FROM OUR DESK

High Dividend Yielding Stocks Will Continue to Struggle, In Our View

Written by RiverFront Investment Group.  Reprinted with permission from RiverFront Investment Group.  Redistribution is prohibited.

Time for a big summer market update

You are on a plane, currently descending gradually through the clouds.  We’re on the plane, too.  In fact, everyone in the country is on board.  Welcome to Flight 2023 of U.S. Economy Airlines.  We know our destination: A normal rate of inflation.  What we don’t know is how long the flight will take…nor what kind of landing to expect when we get there.

Will it be a hard landing, or a soft one?

This metaphor, silly as it is, accurately describes the central economic problem of the year:  How to bring historically high prices down without also tanking the economy.  (In other words, how to land the plane without crashing it.)  It’s a puzzle that has plagued every economist who has ever sat in the cockpit during times of high inflation.

In this message, we want to give you an update as to where we are on our trip.

The Flight So Far

If you’re one of those people who can actually sleep on a plane – lucky you – then here’s a recap of what happened while you were out.  In 2022, coming on the heels of a global pandemic, a global reopening, and a war in Europe, inflation in the U.S. peaked at 9.1%.¹  If you rewind back to the beginning of this year, prices had fallen, but were still elevated at 6.4%.¹  This was partially achieved by higher interest rates, which had risen to just over 4% in January.²

At the time, it was widely expected among economists that the Federal Reserve would continue hiking rates to bring inflation down…but as a result, the economy would enter a recession sometime later in the year.  (This would be the aforementioned hard landing.)  Now, over eight months into 2023, we can say that the first part of the prediction held up.  The Fed has continued raising rates, albeit at a slower pace, with rates currently sitting at 5.3%.²  Consumer prices have cooled, too, with the most recent data showing inflation down to 3.2%.¹

The second half of the prediction, however, is yet to come true.  The U.S. economy grew by 2% in the first quarter, and current data suggests it grew by 2.4% in the second.³  (That number may be revised later as more data becomes available.)  In addition, the labor market has remained healthy, adding 187,000 new jobs in July alone.⁴  That has kept the unemployment rate to around 3.5%…the same rate we saw before the pandemic began in 2020.⁴

Over the summer, many of the same experts that were forecasting a recession began revising their predictions.  Maybe, they say, we’ll avoid a recession this year.  Maybe it is possible to bring down inflation without tanking the economy.  Maybe we can land this bird softly after all.

Soft Landings vs Hard Landings

This is an important issue to ponder.  How investors expect the landing to go plays an important role in how the markets perform.  But to accurately think about the issue, we have to first understand what the difference is…and why it’s so hard to know which we’re in for.

First, let’s define these two terms.  A soft landing is when inflation decreases to an acceptable rate without triggering an unacceptable rise in unemployment.  A hard landing, by contrast, is when prices come down so fast that most businesses experience a major drop in revenue, causing them to lay off workers.  This would result in a surge in unemployment.  Since unemployed people tend to spend less money, the economy would contract.  When an economy contracts long enough – two straight quarters is a common measurement – we call it a recession.

Do you see why the plane analogy is actually a good one?  When pilots land a plane, they must do so quickly enough to prevent stalling, but gradually enough to glide parallel to the ground, kissing the runway rather than slamming into it.  That’s the goal, here, too.  Inflation has to decline quick enough to overcome inertia, but not so fast the economy crashes.

The folks most responsible for doing this – the pilots in our metaphor – are the board members of the Federal Reserve.  In fact, the Fed is mandated to “promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.”⁵  When one of those three goals gets out of alignment – in this case, prices – it can be extremely difficult to regain balance.

The Fed’s track record in this area is…mixed at best.  You might think that, as a society that has put people on the moon, cured smallpox, and invented robot vacuum cleaners, we’d be able to crack this code easily.  Unfortunately, policymakers don’t really have many options, and the ones they do have all come with downsides.

For example, the simplest option for bringing down inflation without damaging the economy is to simply wait and hope prices come down on their own.  But this risks the possibility that inflation will become entrenched.  When this happens, the effects can be devastating.  (Think of Germany in the early 1920s, when children stacked worthless cash as building blocks, or the 1970s here in the U.S.)

