That ended well. Thank goodness.
It was a year to be patient. Financial markets struggled to regain ground from the prior year’s losses for much of 2023, swooned in the fall and then came back to make (most) things right during the last quarter - at least for those who held their financial assets the whole year.
Decisions were made. Some were reasonable, others less so.
With the world’s economy collapsing in the wake of the COVID outbreak and the resulting clampdown on activity, governments flooded their economies with cash while central banks pushed rates as low as possible. It worked: there was no Great Depression of 2020.
When I was eight, I found myself at an acreage outside Wilber, Nebraska sitting on a retaining wall peering through the night sky at the moon. It was a warm July night, and upon the surface of the moon inside the Lunar Module Eagle sat Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Shortly, I would be called inside to watch on live TV as Commander Armstrong made that "one small step" into hustory. Eight was a great time to be an American.
When Cheryl and I were still in the child rearing phase of our family life, we made time for dinner most every night. Despite a hectic schedule of work, school, soccer, dance and music, the four of us found the time to share the evening meal and some conversation.
While still quite young, one of the girls asked the question, “What is money”?
Last fall, one of our fence gates collapsed. We had two gates, one on either side of the house, so we took it as a "sign" that one gate was enough, and we stored the dilapidated gate on the other side of the house. I should've known we wouldn't get off that easy,