One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them …
Here I am talking about a ring again. For regular readers of The Market Mindset, the ring I referenced before Christmas was found and yes, Santa did have to crawl under the house to slice into an air duct to claim the Precious. But with the 25th anniversary Lord of the Rings re-release at the theaters I couldn’t resist. I’m now urging my son, Landen, to at least finish “Fellowship of the Ring,” so we can get to the theater to see that one before the movies are gone. My other son, Caden, likes to wear the One Ring that came out of a Lord of the Rings Risk game, on a chain, even though he doesn’t really understand it, so I’ve brainwashed them well.
Like Frodo Baggins you are all on a Heroic Journey, and just like Frodo you all have a Great Burden like The One Ring to carry. More on that later.
But everyone’s talking about Greenland (who’s not talking about the upcoming ice storm this weekend). I really don’t want to talk about Greenland. It’s the one place in the world I haven’t booked a vacation to and then cancelled if you listen to my frustrated family. I’m surprised Norwegian Cruise Line still takes my calls. Unfortunately, the stock market’s not giving me much choice this week on bringing up Greenland. Remember the good old days three weeks ago when our US Techno-Warriors invading Venezuela with an awesome “Sonic Shield” that sent enemies to the ground1? That was something. Talking about Greenland is cool for the 8 seconds it takes to say, “Wouldn’t it be swell if we could shoot down an incoming nuclear ICBM because we were able to hit it at its apogee directly over Greenland?”
Here are some other things to know about Greenland. If you like the look of Rainbow Row in Charleston, have I got a place for you!! It’s called Nuuk2 … YOU get to decide how to pronounce it. If you like to work remotely, wear parkas, eat seal soup and LOVE brightly colored houses, you could find your nook in Nuuk. Or shoot down some nukes in Nuuk. For your domicile you MUST choose a Bright Yellow, Lime Green, Hot Pink, Bright Red, Bright Orange, Dark Blue or Light Blue house. (The Light Blue one is mine – hands off). Other things to know about Greenland are that it’s very cold but there are no penguins. There’s a Pituffik Space Base near the town of Qaanaaq, which must have won the award for world’s greatest palindrome town, where presumably the Federation builds and launches their ships which take the fight to the Klingon Empire. According to the movie “Greenland,” which I watched in the spirit of the news cycle this past weekend, there are bunkers already there ready to serve the wealthy and connected in case of an extinction event like a comet.
We all know why Greenland is in the news. It seems the place has not been defended, promises were made and now we want to buy it. I’m not here to quibble about whether it’s the right move or not. I couldn’t care less for politics. I’m here to put this news story in context for your portfolios.
Tuesday, the market suffered as the headline was:
“Dow slides 870 points, S&P 500 drops 2% for worst day since October on Trump tariff threat over Greenland.”3
Wednesday, the market recovered as the headline was:
“S&P 500 pops 1%, Dow surges nearly 600 points as Trump calls off Europe tariffs tied to Greenland”4
There was a framework of a deal in place with the NATO Secretary General, then the Danish prime minister claimed there’s not. Up and down. Up and down, which is all my cute little cousin Heather used to say when I put her on the raft in the ocean waves so many years ago. It’s really about tariffs again, which was the market’s 7-day nemesis after “Liberation Day” – April 1st, 2025 before a wild melt-up in the days and months following the announcement. Tariffs – they may not be a “sonic shield,” but they are an economic weapon. This week, the Supreme Court threatened to weigh in on the tariff debate. Many awaited a ruling that would deem the tariffs unconstitutional which would require some kind of massive payback of the duties. But the court engaged in “prolonging uncertainty” and opined on lesser cases while demurring over the constitutionality of the president unilaterally imposing a duty on foreign countries.
Prolonged uncertainty might as well describe trying to understand stock market gyrations. We’re always going to be uncertain (or we’d be on a beach in the Caribbean right now) and it’s always the state for an indefinite, prolonged time. But it’s going to be up and down following the cadence of the news cycle when seen through the lens of this past week. It’s like looking through a wide-angle lens, that, while it does capture more of a scene, it also creates an exaggerated perspective. The objects closer to the camera seem huge, more pronounced in importance, and distant objects are small and de-emphasized. If you’re weighing in your mind the impact of Greenland, tariffs, Venezuela, you name whatever news story you want to that doesn’t involve long-term issues like debts and deficits, then you’re looking through a wide-angle lens. When you do that, in the context of the much larger Heroic Journey, on which you, our retiree and near-retiree protagonists have embarked upon, then you are assigning the near object in the foreground, the news, out-sized importance, and have increased your potential of making mistakes based on very small blips on the line of your retirement time horizon.
If you want your Heroic Journey to end well, then you’re going to have to ignore a certain demonic thing calling out to you, and you’re going to have cast your very real One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom. You’re going to have to ignore its constant whispers of a never-ending news cycle, scaring you into selling your stocks and running for the hills. The real life One Ring does ring … and yet is not a ring at all, Gollum might riddle. It COMPELS us and we NEED it. What is it, Precious?? It is our cell phone, our modern-day Great Burden, which drowns us in constant unnecessary, distracting, counterproductive information, that fouls our minds with propaganda, self-aggrandizement and dribble directly from people that have their own agendas that don’t align with yours. Heroes need a shield from all the arrows on their heroic journeys. If you have enough income to get through retirement in a tax-efficient way, that allows you to spend more time by the waterfalls of Rivendell with your loved ones. Only then have you beaten the Enemy and all the Orcs the world has thrown at you. But you can’t be distracted by the news that might cause you to forget your long-term plans.
There’s always a Greenland in the news. There’s always a tariff-like story that swings the market. There are more that can be counted. We can’t overreact to these temporary conditions. We’re not in the business of swing trading. All the news stories out there that swing the market can make you feel like you’re supposed to be gaming the market every day, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Lay down your burden and pull yourself away from the screens that have come to dominate our lives. You’re the Hero in this story. We are your lovable sidekick Samwise, counseling you about what is important as we brave the dark, unknown mountain range ahead. It was Sam that kept Frodo focused on saving Middle Earth at Mount Doom and reminding him what he was fighting for. Sidekicks are there for a reason, so, dear Hero, have two ears ready for yours. If you listen to us, we’ll change your financial world …
Sincerely,
Scott Wright
Portfolio Manager
The Wealth Training Academy
(Marketing Disclaimer: Past performance is never a guarantee of future results. We offer a lot of services. Our planning, tax, and insurance strategies are designed to improve financial outcomes when implemented as recommended. We’re confident in these strategies, but results will vary based on individual circumstances. Investment results cannot be guaranteed. Unless otherwise indicated, no third party individuals mentioned in this article are clients of our firm, nor have they been compensated for appearing. This article is for educational purposes only. For personal advice about your situation please call our office. ~The Compliance Department.)
Sources:
1Sonic weapons claimed in Venezuela Maduro capture operation by witness | Fox News
21,439 Nuuk Greenland Stock Photos – Free & Royalty-Free Stock Photos from Dreamstime