The second option is for the government to impose price controls.  (Essentially, dictating the price that industries can charge for their goods and services.)  The U.S. has tried this before.  It worked during the World War II years; not so much when President Nixon tried it in 1971.  And politically, it would likely never fly today.

The final option is to do what the Fed is doing now: Hike interest rates to cool off the economy so that businesses have no choice but to lower prices.  It definitely works, but it’s risky.  Raise rates too high, too fast, and you drive the economy into a full-blown recession.  This is what happened in the early 1980s.  Back then, Fed Chairman Paul Volcker took a “forget the torpedoes, full speed ahead” approach, raising interest rates as high as 20%.  It broke the cycle of inflation, but it also led to a deep recession.  At one point, the unemployment rate rose to 10.8%!⁶

Mindful of this, the current Federal Reserve has been raising rates much more gently and gradually.  The result is a very slow return to normal prices, but – so far at least – continued economic growth.  So, a soft landing, right?

Well, not so fast.  First of all, the plane hasn’t landed yet.  Second of all, there’s no firm agreement as to what a landing actually is.  How low does inflation have to get before we declare touchdown?  Three percent?  That’s in line with the kind of inflation we saw for much of the 2000s before the Great Recession hit.  Or is it two percent, which is what the Fed prefers?  And how much is unemployment permitted to rise?  Four percent?  Five?  Higher?  Actually, here’s a thought experiment for you: What if, over the next twelve months, unemployment and inflation both stay where they’re currently at?  Is that a soft landing, or a hard one?  Or is it no landing at all?

You can see why nothing keeps an economist up at night so much as inflation.  It’s not a clear-cut issue.  (And we haven’t even gotten into more nuanced topics, like what to actually measure when calculating inflation, whether the raw unemployment rate is really the best barometer of economic health, or the role consumer sentiment plays in all this.)

In our opinion, however, it’s still too early to proclaim a soft landing.  That’s because there are still potential patches of rough air ahead.  For one thing, while inflation is definitely cooling overall, it actually ticked up in July.  And while unemployment is low, the pace of added jobs is slowing down, too.  So, the numbers we’re seeing now might not be quite as rosy in the future.

Then, too, all these interest rate hikes are affecting other areas of the economy.  They’re partially responsible for the weaknesses we’re seeing in the banking sector.  They’ve also caused yields on long-term U.S. Treasury bonds to fall below those of shorter-term bonds.  This is what’s known as an inverted yield curve, and it’s historically been a reliable – if imprecise – indicator of a future recession.  (Here’s what this means in a nutshell: Typically, bond investors expect to be paid more interest for lending their money for longer periods of time, so interest rates for long-term bonds are higher than for short-term ones.  When this flips around, it means investors expect interest rates to fall sometime in the future.  This usually happens when the economy dips and needs propping up, forcing the Fed to cut rates.  So, to put it simply, an inverted yield curve suggests that many investors are still expecting a recession in the not-too-distant future.)

For now, though, inflation is cooling down, the economy is not in a recession, and the Fed’s rate hikes are coming lower and fewer.  This is good news!  And it’s a major reason why the markets have performed so well this year.  Should these factors continue in a positive direction, it’s perfectly reasonable to hope for a smooth final leg of our flight.

What This All Means For Us

Whew!  We got really wonky in this message, didn’t we?  But we wanted to make sure you got an up-to-date view of the situation.  As the co-pilot on your financial journey, here’s our view.  While the year has been positive, it’s possible that a “landing,” whether hard or soft, is still far away.  Right now, we’re in a low-altitude glide.  Therefore, the message from the cockpit is this: Feel free to move about the cabin, but for now, it may be best to keep the seat belt sign on.

In the meantime, we will keep doing all we can to help you continue moving forward.  Please let us know if you ever have any questions or concerns – and enjoy the rest of your flight!        

