I haven’t written in a while. August was a non-stop month for me. My rental property flooded. A tree fell on my house. My vacation was canceled. And the stock market crashed. My August was one of those months my mother would say “builds character.” Now the kids are back in school, the NFL season has begun, and I, and the stock market, are back to neutral.

August 1st

I’ve been a landlord for over ten years. I will tell you that 90% of the time renting real estate is pretty good. The rent hits your bank account on the first of the month, time goes by, property values go up, and all is well. That other 10% of the time, that’s where you earn every nickel.

The photo below was taken after I received a panicked phone call from my tenant at 5am telling me that water was pouring into the kitchen and living room from the unit above - completely soaking the electrical panel.

August 4th

A massive pine tree falls on my house. The top 20 feet of the tree, which you don’t see in the image below, hit the back corner of my roof, snapped in half, flew over the house, and took out my deck. My insurance company, which covers my rental property and my house, loved me that week (shoutout to Liberty Mutual).

August 6th

The stock market enters Extreme Fear territory! Starting in mid-July the stock market began falling rapidly after Trump got shot. Then one week later Biden dropped out of the race, and fears of a recession began to take over the news. Those three things created a lot of uncertainty, which the stock market hates more than anything. And when you manage millions of dollars of other people’s money, as I do, you pay close attention to that.

Sometimes All You Can Do Is Laugh

That was the first six days of my August. It was most definitely character-building. Here is how I was able to get through it: That night I got home from work, I hugged my wife and daughter, took my dog for a walk, looked at the fallen tree in my yard, looked up at the sky, and laughed. “What else you got!?!?”

I’ve been dealing with these types of situations long enough that I know they are short-lived. They are anomalies. They are the “10% of the time.” And sometimes when everything is coming at you all at once, all you can do is take the ass-whooping and laugh it off. And when the dust settles, as it always does, you get back to neutral and move forward.

August 24th

My wife and I have a night out in Boston.

August 30th

The stock market recovered about as fast as it declined. Extreme Fear turned out to be a great buying opportunity. And the month of August was history.

Today

Investors await the Federal Reserve’s decision tomorrow about whether they will finally cut interest rates after over two and half years.

Will they cut by 0.25% or 0.50%? How will the stock market react to what they decide? Will mortgage rates drop? Will banks lower their interest rates? Whatever happens - we’ll get through it.

Thanks for reading!

Brian Bond, CMT