Look Beyond the Ukraine Invasion

INCOME INVESTING

- Jeffrey R. Kosnett

The politico who uttered “never let a good crisis go to waste” might have been onto something. This is not to sound insensitive to Ukraine and all victims, but without an impending U.S. recession, credit crunch, dividend cuts or an explosion of bad debt, there is little reason for portfolio pessimism. Unless you invested in a Russian-themed exchangetraded fund or maybe an emergingmarkets index fund, the destruction of Moscow’s capital markets is a sideshow.

True, there are other perils. Oil and grain prices are spiking, but the U.S. is the top producer of oil, as well as many of the commodities that Russia may no longer export widely. The dollar gains global trust and value with each new act of aggression. Inflation is hard and may get worse, but there are ways to shore up your investments.