The Bahnsen Group – Private Wealth Management https://thebahnsengroup.com Wed, 22 Jul 2026 20:44:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 https://thebahnsengroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cropped-TBG-apple-touch-icon-1-1-32x32.png The Bahnsen Group – Private Wealth Management https://thebahnsengroup.com 32 32 Wednesday – July 22, 2026 https://thebahnsengroup.com/daily-recap/wednesday-july-22-2026/ Wed, 22 Jul 2026 20:07:33 +0000 https://thebahnsengroup.com/?post_type=daily-recap&p=61251 The post Wednesday – July 22, 2026 appeared first on The Bahnsen Group - Private Wealth Management.

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Wednesday – 2026.07.22 #1 https://thebahnsengroup.com/ask-tbg/wednesday-2026-07-22-1/ Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:13:01 +0000 https://thebahnsengroup.com/?post_type=ask-tbg&p=61250 The post Wednesday – 2026.07.22 #1 appeared first on The Bahnsen Group - Private Wealth Management.

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Maximizing Return or Minimizing Regret? https://thebahnsengroup.com/alt-blend/maximizing-return-or-minimizing-regret/ Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:01:57 +0000 https://thebahnsengroup.com/?post_type=alt-blend&p=61223 Discover why reaching financial goals matters more than chasing returns, and how smart investing balances risk and reward.

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“In life, the challenge is not so much to figure out how best to play the game; the challenge is to figure out what game you’re playing.” –Kwame Anthony Appiah

Winning, losing, offense, and defense

It’s often said that “playing not to lose is the surest way to lose,” so instead you should simply play to win. You’ve probably also heard the old adage that “the best defense is a good offense” – particularly in sports – but it has broad application across multiple facets of our lives, including our finances.

Incorporating these mantras into one’s financial strategy may not be intuitive, and if they are misinterpreted, the results could be disastrous. Today we’ll look at how we can play to win the game of planning and investing (and, yes, hopefully throw in some Alts for good measure). Here we go!

Winning by not losing

At first glance, “winning by not losing” and “playing not to lose” may sound like the same thing, but there is an important nuance between the two that is worth exploring. As mentioned previously, we view real risk as the permanent impairment of capital. Two common examples of that are:

  1. Investing in significantly overvalued and overconcentrated “shiny object” trades that evaporate and either fail completely or have massive price declines with no chance of ever attaining those high prices/valuations again.
  2.  Panic selling (or forced selling) in a downturn that renders otherwise recoverable trades unable to wait out the recovery process.

“Winning by not losing” is a strategy to address both situations: First, constructing a diversified portfolio of reasonably valued investments avoids shiny objects and overconcentration. Second, given that same portfolio is built upon defensible long-term theses within a broader financial planning framework – where one knows what they own and why they own it (WYOWYO!) – volatility is accepted as part of the deal.

With the proper perspective, volatility is normal price fluctuation we accept as a trade-off for compounding our wealth over the long term. It is to be embraced wherever possible, as lower prices mean good companies are temporarily on sale. It pairs nicely with an abundance mindset.

Playing not to lose

“Playing not to lose,” on the other hand, sparks images of a scarcity mindset – avoiding price volatility at all costs, often due to conflating that volatility with risk. Here, investors may turn to excessive amounts of cash and/or quality bonds for “safety.” But that safety is an illusion. We only need to go back to 2022 for an enlightening example of this, as quality (Investment Grade) bonds returned 15.6% that year, while interest rates rose. The far bigger issue, however, is that the same index has returned only 0.72% since 1/1/2022. After any amount of fees, that would easily be a negative return over what is now going on 4.5 years! The broader US Aggregate Bond index fared better in 2022 (-12.88%) but has recovered even more slowly.

In contrast, on the equity side of the equation, the S&P 500 was down over 18% in 2022, but has since rebounded substantially, with a cumulative return of nearly 70%. The results, including a moderate 50/50 portfolio, can be seen in the table below more concisely.

Index / Benchmark 2022 Return 1/1/2022-7/15/26 Cumulative Return
Investment Grade Bonds -15.60% 0.72%
US Aggregate Bond Index -12.88% -0.12%
S&P 500 -18.32% 69.66%
50/50 Stock/Bond mix -15.60% 34.77%

(Source: Tamarac AdvisorView. Bloomberg US Corp Investment Grade index as proxy for high-quality bonds, and 50/50 US Stock/Bond mix consists of 50% S&P 500 and 50% Bloomberg US Bond Aggregate as of July 15th, 2026).

