Making Sound Choices in a Volatile Market

MIKE TOWNSEND: I am one of those people who doesn't check his investment portfolio much. And that may seem ironic. After all, I work for a big financial services firm and host a podcast focused on the markets. For many years, I had one of the financial news channels on in the background every day, all day. I stopped doing that a few years ago. The reason that I don't check my portfolio much and don't watch financial news all day is that I found that it made me anxious.

Several times a day, financial news networks would put up a screen with the biggest winners and losers of the day. And I found myself wondering why I didn't know about company X before it shot up 15% since this morning. Or more often, wondering why I still owned company Y, as its stock price was highlighted as one of the losers of the day. 

I am not and never have been a trader. I'm a long-term investor, and often I feel like this moment in time, with its 24-hour news and constant social media updates, isn't geared toward the long-term investor. But I've learned to tune out the noise. And we've been talking on this podcast recently about how to ignore the noise, whether it's the screenshot of today's biggest movers or the ceaseless barrage of news that floods across all of our feeds. But not checking my portfolio 10 times a day doesn't mean I'm not an engaged investor. I am.

I see what's happening with the slow start to the year for the S&P 500^®. I see the volatility in cryptocurrency and the crazy run-up in gold and silver last month. And I still think to myself, am I missing out? Welcome to WashingtonWise, a podcast for investors from Charles Schwab. I'm your host, Mike Townsend. And on this show, our goal is to cut through the noise and confusion of the nation's capital and help investors figure out what's really worth paying attention to.

On today's episode, I want to focus on the biggest concerns on the minds of individual investors right now, some of which are very much on my own mind. That's why I'm pleased to welcome back to the podcast Daniel Stein, who manages two Charles Schwab branches in Northern Virginia. Dan and his team literally talk to investors every single day. So he has great perspective on what the most common concerns he's hearing about right now are and what he's telling investors to help them navigate the current environment. We'll get to that conversation in just a minute. But here are three things I'm following in Washington right now.

First up, after months of speculation and shifting tides, the president finally announced Kevin Warsh as his choice to succeed Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. Warsh is a former Fed governor who served from 2006 to 2011, and he was widely believed to be the runner-up for chair when Trump tapped Powell in 2017. Warsh has been a sharp critic of the Fed in recent years, arguing that rates need to be lower and that its strategy of buying massive amounts of U.S. debt and mortgages, known as quantitative easing, was misguided policy. In an interview last fall, he called for regime change at the Fed and said that the central bank needed a fundamental overhaul of its staff and its processes. But for now, the focus is on process, as in the confirmation process. Warsh will have to go before the Senate Banking Committee for a confirmation hearing in the coming weeks, but it's not certain when that will happen. That's because one of the Republicans on that committee, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, has said that he will not support any Fed nominee until the criminal investigation into Powell is resolved. The president has said that process, which is being run by the Department of Justice, is going to play out however long it takes. 

Last week, though, there was a notable development when the chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Republican Senator Tim Scott, said that he did not believe that Powell committed any crime when he testified last summer about the Fed's building renovation project. That's important because that testimony is the focus of the criminal investigation—whether Powell lied to Congress about the renovation project. It was Scott's committee and indeed Powell's responses to Scott's questions that are at issue here. So if Scott himself does not believe that Powell perjured himself or committed any other crime, it's hard to imagine where the investigation could go from there. Scott making that comment last week strikes me as part of a coordinated pre-planned effort to begin winding this investigation down.

I would not be surprised if there is an announcement sometime in the next few weeks that the investigation is complete and that no charges are filed. That should then clear the way for Warsh's confirmation and for him to take office in mid-May and to run his first policy meeting as chair in June. 

Speaking of nominees and confirmations, there was a much less high-profile, but still very significant nomination last week. The president chose a career economist, Brett Matsumoto, as the next head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agency that produces the jobs numbers, inflation readings, and lots of other economic data that is critically important to the markets. President Trump fired the previous head of the agency after a large downward revision to the jobs numbers last August. That sparked a lot of concern that the agency could become politicized and led many analysts to worry about whether they could rely on the integrity of government data. The nomination of Matsumoto has eased some of those concerns. 

He's a career government employee. In fact, he's been at the BLS since 2015, and he's highly regarded among economists. His nomination has been well received, both in Washington and on Wall Street, as someone likely to focus on the data and just the data. Matsumoto's nomination will now go to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which will hold a confirmation hearing in the coming weeks. 

