On July 19, late-day headlines spoke of “carnage” during that day’s equity market “rout”. “Plunging” indexes prompted scary thoughts of impending market doom. And an evening walk around the neighborhood confirmed the locals heard those scary messages loudly and clearly. In truth, U.S. stock market had dropped only 1.5%. Next day, that same market proceeded to recover all the ground it lost the day prior. Given the misdirection such ominous media cues may offer to long term-oriented investors, we decided to provide this public safety and service announcement: we think it best to choose a level of market exposure with which you can be comfortable over interim periods as you progress toward longer-term financial goals, as all investing carries risk and on some days those risks can seem more pressing than on others.

Listen to this month's commentary from CIO Mark Mowrey:

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