Then there is China and unemployment of 25 and under at 26 % . No Jobs. China is fully built. Apartments Condos High Speed Trains, Highways etc. Nothing else to build. This will cause unrest with the young. What can XI do.. Not more military. They have the largest in the world
Then there is the expansion of BRIC by adding 6 new Members like Saudi, and Iran. plus 4 more.
And what about stealing of goods from all retailers and nothing being done to stop this stealing. Even people walk in to LCBO and help themselves and staff is told not to interfere. Why because every bad guy probably has a gun,
Question Why Own Stocks Why not Just a laddered Bond Portfolio of 1 to 7 year bonds with a yield of 7 % plus for the next few years.
Sorry for such a negative outlook . Look forward to your comments.
RAK
There will always be plenty of reasons not to own stocks. But they have, over time, been the best investment. We don't think owning a laddered bond portfolio is a bad idea. But it too has risks under the scenarios described in the question. Bonds got clobbered in 2022 with higher rates, and if inflation stays higher than expected they might not do too well. Stocks, at least some, will provide some inflation protection. No one really gets 'rich' from bonds but they do sleep better. But in any market period there is always something to worry about, and of course all the sellers every day have negative viewpoints. But we would still prefer to own a company than an IOU (bonds). We think balance and timeframe remain the most important factors. If one has a one-year timeframe, we do not think any stocks should be owned. But if one has a 20-year timeframe, it is a whole different story. While there are dozens of things to worry about, there are also dozens of 'positives' that could be cited, and the buyers of stocks today are not buying with the expectation of losing money.