Finally, on the political front, one of the open seats in the House of Representatives has now been filled, further narrowing the Republicans' margin. Christian Menefee, a Democrat, won a special election in Texas at the end of January to fill a seat that had been vacant since the death of former Congressman Sylvester Turner in March of 2025. Menefee took the oath of office on February 2, bringing the count in the House to 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats. That's effectively a one-seat majority, because if two Republicans vote with all the Democrats on something, it produces a 216 to 216 tie, and ties lose in the House of Representatives. And with the iconoclast Republican from Kentucky, Congressman Tom Massie, voting against his party on, well, almost everything, it means that House Speaker Mike Johnson is going to have a really difficult time managing the House in the weeks ahead. We saw it last week when a procedural vote to pass a revised version of the government funding legislation and end the brief four-day partial government shutdown had to be held open for nearly an hour so that Johnson could wrangle a few of his Republican colleagues to change their votes from no to yes in order to move the process forward. Next up will be a vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security—something that is going to be very difficult in any situation, let alone with a one-vote majority.

On the last episode of WashingtonWise, my guest Kasey McCurdy talked about how investors can remain focused in a time when it seems like every day there are a dozen major news developments that can rattle the markets. On today's deeper dive, I want to build on that conversation by getting answers to some of the key questions on the minds of individual investors right now. I've asked Daniel Stein to join me for this discussion. 

Dan manages two busy Charles Schwab branches in Northern Virginia, leading a team of about 30 financial professionals. He and his team are really on the front lines, talking with investors every single day about how they're feeling about the market and how they can manage their finances through this period of turmoil. So he's a great resource to help dig into some actionable ideas. Dan, welcome back to WashingtonWise. Thanks so much for joining me today.

DAN STEIN: It's great to be back, Mike.

MIKE: Well, Dan, I want to start by just asking about the top concerns that you and your teams are hearing from investors. The market had a strong year in 2025 with the S&P 500 finishing up by more than 17%. But six weeks into 2026, the S&P 500 is up just over 1%. The Nasdaq is essentially flat year to date, and it's the small-cap index, the Russell 2000, that is outperforming, up about 7% so far in 2026.

When the market is moving forward, even if it's in fits and starts, we feel better. But when the market is underperforming in general, it's hard to be positive. So what would you say are the top three concerns that you're hearing from investors?

DAN: Well, Mike, it's important to remember that it's rare to go through a period where there are no concerns. It's just in times where the markets aren't marching upwards that people lean in much harder on those issues that have always been there. Now, the past three calendar years, the S&P 500 has returned 26%, 25%, and nearly 18% last year. But even on this march upwards, we still feel concerns from investors daily.

On your last episode, Kasey McCurdy pointed out the 30% drop we saw in March of 2020 during COVID and how the S&P 500 was still up over 18% on the year. Well, it's been less than a year since last April when we saw a nearly 19% draw down the S&P. And again, we finished the year up nearly 18%. So the takeaway here is that markets are volatile. Some years more than others, but that volatility is always going be there. As investors, it's something we have to accept. We have to make sure that we're positioned to stomach those downturns in our portfolio because they're inevitable. 

Now, with all that said, the main concerns that we're hearing from investors today are, first, is there an AI bubble forming, and will it cause a crash in 2026? Also recently, we've fielded more questions about the wild ride that metals, particularly gold and silver, and also cryptocurrencies have been on.

And then as you and Kasey McCurdy spoke about, there's the ongoing geopolitical concerns that seem to rotate through nonstop with headlines that can move the markets. So when we've seen extremes in market volatility recently, investors get more concerned about a possible crash.

MIKE: Well, crash, no question—pretty big elephant in the room. So let's start there. Is AI really forming a bubble? Does Schwab see a crash on the 2026 horizon?

DAN: With the high-flying returns and AI-related investments over the past several years, many people are wary that AI is forming a bubble. And those that experienced it firsthand often compare this to the dot-com bubble and the pain that that caused. However, the landscape in AI investing is different from the dot-com era in many ways. So first off, real revenues exist. Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, they're among many companies that are generating huge revenue streams from AI infrastructure and services.

In the dot-com era, many market leaders had zero profits and sometimes zero revenue. Second, incumbents are leading. In the dot-com era, we had a lot of startups disrupting incumbents, but now AI is being monetized by the most profitable companies out there. Third, AI enhances productivity, not just distribution. 

Now, the internet changed how we conducted business, and it ramped up the speed of communication and information. But AI is transforming how we work across every function and, increasingly, every industry is performed. This can lead to increased margins and earnings for companies that are harnessing it effectively. So the bottom line, similar to the dot-com era, there will be specific companies that don't make it. And there will be individual stocks that see outsized returns based on the prospect of future revenues that never become profitable and then crash down to earth.