To be fair, 2022 was an exceptional year – as it was the worst year ever for the US Aggregate Bond Index. And equity downturns are often far deeper and more drawn out than the 2022 example. Thus, the lesson from the above isn’t necessarily to not own bonds, but I do think it speaks volumes about the damage that attempting to hide from volatility can do.

What about income and inflation?

If an investor who has only been invested in bonds has also needed to draw an income from their portfolio, they are now an example of the permanent impairment of capital we dread. Adding insult to injury, we’ve needed almost 15% return since 2022 just to maintain purchasing power (you may have heard of inflation?), and that approach has resulted in a very unenviable position for those who were trying to play it safe.

A powerful sentiment shared by the great Nick Murray: a position of “no risk” does not exist; rather, you can only trade one risk for another.

Alts Perspective

In some ways, Alts can be helpful for those who seek lower volatility, but that should not be mistaken for lower risk. Some assets – e.g., private real estate, private equity, venture capital – inherently cannot be revalued and repriced daily (let alone by fractions of a second, like some publicly traded assets), so prices move more slowly. But disdain for (real or perceived) volatility alone should never be the basis for investing in Alts. Idiosyncratic risks of these investments, their managers, and their structures all have to be carefully considered. As with public markets, the objective to win by not losing can be pursued on the private side, and any investments should play a clear role with that in mind.

I have also seen the alternatives that (attempt to) play not to lose. Anecdotally, this includes many hedge funds and global macro funds that either overdiversified or hedged out so much volatility that they could not generate a reasonable return. In my experience, this often coincided with managers developing liquid alts strategies (via daily-liquid mutual funds) in the 2010s during the post-GFC zero-interest-rate (ZIRP) environment. You could easily find yourself paying a lot of fees for a lot of trading activity and little return.

Back to the question at hand

With elements that seem to be playing both offense and defense, financial planning helps us be proactive by first beginning with the end in mind, so we know what game we’re playing. From there, we can identify and address potential risks (playing defense) that may prevent us from reaching the goals we’ve set, while also constructing a forward-looking approach regarding the best way to get there. There are a variety of tools to facilitate that path from point A to point B: investments (including Alts), insurance, tax planning, estate planning and execution, etc. Note that some are far better than others.

The pursuit of maximizing returns vs. minimizing regret may often be at odds with one another. But to bring this full circle and definitively answer the question posed in today’s title (again h/t Nick Murray): it is far more important for us to minimize regret (via reaching our goals) than maximize returns, and that is the game we should be playing to win.

Until next time, this is the end of alt.Blend.

Thanks for reading,

Steve

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Tuesday – 2026.07.21 #1 https://thebahnsengroup.com/ask-tbg/tuesday-2026-07-21-1/ Tue, 21 Jul 2026 21:27:17 +0000 https://thebahnsengroup.com/?post_type=ask-tbg&p=61229 The post Tuesday – 2026.07.21 #1 appeared first on The Bahnsen Group - Private Wealth Management.

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Tuesday – July 21, 2026 https://thebahnsengroup.com/daily-recap/tuesday-july-21-2026/ Tue, 21 Jul 2026 20:19:09 +0000 https://thebahnsengroup.com/?post_type=daily-recap&p=61228 The post Tuesday – July 21, 2026 appeared first on The Bahnsen Group - Private Wealth Management.

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Monday – July 20, 2026 https://thebahnsengroup.com/daily-recap/monday-july-20-2026/ Tue, 21 Jul 2026 17:54:05 +0000 https://thebahnsengroup.com/?post_type=daily-recap&p=61203 The post Monday – July 20, 2026 appeared first on The Bahnsen Group - Private Wealth Management.

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Monday – 2026.07.20 #1 https://thebahnsengroup.com/ask-tbg/monday-2026-07-20-1/ Tue, 21 Jul 2026 17:53:48 +0000 https://thebahnsengroup.com/?post_type=ask-tbg&p=61204 The post Monday – 2026.07.20 #1 appeared first on The Bahnsen Group - Private Wealth Management.

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MONDAY – July 20, 2026 https://thebahnsengroup.com/dividend-cafe-monday/monday-jul-20-2026/ Mon, 20 Jul 2026 07:01:25 +0000 https://thebahnsengroup.com/?p=61185 Markets react to shifting Fed policy signals, rising energy volatility, and fresh economic data shaping today’s outlook.