Sincerely,

Barbara B. Hudock CIMA®, CPM®
Chief Executive Officer
Founding Partner

Michael J. Hudock, Jr., CPM®
President and Founding Partner
Wealth Consultant

¹ “Current US Inflation Rates: 2000-2023,” US Inflation Calculator, https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/

² “Effective Federal Funds Rate,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York, https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/reference-rates/effr

³ “Gross Domestic Product, Second Quarter 2023,” Bureau of Economic Analysis, https://www.bea.gov/news/2023/gross-domestic-product-second-quarter-2023-advance-estimate

⁴ “The Employment Situation – July 2023,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

⁵ “Monetary Policy Principle and Practice,” Federal Reserve, https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/monetary-policy-what-are-its-goals-how-does-it-work.htm

⁶ “Unemployment continued to rise in 1982 as recession deepened,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1983/02/art1full.pdf

Short-Term Investments: Castles in the Sand

Written by RiverFront Investment Group.  Reprinted with permission from RiverFront Investment Group.  Redistribution is prohibited.

Higher for Longer: Adapting Stock Selection for Higher Inflation/Rates

Written by RiverFront Investment Group.  Reprinted with permission from RiverFront Investment Group.  Redistribution is prohibited.

‘De-Dollarization’? Don’t Believe the Hype

Written by RiverFront Investment Group.  Reprinted with permission from RiverFront Investment Group.  Redistribution is prohibited.

July 2023 Chart Pack Summary: Corporate America Powers Through Once Again

Written by RiverFront Investment Group.  Reprinted with permission from RiverFront Investment Group.  Redistribution is prohibited.

Q2 Recap: The Fed Continues Raising Rates, but the Equity Market Won’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow

Written by RiverFront Investment Group.  Reprinted with permission from RiverFront Investment Group.  Redistribution is prohibited.

United we stand, divided we fall.  It’s a phrase that’s been said many times throughout our nation’s history.  The legendary Patrick Henry said it in the last speech he would ever give to the public, thundering the words so forcefully that at the end, he collapsed and had to be carried away.  Abraham Lincoln famously alluded to it during his historic debates with Stephen Douglas, declaring, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  The words adorn both the flag of Missouri and state seal of Kentucky.  And they could often be found on posters and flyers during World War II, urging Americans to tighten their belts, shore up their spirits, and fight for the future of the free world.

They are also words we think about every Fourth of July.  Because history has proven, time and again, just how accurate they are.

But the first time the phrase appeared in America wasn’t in a speech or on a flag.  It was in a song.

The year was 1768.  American colonists had just become subject to a new series of laws called the Townshend Acts.  These were designed to force colonists to comply with British trade regulations and prove that Parliament had a right to tax the colonies without their consent.  They may have even been meant to punish the people of New York for refusing to quarter British soldiers in their homes.  In other words, these new laws were behind several of the grievances Thomas Jefferson would include in the Declaration of Independence.

As you can imagine, Americans didn’t take these Acts lying down.  In every colony, protests broke out.  Ports refused to import British goods.  And many leading citizens of the day wrote pamphlets, articles, and editorials on why all colonists should unite to oppose unjust laws.

One of those citizens was a man named John Dickinson.  As one of the foremost legal minds of his day, he had already spilled gallons of ink on a series of essays against the Townshend Acts.  But, that summer, he decided to write something that appealed to the heart more than the head.  An ode to the rightness of fighting for liberty and freedom.  He called it The Liberty Song.  Here’s how it went:¹

Come, join in hand, brave Americans all
And rouse your bold hearts at fair Liberty’s call;
No tyrannous acts shall suppress your just claim,
Or stain with dishonor America’s name.

Our worthy forefathers, let’s give them a cheer,
To climates unknown did courageously steer;
Threw oceans to deserts for Freedom they came,
And dying, bequeathed us their freedom and fame.

The tree their own hands had to Liberty reared
They lived to behold growing strong and revered;
With transport they cried, “Now our wishes we gain,
For our children shall gather the fruits of our pain.”

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all,
By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall;
In so righteous a cause let us hope to succeed,
For heaven approves of each generous deed.

All ages shall speak with amaze and applause,
Of the courage we’ll show in support of our Laws;
To die we can bear, but to serve we disdain.
For shame is to Freedom more dreadful than pain.

In Freedom we’re born and in Freedom we’ll live.
Our purses are ready. Steady, friends, steady.
Not as slaves, but as Freemen our money we’ll give. 

Dickinson submitted the lyrics to two Pennsylvania newspapers.  Both published the song in early July 1768.  From there, the song “went viral” as we would say today.  Within months, it had spread up and down the eastern seaboard, appearing in newspapers from Massachusetts to New York to Virginia.  It became one of the first patriotic songs in American history.