But expecting that the entire sector comes crashing down is somewhat a bet against AI making the transformative impact that most people expect it to. And given the impact that we've already seen AI make across so many industries, it's hard to imagine a scenario where it gets abandoned as some passing fad that never materializes. 

Now, with that said, the fears of an AI bubble stem from valuations and expectations being so high. And they are. Companies need to continue to show rapid growth in earnings and revenues paired with an optimistic outlook to continue to see investments in their company and therefore stock prices go up. Companies that disappoint on earnings or provide cautious forward guidance, they're seeing their stock prices get punished.

Now, volatility is going to persist in the market and particularly in growth sectors like tech. If you're poorly diversified, and you have outsized allocations to specific companies that might lose the AI race, you could be in for some pain that could have everlasting negative impacts on your financial goals. So the best thing anyone can do is to get a pulse check. The most successful long-term investors are the ones that have had a comprehensive financial plan to identify their goals and address their risks.

This helps people to avoid emotions and knee-jerk reactions with their investments in times of stress. But it's important to remember, when you hear the advice, stay the course—well, it only works if you're actually on the right course to begin with. So it's important to regularly revisit your financial plan and your portfolio to ensure that they're aligned towards you specific situation and goals, which can change over time.

MIKE: Yeah, I love that idea of how we can tell ourselves we're staying the course without making sure that we are still on the right course. One example of how that happens is that we talk all the time about the importance of diversification to the point where I worry sometimes that investors just kind of tune that out. So I want to ask you how you think about diversification today. One of the challenges is that diversification has become much trickier these days because of how top heavy the market is. 

Walmart last week became the tenth company to cross the $1 trillion threshold in market capitalization. And even the most casual investor could probably name most of the other nine companies on that list, because it includes companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms. 

To underscore that concern, there was a fascinating article in The New York Times a couple of Sundays ago by Jeff Sommer, the longtime market columnist. He wrote about how index funds are themselves having trouble diversifying. In fact, some index funds have had to make legal changes and can no longer call themselves diversified because a handful of companies are so large that they overwhelm the rest of the index. And these are index funds, which, for a lot of investors, well, that's what they mean when they say they're diversified. "I own index funds. I must be diversified." 

So between too much of the mega companies and index funds not being able to stay diversified, what are we supposed to do? What guidance do you have to help investors figure out if they're diversified properly, and if they're not, to get back on track?

DAN: This is a genuine concern depending on the type of index funds you're using. Now, a market-cap-weighted S&P 500 fund, it's going to have around 20% invested in only three companies. Nearly 8% of that's in Nvidia, nearly 7% in Apple, and over 5% in Microsoft. And the top 10 companies—they make up around 40% of the index. If all you owned was an S&P 500 fund, no, you are not diversified. 

But as soon as you start adding in other index funds to give you exposure to other asset classes, your relative exposure to these single companies does get reduced. So for investors that use a mix of index funds and individual securities, this is also where it's important to know what's under the hood of these funds. If you have a heavy allocation of the S&P 500 already, and you're thinking about buying something like an Nvidia, an Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, well, it's important to first understand how much of these companies you already own through your index funds. 

Now there are other options out there as well. Let's say you want to continue to invest in large-cap domestic stocks, but you're concerned about overexposure to these mega-cap stocks we mentioned. Well, you could look at an equal-weighted index fund, which invests the same amount across all 500 companies in the S&P 500 versus a traditional market-cap-weighted index fund that invests proportionally to each company's size.

MIKE: Yeah, I think that's such an important point that you make about how we are already allocated to some of those big companies through other investments, even before we start thinking about actually buying them. It's a really important point. 

Well, you mentioned that another area investors are thinking a lot about right now is geopolitics. So what about international investing? We've read about how international markets have been outperforming U.S. markets for a couple of years now, but home country bias can be a hard one to break. And a lot of investors haven't embraced international opportunities. And now investor concern about geopolitical developments, I think, may be contributing to a reluctance to increase exposure to international stocks. Is there a recommended level for the international component of a diversified portfolio? 

DAN: Because owning international equity is an important diversifier, we recommend an allocation on all portfolios. The recommended level would vary by risk tolerance, but in a conservative portfolio, it'd be 5%. In a moderate portfolio, 15%. In an aggressive portfolio, we would recommend a 25% allocation to international. When it comes to outperformance, international and domestic equities have historically traded places throughout various time periods.

So don't go out and buy international because it has outperformed recently and you want to chase the returns, because the greatest minds in the market will never be able to consistently forecast which one will outperform the other over longer periods. But if you're looking to help smooth out the ups and downs of returns in your portfolio, then absolutely look at adding international. At Schwab, we've always advocated for international diversification. And while its steady performance over the last few years may appear to confirm that thought, we're talking about a long-term approach because, like all asset classes, it too is going to have its ups and downs.

