When asked about our favorite TV commercials, several always spring to mind. There are the ones that make us laugh, like the 1984 Wendy’s campaign when Clara lifts the bun and asks “Where’s The Beef?” or the giddy Geico camel in the 2013 Hump Day commercial. There are others that make us motivated, like the “Just Do It” slogan that became a core part of the Nike brand in 1988. Then we have the ads that touch our hearts, like the Super Bowl Coke commercial with Mean Joe Greene and the kid in the locker room or the Kodak Times of Your Life series.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once argued forcefully that “there is no real alternative” to capitalism as an economic system. Nearly 30 years later, equity traders adapted her slogan to fashion the narrative that in prevailing market conditions there is no alternative to stocks, that all other investment opportunities are worse. The acronym TINA popped into Wall Street parlance after the 2008 financial crisis. But it has not been heard much this year. Returns for the Dow are down 9% year-to date, the S&P 500 has lost 13%, the Russell 2000 has declined 15% and the Nasdaq has fallen 21%. Conventional equity funds have seen outflows for 28 consecutive weeks. So, we think a new mantra is now in order, BRANDY: Bonds Really Are Now Delivering Yield.

The older we grow, the more we realize how little we know. Overwhelmed by the universe of data and news at our fingertips, some of us cling to trivial facts: New Jersey grows two thirds of all the eggplant in the world. Mississippi produces the most NFL players per capita. We are more likely to win an Olympic Gold medal than the Mega Millions lottery, and twice as likely to be killed by a vending machine than a shark.

The U.S. postal system was established by the Second Continental Congress on July 26, 1775 and Benjamin Franklin was paid $1,000 dollars a year to serve as its first postmaster. He was charged with establishing a national service at a time when it took months for mail to arrive from near or far and spotty deliveries were made to local taverns and inns. Franklin, the “MacGyver” of his times, rolled up his sleeves and set up more efficient delivery routes from Florida to Maine with wagons traveling in relay teams by day and night.

In Department of Defense terminology, CONOPS stands for a concept of operations, a statement that concisely expresses what a commander intends to accomplish and how it will be done using available resources. As the first quarter of 2022 draws to an end, individual investors may see the need to create or revise their own individual investment CONOPS after some in-depth communications with our trusted financial planners, counsel, tax advisers and investment professionals.