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Dear Valued Clients and Friends –

A trip around the horn today, per usual …

Dividend Cafe on Friday looked at five things worth being concerned about in markets and five things that are not.  The written version is here (my favorite), the video is here, and the podcast is here.

Off we go …

Market Action

  • Markets opened up by more than 100 points this morning and then went down throughout the day.
  • The Dow closed down -307 points (-0.59%) with the S&P 500 down -0.19% and the Nasdaq down -0.05%

*CNBC, DJIA, July 20, 2026

  • If you believe the financial company results at the beginning of earnings season are a harbinger of things to come in earnings season, then this is going to be a good earnings season. Of course, it does not always work out that way in the real world, but the financial sector results thus far were quite supportive of the market rotation underway.
  • A whopping 50% of Consumer Staples are now at their 20-day highs (which is not a lot, actually, but it is the most momentum internal to the sector in a while).
  • The ten-year bond yield closed today at 4.59%, up five basis points on the day
  • Top-performing sector for the day: Communication Services (+0.74%) and Energy (+0.55%)
  • Bottom-performing sector for the day: Health Care (-1.15%)
  • SpaceX IPO watch: Now at $119.85 (IPO price $135, first trade $150, high trade $225.64) – down -47% from its high; every investor since the IPO is underwater.

Top News Stories

  • With more American casualties over the weekend in Iran and oil prices back above $82, we are nowhere near the Iran matter “leaving the headlines.”  Mark Halperin’s summary this morning that the only three options are (1) Walk away, (2) Return to all-out war, or (3) Continue with little tit-for-tat escalations, seems like the right framing to me, as does his suggestion that none of these are great options, as does his suggestion that the President is obviously going to pick #3.  Watching closely.

Public Policy

  • The Democrats’ special convention to replace their nominee for the U.S. Senate race in Maine will not be until this Saturday, but the only candidate effectively left is the progressive populist, Troy Jackson, who will be the nominee.  Backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and Our Revolution, the U.S. Senate race in Maine represents the most prominent contested race in this November’s election to feature a candidate of these progressive, socialist bona fides.  The Democrats’ fight for a U.S. Senate majority may not happen if they win the Maine race, but it surely will not happen if they do not.
  • A huge thing that has benefited the Democrats in the last two weeks is the consolidation of support behind Haley Stevens as the nominee in Michigan, coming from behind to [apparently] be in a position to defeat the far more progressive and controversial candidate, Abdul el-Sayed, for the Michigan U.S. Senate seat nomination.  Again, holding a Democrat seat in Michigan is not going to help the Democrats pick up a net four seats in the Senate, BUT losing a seat they already held would guarantee they don’t.
  • At this time, I would say the Democrats are very likely to hold in Michigan, Georgia, and New Hampshire, and very likely to pick up in North Carolina.  Could they pick up in Ohio, or Alaska, or even Maine?  Yes.  Could they pick up all of them?  Highly unlikely.

Economic Front

  • I thought this was a helpful indicator of how many economic conditions have hung in there much better than was understandably feared a year ago.  Between the Trump administration’s reversals on prior threats and, of course, the Supreme Court IEEPA ruling, the effective U.S. tariff rate has come down by more than 30% from where it was going into Q4 (from 11% to 6.5%).  This is the monthly calculated duty divided by total U.S. imports.  It represents a marginal cost to American businesses, and while it remains much higher than I want it to be, it is much lower than where it was.
  • There are 105.8 million people in America outside the labor force, the highest ever (as 832,000 left the labor force last month).
  • Industrial Production increased +0.1% in June, slightly less than had been expected.  Utilities output and Mining drove the increase, while Manufacturing and Capacity Utilization were unchanged
  • Import prices were up +0.3% on the month (expectations were for a 0.7% drop).  Keep in mind prices had jumped +1.7% in May, as well.  All in, import prices are up +7.1% over the last year.  They are still up +4.4% year-over-year when excluding energy!   But, you know, tariffs don’t add to prices …  Ay yi yi

Housing & Mortgage

  • New housing starts are up +3.5%, versus a year ago, though single-family starts actually declined in June (multi-family drove the increase).  The lousy details under the decent headline reflect permits for single-family homes down on the year, and the +17% increase in multi-family starts is substantially skewing the numbers of the real housing stock needed: More single-family supply!