MIKE: Well, let's shift gears a bit and talk about what I think is the other big story in the markets and for investors right now. And that's the crazy ride that gold and silver and cryptocurrency have been on really over the last six to nine months, but especially so in the last few weeks. So let's start with the precious metals. Historically, they've been perceived as a safe haven, a hedge against inflation. And historically, when gold prices go up, it's usually paired with a downturn in equities and a worrisome economy.

That's not been the case over the last few months. Yet both gold and silver have hit multiple record highs. So with the runup in prices, are clients still asking about gold and silver? You said that you're hearing from clients that they're concerned about a bubble in metals. What's your answer? Are they a good choice? Should we be rethinking the role precious metals can play in a portfolio? And if they do make sense, how do we add them in?

DAN: So for those that are looking for a deeper dive into the market mechanics behind gold and silver and the factors that move them, Liz Ann Sonders, she just released her February Market Snapshot, and it hits really well on this topic and the recent frenzy around gold and silver. In brief, precious metals are highly sensitive to changes in real yields, which are inflation-adjusted yields, and they're sensitive to moves in the dollar. So when markets started to reflect less easing in interest rates than hoped, that's when the declines began.

Now we're hearing more questions about gold and silver recently because people saw the rapid increases in both and then the subsequent large pullbacks, and they want to learn more about the drivers and if they should be investing in it. So if you're considering buying gold or silver because you saw the huge price increase, and now that it's pulled back, you see a buying opportunity for profit, that's not why I would look to add gold or silver to a portfolio. Gold and other precious metals, they can be used to help buffer a portfolio against inflation and stock market shocks.

Historically, when concerns about inflation, geopolitical unrest, or doubts about financial system stability are high, investors have tended to buy gold. While gold and precious metals may provide defensive attributes, their prices can be volatile, and we've seen those extremes just recently. So buying gold or silver should be done with a long-term view, and you should be prepared to see lot of volatility in the price.

MIKE: Well, speaking of volatility, what about cryptocurrency? I think more and more investors are getting comfortable with the fact that cryptocurrency is here to stay and that it may play an increasing role in the economy. But most investors I talk to don't really understand what role that will be. It's still hard for the ordinary investor to figure out the practical use of cryptocurrency. And we have certainly seen the volatility. Bitcoin, for example, dropped more than 50% since its all-time high last October before jumping up more than 11% in early February. So how do you talk to investors who are interested in cryptocurrency? Does it have a place in a broadly diversified portfolio?

DAN: Well, there are some similarities to the guidance on gold and silver here. We see cryptocurrency as a speculative investment outside traditional asset allocation models. Investors need to consider the high volatility and the risks involved. If you look at a long-term chart on Bitcoin, you'll see multiple periods of extreme drawdowns. And as you mentioned, just in the past week, it was 50% lower from its peak just in October. 

Now, its adoption as a payment method, it hasn't yet materialized like people had expected, and it's not a reliable hedge against inflation because it's not tied to the value of any basket of goods or services. And it has a whole host of obstacles to overcome that would keep it from becoming a new standard global currency. So for investors that have a highly diversified core portfolio designed to meet their goals, and they have funds set aside for more speculative growth investments, this is where they could make a small allocation of cryptocurrency, but it's not an asset class that we have included as part of a diversified portfolio.

Now, if you're interested in a deeper understanding of what drives the price of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, our Director of Digital Currency Research and Strategy Jim Ferraioli recently published a great article on the subject titled "What Can Drive Bitcoin's Price?" And you can find that on Schwab.com.

MIKE: Yeah, it's a great article. I also recommend it. You know, as investors, we're always thinking about companies in terms of adding them to our portfolios. So let's talk about allocation. How do we decide how much of what to hold?

DAN: Well, it's a great question, Mike, and I hate to sound like a broken record here, but most roads lead back to the individual's financial goals and their plan to reach them. Every investor's situation is unique. Now, when you hear terms like "time horizon" and "risk tolerance," it's easy to dismiss them as industry or regulatory jargon, but these are critical concepts that apply to the real human beings that we help. 

Now, someone in their 40s that intends to work for another 20 years, and they continue to invest savings into the market, well, they could take on more risk because they have time to potentially recover from sustained downturns in the market. And they actually get the opportunity to invest at lower prices when the market's down. However, if you're in retirement, you have moved from saving to spending, and you might not be able to take on as much risk because you're using your portfolio to meet your spending needs. 

