Wisdom for Your
Financial Journey

Blue Trust is excited for our month-long celebration of the launch of our new podcast “Wisdom for Wealth. For Life.” Our goal is to give advisors, clients, and thought leaders the chance to share their stories of faith, finances, and fellowship with our entire community.

The stock market has had a rocky start to 2022. As of February 11, the S&P 500 is down 7.2% as investors appear unsettled by the shift in the Federal Reserve's view on inflation. Inflation has run hot for a while, but the Fed has been slow to react.

Blue Trust is excited for our month-long celebration of the launch of our new podcast “Wisdom for Wealth. For Life.” Our goal is to give advisors, clients, and thought leaders the chance to share their stories of faith, finances, and fellowship with our entire community.

Blue Trust is excited for our month-long celebration of the launch of our new podcast “Wisdom for Wealth. For Life.” Our goal is to give advisors, clients, and thought leaders the chance to share their stories of faith, finances, and fellowship with our entire community.

Blue Trust is excited to announce the launch of our new podcast, “Wisdom for Wealth. For Life.” Our goal is to give advisors, clients, and thought leaders the chance to share their stories of faith, finances, and fellowship with our entire community.

The first quarter 2022 economic review examines whether pandemic-related challenges—including inflation at 40-year highs, government spending debates, and COVID-19 variants—will finally resolve or become the economy's new normal. The outlook analyzes the Federal Reserve's shift toward rate increases, infrastructure spending uncertainty, and market positioning for an evolving economic landscape.

New COVID variants emerge frequently, but very few materialize into a significant threat. The latest variant to gain attention, Omicron, was discovered on November 11. Since then, it has quickly become the dominant COVID strain in South Africa and has been detected in over 20 countries, including the U.S. The World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring Omicron and on November 26 designated it as a “variant of concern” based on the risks that some of its mutations may pose.

On November 10, we watched annual inflation reach 6.2%—its highest rate since 1990. A week earlier, the Federal Reserve (Fed) announced they would begin tapering their purchases of government bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Some investors fear that interest rates will sharply rise against this backdrop of high, accelerating inflation and lower bond purchases by the Fed.

U.S. equities significantly outperformed international and emerging markets over the past decade, raising questions about portfolio diversification. This quarterly review examines the dominance of American stocks, challenges facing foreign markets, and whether investors should consider international investments despite strong domestic returns.

With savings account interest rates stuck near zero, investors are earnestly seeking alternative ways to earn a higher yield on their cash. A nascent, but increasingly popular method is to lend cryptocurrencies that are pegged to the U.S. Dollar. These so-called “stablecoins” inherit some of cryptocurrencies' benefits, like nearly instant transaction settlement, while attempting to mitigate one of their main drawbacks—high volatility.

China has long made headlines in the U.S., typically negative, ranging from unfair trade practices to allegations of human rights abuse. Recently, China's been in the spotlight again, particularly among investors, for its regulatory crackdown on technology and education companies, which has caused large losses for shareholders. China is a world away—geographically, culturally, and politically—so it is often difficult to understand new developments there, let alone forecast its future.

Blue Trust is pleased to join with Blue & Co. CPAs to provide timely and relevant content to our readers. If you have children, then new changes to the Child Tax Credit may affect you. The recently passed American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 expands the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for tax year 2021 only.