Federal Reserve

  • Next week is the second FOMC meeting since Kevin Warsh became the new Fed chairman, and really the first in terms of a meeting free of the “introductory drama” that the last meeting had.  The futures market suggests a 16% probability of a rate hike next week, so that is not very high.  Futures markets also suggest an 83% chance of some hike between now and the end of the year.
  • The Fed is not yet shrinking the assets on its balance sheet, but they are certainly shortening the maturity of the bonds it owns, with Warsh making clear there are plans for more of that.

Oil and Energy

  • WTI Crude closed at $83.01, up +0.63% on the day
  • Midstream was up about +2.5% last week as the Energy sector at large rallied with oil prices up over +15% behind renewed tensions in the not-at-all-done problems in Iran.  Kinder Morgan (KMI) announces quarterly results this week, launching an earnings season for midstream that should be interesting.
  • The average price of gasoline did get back above $4/gallon nationwide this week.

Ask TBG

“Is there ever a time for shorting?  If healthy fundamentals are missing (such as companies having a high P/E, low free cash flow, unprofitability, etc.), should a longer term non-levered short position be considered?”
~ R.M
First of all, before I answer, let’s make sure we understand something … there is no such thing as a non-levered short position.  By definition, all “shorting” involves borrowing an asset you do not own so that you can sell it, with the hope of buying it back at a lower price later, and returning it to whom you borrowed it from (generally a broker).  Shorting = leverage.  That said, the challenge in the question (besides that it requires an investor to take leverage and much greater risk than what trades are prepaid for with one’s own money up front) is that it presupposes “missing healthy fundamentals” means stock prices will go down – and it simply doesn’t.  Fundamentals may come to the fray later.  Markets may go a long, long time without caring.  Another company could buy a weak fundamental company (for a variety of reasons) and rip the face off of a short.  I could go on and on and not give a thousand examples, but many thousands.  Even if the desired short truly reflects something irrational, as one of my least favorite economists once astutely said, “markets can stay irrational longer than you can solvent.”

On Deck

  • Clients will receive their Weekly Portfolio Holdings Report on Wednesday, and earnings season is well underway.

More to Chew on

Enjoy your evening and reach out with any questions!

With regards,

David L. Bahnsen
Chief Investment Officer, Managing Partner
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com

The Bahnsen Group
www.thebahnsengroup.com

The Dividend Cafe features research from S&P, Baird, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, and the IRN research platform of FactSet.

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Friday – July 17, 2026 https://thebahnsengroup.com/daily-recap/friday-july-17-2026/ Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:13:18 +0000 https://thebahnsengroup.com/?post_type=daily-recap&p=61184 The post Friday – July 17, 2026 appeared first on The Bahnsen Group - Private Wealth Management.

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Five Things I Worry About and Five Things I Don’t – July 17, 2026 https://thebahnsengroup.com/dividend-cafe/five-things-i-worry-about-and-five-things-i-dont-july-17-2026/ Fri, 17 Jul 2026 07:01:22 +0000 https://thebahnsengroup.com/?p=61059 Practical insights on AI hype, retail swings, margin pressures, and market concentration to help investors stay grounded

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Dear Valued Clients and Friends,

I am not sure the title of this week’s Dividend Cafe is totally accurate.  I want to write about five things that are concerning – that are noteworthy – for investors, but I am not sure that is the same thing as saying I am “worried” about them.  I will give more color on this distinction at the end of this week’s Dividend Cafe.

But the second half of the title captures an important part of today’s Dividend Cafe, too.  We are told that certain things are inevitable or deeply concerning, and I want to make a contrarian case that they are not.

So read today’s Dividend Cafe and become more pessimistic or more optimistic – that choice is yours (and successful investors will know which choice to make).  But no matter what your temperament or emotional disposition is, read today’s Dividend Cafe and become more informed.

Let’s jump into the Dividend Cafe …

Download Podcast Transcript

Five Things I am Currently Worried About:

Concentrate on the Concentration

I could start my five concerns with valuations, AI froth, and semiconductor excess, but it would first help to establish why this matters to more investors than is commonly understood.  In 1999, a very high percentage of investors did not own the Munder NetNet Fund atrocity.  A high percentage of investors were not buying dotcom stocks on margin.  The carnage was severe, but the penetration was different because many investors didn’t believe they were, and indeed weren’t, exposed to the central focus of market danger.  But today, I believe a whole lot of people believe they are not exposed, and yet due to changes in market concentration, they really are.  Significantly so.

