First Quarter 2025
Order of Operation
The process a sailor goes through to reduce sail is called reefing. Every boat is rigged a little bit differently but the one thing they have in common is that there is a detailed step-by-step process for putting a reef in the sail, which makes the sail smaller and helps control the boat. On this boat the first step is to turn into the wind to reduce the pressure on the sail, then ease off of the various control lines to allow the sail to be lowered to the appropriate point. Once reefed, the control lines must be re-tightened, and then the boat can be turned back on course. Do those steps in order in a controlled manner and within a few short minutes you will have the boat back in control with more comfort and safety; but do any one of those steps out of order and total chaos will ensue. The order of operations matters.
Donald Trump has come back into office with an economic plan that is a three-legged stool. As always, we don’t discuss politics, but we do discuss economic policies that can impact your portfolio, so let’s take a look. One leg of his plan is regulatory reform, trying to make is easier to start and run a business in the U.S. The second leg is tax reform, really making his previous reforms permanent with perhaps a few other areas of tax relief. The third and final leg is his desire to have high tariffs to make it difficult for Americans to buy goods from international companies, which he believes will stimulate more domestic production.
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