The Lowry Letter®

Week of 7/31/2020

We had an excellent seminar from Joni Youngwirth and will share a few highlights with you below. Unfortunately, regulations do not permit us to provide replays of the webinar but we hope to have some related materials available to share with you soon.

One memorable question was this: If you didn’t know your age, how old would you say you are? Do we allow the calendar to determine the activities we participate in?

We learned: a lot from Joni’s talk and found the graphic below to be especially interesting. Retirement (and pre-retirement) can be broken into different categories. Taking a moment to consider our satisfaction with each of these areas is a good way to assess where we need to improve. Maybe you are happy with career opportunities and financial readiness, but need to spend more time on health and wellness or connecting with loved ones.

We've been: long-time proponents of doing meaningful work, whether retired or not. This might mean volunteering, creating art, helping to care for loved ones, religious service. Unfortunately, COVID has rendered some of these undoable for many. Joni shared a helpful list of opportunities to help liven up our days.
Take advantage of remote work opportunities created by Covid, if only to pass the time
Start a blog on a favorite topic
Work on balance and equilibrium with exercises like standing on one foot or planking
Learn to make bread
Challenge family to a puzzle solving activity by making custom puzzles and sending them out
Hand write letters to people you appreciate

Joni took a comedy class from Steve Martin on Masterclass to act on her desire to be funnier.

We heard: Joni talk about Candy Chang’s Ted talk “Before I die I want to…” At 6 minutes, a low time investment with an uplifting message. What do you want to do before you die?

We think: Jeff Bezos statement to the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee is worth reading in its entirety. It is easy to demonize large companies, but they fulfill an important role and smaller opportunities are often created as a result.

We recommend: Beach Houses in Paradise for larger family gatherings. We were very impressed by the service provided by the management company during a recent visit to Hutchinson Island with close family. The beach there can be a little rocky, but the different activities available and constant breeze made for a great time.

Q: Does the recent decline in the US dollar signal bigger danger to come?

A: The chart below shows changes in the value of the dollar over the past 20 years:

Recent declines in the dollar signal economic improvement in other countries more than they signal problems with the dollar as a currency. Brad McMillan explains :

The real story is not the recent decline. Instead, it is the spike in the dollar’s value when the pandemic hit around the globe. Everyone wanted dollars when risks started to rise, which is why the value went up. The recent decline has everything to do with things looking less risky in the rest of the world—and nothing to do with the U.S. looking shaky. If anything, the dollar in 2020 shows just how much of a commanding position it still has.

We agree with Brad’s conclusion that this is not the end of the US dollar’s position as “The Amazon of currency.”

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