But, you say, why worry?  I mean, yes, 40% in ten companies out of 500 seems concerning, but these will all be the sure winners in this era.  And it isn’t like the whole semiconductor story has taken over the broad market, right?

Well, few words make me more ill in investing than “sure winners.”  I am told British soccer fans agree.  I know that Duke basketball fans agree (hurts to type).  But let me just tell you something as surely as I can: When you use the phrase “sure winners” in vesting, you are “sure” to regret it.  

But let’s evaluate the second part of the retort above.  Is the S&P 500 really immune to semiconductor exposure (or at least heavily mitigated)?  Hardly.  Look at the concentration just of this sub-sector within a sub-sector?

Simply put, I believe there is more democratized exposure to the most vulnerable parts of markets than there has been historically, and I believe the perception of safety in cap-weighted “diversified” indices is very likely going to be called into question in the year(s) ahead.

Behavior, Masses, Crowding, and the Rhymes of History

Some of what I am about to share will be argued by some to be bullish indicators that belong on some people’s positive list.  Those people are believers in the wisdom of crowds, the merit of momentum, and the sage advice that that which goes up just keeps going up more.  Suffice it to say, those things are not part of my investment philosophy.

Now, none of these things indicates imminent doom and gloom.  Every contrarian knows the loneliness you have to feel at times to be a good contrarian investor.  But as a broad indicator of the built-up vulnerability, I point you to the following:

Enthusiasm for equities jumping exponentially after years of a screaming bull market has, well, not always ended great.  Add to the gravity of this situation that many of these ETFs are levered, double-levered, single-stock, and all sorts of other versions of shiny frothiness, and you can see why this may be a bit concerning.  A 460% jump in just a few years in the amount of these levered ETFs is noteworthy.

Speaking of “retail trading excess,” the Citadel market maker alone recorded a stunning $6.8 billion of option premiums traded per day in June just from retail investors, 65% above the 2025 average and 100% above historical averages.  Highly speculative option activity from retail investors, skyrocketing like this – what could go wrong?

I will add anecdotally, without piling on with another chart, that options in semiconductors received 6.2x their historical volume in June.  “Space” as a sub-sector received 5.6x the options volume.  Yep.  And if I can quote my friend, Cliff Asness, about this last data point, “What fresh hell is this?” – 30% of all options traded from retail traders are now “Zero Days to Expiration” options – SINGLE DAY speculation on stock moves.  Ignoring this as an indicator of something seems unwise.

Again, it is not one thing here, and it is not connected to a specific prediction in a specific timeline.  It is a voice of rational concern in response to what feels like a glut of irrational activity – exuberant activity, if you will.

The Right Pocket is Fighting the Left Pocket

There are competing tensions within the market right now that do not feel fully appreciated by investors, to me.  One can say that “the semiconductor 1,000% move up is perfectly justified because the hyperscalers are going to continue buying compute at the same rate” – and maybe that is true (I don’t actually think it is, but I am willing to pretend).

But if the semis get to benefit from that, do we not understand that there is no way that can happen without the hyperscalers diluting the ____ out of their shareholders through new equity issuance, AND/OR levering their balance sheets to the hilt through new debt issuance?  I would vote on the AND in that AND/OR, by the way.

The S&P Profits Story

I am not as sanguine about S&P profits as many appear to be.  That is not to say that earnings are not strong – they are.  It is not to say that earnings are not growing – they are.  So what is the problem?  Earnings in the S&P 500 have been skewed by “other income” with a couple of companies marking up the value of, well, a couple of companies.  It is all legitimate GAAP accounting, but it speaks to the fact that we are double-counting stories to rationalize the narrative that is holding up market valuations.

“This isn’t just AI hype – it is real earnings!”

“But a lot of the earnings are from marking up AI value”

“Yes, that’s because the AI story is crushing it!  Look at the earnings?”

At some point, I believe this expectation of everything lining up perfectly in perpetuity gets exposed, and the best-case scenario will prove to be my long-held view in a multi-year range-bound market, and the worse-case scenario will be … worse.