These days, most Americans don’t know about The Liberty Song anymore.  We think that’s a shame – because the words remind us that by uniting we stand, by dividing we fall. 

As you know, we all have different political opinions and beliefs.  We all have different visions of what our country should be.  But this is nothing new.  When Dickinson wrote his song, America wrestled with the question of whether to fight British law.  During the Revolution, America wrestled with the question of whether to declare independence.  (Dickinson himself voted not to sign the Declaration…although he became one of the few Founding Fathers to actually fight in the Revolution, and he later helped write the U.S. Constitution.)  During Lincoln’s day, America wrestled with the question of slavery.  In the 20^th century, America wrestled with questions like isolationism or interventionism, segregation or integration.

Now, today, we have a hundred questions of our own.  But The Liberty Song reminds me that, while we will always have differences of opinion, we are all Americans.  We each do our best to continue rearing Liberty’s tree, so that its shade covers all of us.  We are all striving so that our children “gather the fruits of our pain.”  In other words, there will always be far more that unites us than divides us.

This Independence Day, we will sing the national anthem.  We’ll sing America the Beautiful and My Country Tis of Thee.  But we also want to remember the words of The Liberty Song.  We want to remember how far we’ve come as a nation.  Most of all, we want to remember that by uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.  And America will never fall.

On behalf of everyone at Hudock Capital Group, we wish you a safe and happy Independence Day!        

Sincerely,

Barbara B. Hudock CIMA®, CPM®
Chief Executive Officer
Founding Partner

Michael J. Hudock, Jr., CPM®
President and Founding Partner
Wealth Consultant

¹ “The Liberty Song,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Liberty_Song

The Fed Did the Two-Step, the Market Does the Running Man

Written by RiverFront Investment Group.  Reprinted with permission from RiverFront Investment Group.  Redistribution is prohibited.

When 2023 kicked off, there were two storylines every economist, analyst, and financial advisor were keeping an eye on.  Two potential crises that could upend the markets.

We’re referring, of course, to the debt ceiling and the possibility of a recession.

Today, six months later, we’re thrilled to announce that the first potential crisis has been resolved.  There’s good news on the second one as well!

Good news.  That’s a wonderful phrase to hear, isn’t it?

Let’s start with the debt ceiling.  After weeks of negotiations, President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy struck a deal to suspend the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025.  That removes the possibility of the U.S. defaulting on its debt obligations, which would certainly have triggered a massive recession.

Quick recap in case you haven’t been following this story very closely.  The debt ceiling is “the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations.”¹  What are these obligations? Think Social Security and Medicare benefits.  Military salaries.  Tax refunds and interest payments on Treasury bonds.

The debt ceiling, then, is the limit to what the government can borrow to pay back what it has already spent.  (Or is legally obligated to spend.)

Normally, raising the debt ceiling requires a simple act of Congress.  Some years, however, politicians disagree on whether the ceiling should be raised without a simultaneous decrease in spending or other appropriations.  When this happens, we get a debt ceiling crisis, where the nation comes close to defaulting on its debts.

In this case, Janet Yellen, the Secretary of the Treasury, predicted that the U.S. would default sometime in June if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised.  With that deadline in mind, the President and the Speaker reached an agreement on May 28.  A few days later, Congress approved the deal.

Here’s a brief look at what’s in the deal.  First, and most importantly, is the aforementioned suspension of the debt ceiling.  Rather than raising the ceiling to a new number, Washington has negated the idea of a debt limit altogether for the next eighteen months.  This means the government can borrow above the current limit in order to meet its existing obligations.

In return, both sides of the political aisle have agreed to cap future domestic spending to 1% through the 2025 fiscal year.²  Given that this number is lower than inflation, this effectively amounts to a spending cut.  The deal also ends the White House’s pause on student loan payments, while adding new work requirements for Americans who qualify for food stamps and other government assistance.

For the economy, however, the deal is less important for what it does than for what it prevents.

If the U.S. had breached the ceiling and defaulted on its debt payments, the economic impact would have been severe.  Seniors would have stopped receiving Social Security payments, or at least experienced delays.  Child Tax Credit payments, paychecks for federal employees, veterans’ benefits, Medicare benefits…all would have been either curtailed or delayed.

