Subject: Re: Control Panel: Dawn or false dawn?

The negative trends in the markets since the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran reversed mildly over the past week or so.

Of course, the market is as hyper as a monkey on meth so this may just be noise.

We are treating them as such and are going into survival mode with investing. This is not for everyone, but since we are no longer getting a paycheck, we chose to hunker down and hedge our bets. Came close to putting some of our cash into the market, but since we are not in accumulation mode, we chose to stay cash heavy, which of course comes with it's own risks with inflation.

IMO the fight between this administration and Iran is going to be a fight to the death, with neither willing to actually compromise. I can see fully well why Iran refuses to budge, and sadly understand that T is incapable of doing so, because that would be admitting he was wrong, unless of course he can come up with some lie to turn a real defeat into a perceived win. I think this is too big for him to be able to do that successfully. In the very least he will drag down international stocks further, which would be a better time to consider putting new money in.

We are staying as nimble as possible in every way right now. Still have yet to replace our primary residence, and won't, until after the mid-terms. Pursuing dual citizenship by ancestry for me and our kids, looking at our real estate options there if things go poorly here. Took advantage of the opportunity to realize gains when refining stocks ratcheted up, on stock options set to expire in a couple of years. They had been under strike price before the war with Iran.

Expanding your net worth is always nice, but at our point in life, surviving a down market is more important.

On a more positive note, booked a 15 day river cruise in Europe for June. Of course, a few days ago I saw an article stating that Europe would probably run out of jet fuel in 3 weeks. Could be that cruise will be cancelled. Because of the uncertainty, we had Viking schedule the air (included) as well, so if they have to cancel the cruise, we are not stuck with bad tickets, or if the flight can't leave, stuck with a cruise we can't get to.

FWIW,

IP