Margins have been expanding for quite some time.  But I have never heard of anything in history that holds its margins when it succeeds at scale and in the face of competition.  Downward pressure on margins is inevitable as a basic law of economics, unless the whole thing is a real bust, which would be worse.

OpenAI and Too Big to Fail

Peter Boockvar flagged the following after S&P’s credit downgrade of Oracle last week, and I think it speaks to a larger issue that is absolutely in my top five list.  While most of their commentary was [rightly] on the changing risk profile of Oracle’s business model as they transition more into cloud infrastructure than enterprise software and database, they highlighted the growing capex needs to feed this change (fair enough), and the very competitive nature of the space with hyper-scalers seeking to lease excess compute capacity, making them formidable competitors (also fair enough).  But then they got to the issue I feel gets nowhere near enough attention right now, and that is the way in which a reasonably brand new company with minuscule revenues and massive losses has become one of the most significant “too big to fail” stories of our day:

OpenAI remains a key credit risk. We estimate that OpenAI makes up roughly half of the $638 billion in RPO (remaining performance obligations). OpenAI’s ability to meet its contractual obligations and raise external financing will be contingent upon AI tailwinds continuing and its models being market leaders. If OpenAI were unable to pay Oracle, we believe Oracle could be left with massive data center leases that it might be unable to exit or have to re-lease to new tenants under less favorable terms.”

This is not a statement about Nvidia, about the S&P 500, about AI, about IPO’s, about valuations, about shiny objects, about big cap growth, or about any number of other things that are all perfectly legitimate subjects for discussion … This is a very specific statement about one company that barely anyone in America has heard of (even if many have heard of their flagship product) and what I believe is becoming its inter-connectedness to the U.S. economy and financial markets in a way that is unprecedented given the context.  And of everything on my list above, nothing would upset me more than the U.S. government taking an equity stake in OpenAI.  And I am sad to say that I believe it is more likely than not going to happen, at some point.

Five Things I am not Currently Worried About:

Imminent AI Destruction of Jobs

At this time, high-intensity AI adopters in their workflows are increasing their hiring, with entry-level jobs up +12% in such companies but flat at companies with low adoption.  Total hiring is up +10.2% among AI adopters.

Of course, I cannot say that this will continue.  I do believe the burden of proof that “this time it’s different” has always been on the other side of this issue.  My read is that right now we are seeing lower input costs expand certain sectors, and that is leading to more, not less, employment.  Some dynamic shift workforce needs still seems inevitable, but the imminent spiking of unemployment related to AI is simply not something we see in the data or fear in the longer term.

We see a modestly declining unemployment rate, shocking to some, amongst those in their 20s since the advent of AI.  We see new business formation up 30% since the more significant launch of AI.  There are counter-trends out there that paint a different picture than the prevalent narrative.

There should be no confusion on what I am saying (and not saying).  For any individual who loses their job to some form of technological efficiency, I would have nothing but genuine care and sympathy.  I am not being cavalier about the disruption that will happen.  I am talking about macro aggregates in the economy, which admittedly force a more depersonalized tenor to the conversation.

Mere Market Volatility as a Bad Thing

I talked in the prior list about the reality of concentration risk in the current S&P 500.  That is very different than commenting on the normal reality of normal volatility in the broad stock market.  I not only expect broad market volatility but embrace it, want it, and love it.  Volatility enhances the risk premium that drives returns, and as a dividend growth investor, I am confident that the strategy contains an automatic “defense turned to offense” mechanic through dividend reinvestment that accounts for a substantial portion of the total return we will enjoy over the years and decades to come.  I do believe the magnitude of volatility relative to the expectation an investor has for such – in other words, their own preparedness- matters a great deal.  But if all we were talking about was “historical market volatility,” I essentially believe it is part of what I have paid for, and I believe that as a dividend growth investor, we have (a) mitigated the fat tail risk of such, and (b) positioned ourselves mechanically and mathematically to benefit from the reality of volatility.

The Inflation Story as it is Being Told

I do not like higher prices.  Let me start over.  I am sure I like higher prices if I am the one selling something (see More to Chew On below).  For all the talk about people’s hatred of inflation, I seem to recall a generation of people living on cloud nine when their house prices inflated into la-la land in the first decade of this new century.  I fully get the political and the practical problem of inflation when it comes to things like fuel prices and groceries.  But today we have such a convoluted bag of poppycock, all mixed together in the same conversation, allegedly about “inflation,” that it long ago made coherence impossible and cogent policy solutions laughable.  The fact of the matter is that nearly all discussion of inflation today is dressed up political campaigning and rhetoric devoid of any economic nuance.

