Market analysts are feeling gloomy. A recent “Market Perspective” from Schwab noted, “A sustained [market] drop may weaken both consumer confidence and...spending power — further dampening consumer demand and economic growth.” Morgan Stanley told investors, “We advise taking caution ahead,” noting that “11 of the 14 Fed tightening cycles since 1950 have resulted in recession.”

Among the many negatives confronting the stock market are Russia’s war against Ukraine; the persistence of the pandemic in some places; rising interest rates; and high inflation — with escalating prices for gasoline, groceries, and so much more wreaking havoc on household budgets.

The bears are betting all this will lead to further stock market declines from current levels. The bulls are betting that the concerns are exaggerated. They stand by their contention that the long-running “secular” bull market still has legs.

Why Upgrade?

SMI subscribers with a Basic-level membership have access to two investing strategies. These strategies differ in philosophy and the amount of attention required.

Our preferred strategy is Fund Upgrading. It’s based on the idea that if you are willing to monitor your mutual-fund holdings regularly and replace laggards periodically, you can improve your returns. While Upgrading is relatively low-maintenance, it does require checking your holdings each month and replacing funds occasionally. (If you don’t wish to do this yourself, a professionally managed version of Upgrading is available.)

As an alternative to Upgrading, we offer Just-the-Basics (JtB), a strategy based on investing via index funds. JtB requires attention only once a year. The JtB strategy is helpful to SMI members whose workplace retirement plans lack a sufficient number of fund options to make successful Upgrading possible. Here are the funds and percentage allocations we recommend for our Just-the-Basics indexing strategy.

Past returns for both Upgrading and Just-the-Basics are shown on our main page at soundmindinvesting.com. Click the word "Performance" in the middle of the page.

Investing is rather like riding a roller coaster while wearing a blindfold. You can’t tell when a steady incline will give way to a precipitous decline. And while hurtling downward on an actual roller coaster can be fun (for some folks anyway), market plunges are anything but.

There’s no way to make market volatility go away. It’s an unavoidable reality of investing. But you can stay steady through the ups and downs by employing a defined and disciplined investing strategy such as those SMI offers.

No single strategy is right for everyone, but every good long-term strategy incorporates six core principles.

An SMI tenet is that investing decisions should flow from — and be consistent with — a specific investment strategy (or strategies) you have chosen.

For some people, selecting a strategy can be daunting. This overview should help.

SMI offers three “core” strategies designed with the average person in mind. These strategies (two available to Basic-level members, another to Premium members) are easy to understand and relatively simple to implement. But they require different levels of involvement and self-control.

Let’s compare what each strategy demands — and what you can expect in return.

I want to share with you something I read more than 20 years ago. In context, it was intended to explain how we can have greater success in resisting sin. But I want to make a parallel application in the area of our stewardship — how we can more closely follow God’s principles for spending, saving, investing, and giving the money He has entrusted to us.

How did your investments perform last year? It’s an important question and it seems like it should be easy to answer.

However, when you consider any contributions or withdrawals you made and whether you received any interest or dividend checks, the math can start to look much more complex. And, while some brokers do a good job with this analysis, what if you have money at more than one broker?

In 1995, I began what has become an annual Christmas tradition: offering, as a gift to our active members, a book that has been meaningful in my Christian life. I do this to express appreciation for your support. Without loyal readers, we could not have served the body of Christ these past 30-plus years.

With Star Wars back on the front burner of our entertainment culture via The Mandalorian, I am reminded of Yoda — not baby Yoda, but Yoda the Jedi master. Though small of stature, he loomed large in wisdom, and he had a way of getting to the heart of the matter. A philosopher, he was.

Let me get to the heart of the matter: The SMI staff and I are excited about the financial content and investing recommendations we bring you regularly. You get beginner-to-intermediate level articles that build your understanding of sound financial practices and principles, and four easy-to-implement investment strategies that range from very conservative to very aggressive for use in various seasons of life. All for under $170 a year (or just $99 for a Basic Membership!). C’mon, you’ve got to admit that’s a pretty great deal.

And yet over the past 10 years, for every 100 new subscribers who “try” SMI, roughly 50 of them leave our ranks after the first year. Admittedly, some of those folks may have good reasons for departing (such as switching to SMI Private Client). But based on reader feedback, we know that many just don’t seem to be willing to change from their present way of doing things to a new way of planning, giving, saving, investing, and spending.

For most of us, change is hard. We may know we should change, want to change, and even begin the process of change, but seeing the effort through until new attitudes and habit patterns are established and change is actually accomplished takes time as well as commitment. And who among us has a lot of extra time on their hands?