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.

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.

Paul Wittgenstein was one of eight children born into a wealthy Vienna family in 1887. His parents frequently welcomed into their warm parlor some of the world’s most prominent composers: Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss. Living through, and serving in World War I, Paul’s story, like many others — then and now — is one of survival and determination.

By the time he turned five, Harvey “Little Man” Sutton of Lynchburg, Virginia, had spent a remarkable 11% of his life on the Appalachian Trail, hiking more than 2,190 miles through 14 states in 209 days, starting with his first steps up on Georgia’s Springer Mountain in January of 2021, and ending with the final celebratory steps in August atop Mount Katahdin. To maintain or hike is just one of the many questions also facing the Federal Open Market Committee, a very special subgroup of U.S. central bank whose statements and actions drive the global markets.

There is a drumbeat emanating from family kitchens and elementary school classrooms, corner restaurants and city stadiums, office buildings and grocery stores, suburban gyms and resort hotels, and it is growing louder. And, those drumbeats have reached the financial markets. Starting two years ago, the financial markets have been percussed, but have since been cymbals of the central banks and the incongruous but profitable risk-on behavior they have fostered.

In an all too familiar scenario for writers, one persistent author suffered through 30 rejection slips before his book was finally accepted for publication. Canadian sociologist Laurence Peter had asked aloud: “Why do things always go wrong?”

The clock was built in 1947 by distinguished American engineers and scientists and it has been ticking away for 75 years now. For the past two years it has been stuck at 100 seconds, an urgent wake-up call meant to tell us how close we may be to destroying our own world.

With seven percent annualized inflation and supply chain woes carrying over from 2021, with our central bank clearly telegraphing the reversal of its decade-long loss insulation efforts, with uncertainty over the next path of a pandemic amongst other woes, it is no wonder that most financial markets are upside down this month.