Oil prices going up because of a Hormuz-induced supply shock is not “inflation.”  It is higher prices that last until supply comes back online, and it is real, and it matters, but treating it like it is the same thing as a massive surge in money supply leading to an entire price level going higher is totally dishonest.

Goods prices going up because of select tariffs is not “inflation.”  It is costly for the people buying them.  It may even discourage new supply and lead to a worse problem.  It is an unhealthy economic distortion.  But again, it is not the “inflation” we talk about as a monetary phenomenon that requires a Fed response.

Shelter prices are going down and are disinflationary if not deflationary right now because – wait for it – they got too high!  Florida homeowners know it (if they have put up a For Sale sign in the last six months).  Multi-family landlords know it.  And a half-dozen real-time market indicators know it.  But this is not a sign of “beating inflation,” and those who claim it are either not smart or not honest.

So, across the board, there are a plethora of different stories all connected to “inflation” headlines and data.  Tariffs.  Housing.  Oil.  Take your pick.  They are not one and the same, and they all require different conversations.  Some are tough.  Some are improving.  Some are uncertain.  But when it comes to inflation, I would simply say that a policy of price stability avoids manipulation of money supply and the cost of capital, and that other supply-oriented nuances are outside the purview of monetary policymakers.

The Energy Sector

At the peak of ESG insanity, the predominant narrative was that the oil and gas sector would be extinct, and it was just a matter of when, not if.  It is not a narrative I hear a lot anymore, and not one very many serious people say out loud.  Some may wish for it, and some may still think it should happen, but the notion of a world having its energy needs met without oil and gas has taken a backseat to the other environmental goal of improving the ways in which we produce, extract, and transport, which is very different than trying to figure out a way to make it sunny 24 hours per day.

The Energy sector has had a heck of a run the last five years, and the new narrative I hear is not as existential as the ESG one was, but rather more cyclical.  Namely, that once the Strait of Hormuz re-opens, we will be cursed with $60-70 oil again, and who would want to own midstream or upstream stocks in that commodity price range?

Nonsense.

You may have heard we have a power deficit, an electricity deficit, and the underlying fuel to drive the AI investment we hear so much about.  Good luck meeting that without energy.  You may have heard we have geopolitical enemies who need to be de-fanged.  Good luck winning those global struggles without leverage on the energy front.

My Energy thesis is not about Iran, Hormuz, or $75 oil.  It is about, well, humanity.

Software as Dead

My view on this whole story is unsurprisingly one of nuance.  Multiples on the cash flow of the software sector (at large) have utterly collapsed.  The view that AI has eliminated the need for software has become systemic, at least if you look at a chart like this.

But when you look under the hood, you see a different picture.  The median software stock has actually substantially outperformed the total sector, as the total sector is heavily distorted by its largest (most overpriced) constituents.  The facts around this whole story continue to be extremely Darwinian:

  • Some companies will massively benefit from AI
  • Some companies will suffer and then benefit
  • Some companies have a moat and a brand, and some don’t
  • Some companies have data, and some don’t

And through this all, investors (in private and public markets) are left with the uncomfortable reality that there is no aggregate narrative to lean on – just the hard work of real due diligence.  The spoils belong to those who study for the test.  Same as it ever was.

Quote of the Week

“Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks”
~ Warren Buffett

More to Chew on

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If you have read Dividend Cafe for any significant period of time, you know that my long-term concern is excessive debt and its impact on future growth.  That is almost the only thing I wish to focus on.  Today’s Dividend Cafe is about fewer structural concerns and more cyclical ones.  So the “five and five” list of today does not replace “the one and one” list of the decades ahead.  The one big problem is that we grow government spending and debt more than we grow the economy these days.  And the one big opportunity is for companies to rise above that nonsense and grow their profits anyway.  To that end, we work.

With regards,

David L. Bahnsen
Chief Investment Officer, Managing Partner
dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.com

The Bahnsen Group
thebahnsengroup.com

This week’s Dividend Cafe features research from S&P, Baird, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, and the IRN research platform of FactSet

The post Five Things I Worry About and Five Things I Don’t – July 17, 2026 appeared first on The Bahnsen Group - Private Wealth Management.

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