Less gut-wrenching on a human level, but equally impactful financially, is what a default would have meant for the bond market.  In a default, bondholders would no longer have been paid.  The value of their bonds would have plummeted.  This would have led to dramatically higher interest rates on any new debt issued in the future – which in turn would mean higher rates for everyone.  Given that rates are already higher than they’ve been in years, this would have likely plunged the economy into a deep recession.  And since Treasury bonds are historically the most stable investment in the world, it would probably have disrupted international bond markets, too.  The result?  A global recession.

Thankfully, the debt ceiling deal prevented this crisis from unfolding.  And while politicians on both sides of the aisle are reportedly unhappy with some aspects of the bill, the risk of default was simply too great.

But this wasn’t the only bit of good news in the past week!  We mentioned earlier that there was a second storyline to keep an eye on in 2023: The possibility of a recession.

As you know, the Federal Reserve has been steadily raising interest rates to bring down inflation.  At the start of the year, many economists predicted these rate hikes would lead to mass layoffs and lower consumer spending.  The two main causes, in other words, of most recessions.

Thus far, however, neither of those things has come to pass.  Consumer spending actually rose by 0.8% in April, up from lower increases in February and March.³  The labor market, meanwhile, has proven incredibly resilient.  The most recent report indicated the economy added 339,000 new jobs in May.⁴  That’s far more than experts predicted.  It’s also greater than any single month in 2019, the last year before the pandemic!  The report revised the numbers for March and April, too, with both months bringing more job growth than initially thought.

The upshot of all this is that the economy is doing far better than forecasters expected.  Does it mean a recession is off the table?  No.  But it does mean a recession isn’t a certainty this year, either.

That, is what we call good news.

Now, to be clear, this doesn’t mean market volatility is over, or that hard times aren’t ahead.  For one thing, inflation is proving stubborn, too.  The Federal Reserve may have more interest rate hikes in store.  This could bring renewed uncertainty to the markets in the short term.  In the long term, it could still tip the economy into a recession.  And despite the strong jobs report, the unemployment rate is still technically on the rise.

So, as investors, we must continue to be cautious.  As your financial advisors, we’ll still keep our eye on the markets every day, passing along what we think you need to know.

In the meantime, though, it’s perfectly okay to celebrate good news!  And it’s also perfectly okay for you to “unplug” for a while if that’s what you want.  Savor the summer months.  Spend time with family.  Work on your golf swing.  Take that road trip you’ve been dreaming of, or just relax in a hammock with a nice, cold glass of lemonade.  Our team will keep our eyes on the road ahead so you can enjoy the view out the passenger window.

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.  Our door is always open!

Sincerely,

Barbara B. Hudock CIMA®, CPM®
Chief Executive Officer
Founding Partner

Michael J. Hudock, Jr., CPM®
President and Founding Partner
Wealth Consultant

¹ “Debt Limit,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-markets-financial-institutions-and-fiscal-service/debt-limit

² “Here’s what’s in the debt ceiling package,” CNN, June 2, 2023.  https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/30/politics/whats-in-the-debt-ceiling-deal/index.html

³ “U.S. Consumer Spending Jumped in April,” The Wall Street Journal, May 26, 2023.  https://www.wsj.com/articles/consumer-spending-personal-income-april-2023-b1b57c31

⁴ “The US economy added 339,000 jobs last month,” CNN Business, June 2, 2023.  https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/02/economy/may-jobs-report-final/index.html

‘Narrow’ Markets are Not a Bad Omen for Stocks

Written by RiverFront Investment Group.  Reprinted with permission from RiverFront Investment Group.  Redistribution is prohibited.

Happy Father’s Day!  Recently, we came across a sweet story on social media that really put the holiday on our minds.  In honor of all fathers, we’d like to share it with you.

Earlier this spring, the staff at the World Bird Sanctuary in Missouri witnessed an unusual sight when an old, male bald eagle named Murphy sat down on a rock.¹

Day after day, Murphy refused to leave the spot, squawking at anyone and anything who came near.  Murphy had lived at the sanctuary for almost thirty years and had never behaved this way before.  Many visitors who saw the eagle worried there was something wrong with it.

But the eagle wasn’t sick.  He wasn’t hurt.  And he wasn’t sad.

For the first time in his life, he was ready to be a dad.

