't mind, maybe you could start.
Daniel Phillips: Sure. So just most recently, I think I've been convicted for myself and our firm by passage from the end of Colossians, three, that's addressed to servants that talks about working diligently to the Lord, not by eye service or people pleasing, but with sincerity fear in God, because it's Him we're serving and He is the one who is going to give us our inheritance or our reward. And it's so easy in the business of finance and investing, I think, to get distracted and to pivot with people's perceptions. But we do. And we serve the great perceiver who sees all and knows all our hearts and he is after our hearts. So I just want us to bring that mindfulness, myself and our firm, everyone who works there to work each day and serving our clients.
John Coleman: Awesome word. Awesome word. Ross, what would you offer today?
Ross Roggensack: Two things real fast. I'm reading a book called The Economics of the Parables by Robert Sirico. It's really interesting, and it's just it's just a lot of moral, economic wisdom taken straight from the parabels that I would recommend to folks that haven't finished it yet, to be honest, but just received it. And it goes through parable by parable. I think it covers 14 of them. The other thing just on my mind is the assassination of Shinzo Abe in Japan just kind of should remind us all. I was thinking about what would have happened if after Ronald Reagan left office, if he were assassinated. And that's what the people in Japan are going through today. And so it should take our mind off of whether Elon Musk is going to buy Twitter or what the Fed's going to do. There's more important things to think about than those little things that really don't affect us day to day.
John Coleman: Very true. Very true. And I know everyone's sympathies are with Shinzo Abe's family today and with the people of Japan. Thank you for bringing that up Ross. Matt, close this out. What are you learning right now that you want to share?
Matthew Monson: You know, I've just been drawn towards a bias to action. And there's this verse. It's a little bit of a life first for me and the end of Luke nine, where it says anyone who puts her hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for service in the kingdom. And, you know, every time I feel like I'm really being directly led, all assess it, but I'm not going to sit and wait on it. For 12 months, I really have been moving towards a bias to action. And and it's just something that resonates deeply with me.
John Coleman: Well, gentlemen, an excellent session today. We have Matt Monson from Sovereign's Capital, Daniel Phillips from Eversource Wealth Advisors and Ross Roggensack from Oak City. We are very grateful you joined us today and very grateful for the advice you gave us. Thanks so much.
Ross Roggensack: Thank you, John.
Daniel Phillips: Thanks, John.