At first, the handlers at the sanctuary were confused.  Normally, bald eagles mate for life, with both parents taking turns incubating their eggs.  But because Murphy’s wing was permanently damaged, he couldn’t be released into the wild.  As a result, he had never fathered eaglets before.  In fact, he had never even mated before.  Already 31-years-old, he seemed destined for a life of bachelorhood.  But something changed in him that first day.  Suddenly, he was ready to be a protector and provider…even if the thing he was protecting and providing for was a rock.

Touched by his parental instincts, the sanctuary staff decided not to interfere, other than moving him – and his rock – to a private enclosure.  Eventually, spring would end.  The rock would never hatch, Murphy would lose interest, and that would be that.

But then one day a new visitor arrived at the sanctuary.  An orphaned eaglet, barely a week old, that had been swept out of its tree during a storm.  Far too young to survive on its own…but still young enough to imprint on a new parent.  Even if that parent was a grumpy old loner.

Lacking other options, the staff decided to pair the little chick with Murphy.  After all, the eagle was clearly in dad mode.  Yet there was a major risk involved.  Again, Murphy had never built a nest before, never cared for eaglets before…and might even see the little newcomer as a threat to his “baby rock.”

But they also knew that every child needs a parent.

So, the next day, they swapped Murphy’s rock with the orphaned chick, held their breaths, and waited.  (Of course, they also took precautions, leaving the eaglet in a heated cage in Murphy’s pen.  That way, the new dad could get to know his new charge without any risk of hurting it.)

After a few days, the staff felt the coast was clear.  They opened the chick’s cage so the two could be properly introduced.  And to their delight, Murphy successfully swapped being a rock dad to being a real dad.  The two conversed back and forth, chirping and peeping at each other.  Soon, the old eagle even started protecting and feeding it.  Later on, Murphy showed the chick how to drink and eat on its own.  How to stretch its wings.  How to clean its beak and feet after a meal.  (And yes, even how to behave whenever the young eaglet started acting naughty.)

Of course, there were some things that Murphy couldn’t do.  He couldn’t teach the chick to fly.  And when a tornado struck nearby, he forgot to keep the chick warm and dry, forcing the staff to do it.  (Hey, even the best dads aren’t perfect.)  But the two bonded beautifully, and in the ensuing weeks, the chick has grown and grown.  Now, the sanctuary team believe they can even release it back into the wild.  In fact, as of this writing, they have already selected a date to do so.

Father’s Day.

***

When we heard this story, «Salutation», it really got us thinking about fatherhood.  About the role fathers play in our lives.  About how important a good father really is.

Fathers come in all shapes and sizes.  Birth fathers and stepfathers; grandfathers and father-figures.  Some dads are gregarious and playful; some strong and silent.  (Some are all of the above!)  Some are good in the garage, some are good in the yard, and some are good in the kitchen.  Some dads are married or in partnerships; others, like Murphy, do it solo.

But the good ones all have something in common: Nothing is more important to them than their kids.

As Murphy no doubt discovered, fatherhood is never easy.  But dads are persistent and tenacious, learning as they go.  Learning what to do and when to do it.  When to push their kids and when to leave them be.  When to be a coach and when to be a friend.  But always being a protector and a provider, in whatever way their family needs.  All dads make mistakes, of course, but the good ones never stop trying to be better…because they always put their kids first.

Thanks to Murphy, that little chick is growing up strong and healthy.  It knows how to take care of itself.  It knows how to be an eagle.  And that’s really what fatherhood is all about, isn’t it?  They’re teachers and role models.  Cheerleaders and caretakers.  Protectors and providers.  Fathers teach us how to grow up.  They teach us how to take care of ourselves.  They teach us how to be the best people we can be.

We’re so grateful for our dads.  And we’re grateful for all the good dads in the world.  The ones who put their kids first.  The ones who teach them how to stretch their wings…so that, one day, they too will take to the air and fly.

On behalf of everyone here at Hudock Capital Group, we wish you a happy Father’s Day!

Sincerely,

Barbara B. Hudock CIMA®, CPM®
Chief Executive Officer
Founding Partner

Michael J. Hudock, Jr., CPM®
President and Founding Partner
Wealth Consultant

¹ “An Eagle Who Adopted a Rock Becomes a Dad,” The NY Times