And there's another way to think about risk tolerance. This applies to all investors, and this is your ability to sleep at night. Now the math might say that you can sustain big drawdowns in your portfolio, but if looking at the market on a down day puts your stomach in knots, well, that's no way to live, and your portfolio should be adjusted to reduce that unnecessary anxiety. 

Beyond time horizon and risk tolerance, a comprehensive financial plan considers many other variables to determine the most appropriate asset allocation and then help build that portfolio. But it doesn't stop there. As we talked about earlier, over time, you will drift from that allocation. You'll become overweight in certain sectors and individual companies, and you need to take a disciplined approach to rebalancing. Many investors take the first two steps of financial planning and restructuring their portfolio, but they fail to stay diligent on the rebalancing part. And that's one of the many ways that financial professionals can help.

MIKE: Yeah, it's always exciting to think about what to buy, but the flip side is equally important and sometimes, I think, more difficult. And that's, how do we decide what and when to sell? And what about cash once we sell? Where should we park it?

DAN: Well, this ties into a big reason why people fail to rebalance. In practice, it can be hard for people to wrap their head around the idea of selling the stocks or asset classes that have outperformed because they don't want to sell something that could move even higher. On the flip side, oftentimes people are hesitant to sell things that have declined, or they don't want to cut their losses because they mentally don't want to realize that loss. The thought is if they hold onto it long enough, it might come back. But that mentality can lead to holding on to underperforming stocks rather than deploying those funds into something else that might have better growth prospects. 

So at a high level, the decision on what to sell can start with how to get back to your target portfolio allocation and how do you reduce concentration risk in specific securities. As far as the question about where to park the cash, well, this brings up a good opportunity to talk about the need for an emergency fund and for spending accounts in retirement. 

Now, when we talk about the ability to weather downturns in the market, we create that ability through a rainy day fund. For all investors, we recommend having a minimum of three to six months of essential living expenses in cash or cash instruments like a money market fund. 

Nobody likes to think about these things, but if you're currently still working, what if you unexpectedly lost your job tomorrow? We rely on our consistent working income to pay the mortgage, the utility bills for groceries. Well, if that income was suddenly turned off, you don't want to be at the mercy of liquidating investment assets because what if we're in the midst of a pullback in the market? 

Now for those in retirement, the need for liquid funds is extended even further. And this is where we help people set up a bucketed approach to their portfolio. So in the first bucket, you want to have 12 months of liquid assets to cover living expenses. This can be a mix of cash, money markets, and CDs maturing in one year or less. Now your second bucket is the long-term portion of your portfolio that's allocated according to your financial plan that we discussed. But within this bucket, you'll want to have safer investments with two to three years of living expenses that can be used to replenish the funds in bucket one as you spend them. Now these two-to-three year investments can include slightly longer-maturity CDs than bucket one and include short-dated bonds or bond funds as well. And you might ask, why two to three years of safer liquid investments? Well, this allows you to still have a growth portion of your portfolio invested in equities. But again, be able to sleep at night and weather shocks to the market knowing that you aren't forced to sell those equities at inopportune times to fund your day-to-day spending needs, because you have this longer-term, two-to-three-year liquid bucket.

MIKE: Well, Dan, you've given us a lot of great thoughts and suggestions. I want to wrap up with your key takeaways. What are the big things you think investors should be thinking about and doing right now?

DAN: Well, first off, holding equities in your portfolio is an important way to drive growth to help protect against inflation so your assets can last through retirement. But it comes with risk. I mentioned the S&P 500 returned around 26, 25, and 18% the past three years. That's not the norm, and that can't be counted on. You need to take a long-term view and embrace that markets don't move in a straight line. From 1980 through 2024, the average intra-year decline in the S&P 500 was over 14%.

So big downturns happen within just about every calendar year, yet the S&P 500 has had a positive return in 35 of the past 46 calendar years. But that means it has been negative in 11 of those years. Negative returns happen. They will happen again. The key is that you need to be positioned to hold on through the downturn to be able to experience the recoveries. 

Second, I'm going to ask everyone to think about a few questions and answer to yourselves honestly. First question is, how long has it been since you've had a financial-planning conversation with a professional? If that answer is two years or more, can you really be confident that nothing has happened in the past two years that has changed your financial situation at all? Can you say with 100% confidence that you're meeting your retirement goals, that you won't run out money in retirement, that you have a sufficient emergency fund, that you have the proper insurance coverage, that you have a sound estate plan in the event that something were to happen to you?

If thinking about these topics raises any doubts whatsoever, well, then you owe it to yourself and to your loved ones to reach out for another set of eyes on your situation. 

Third takeaway, don't let fear dictate your investment strategy. This goes two ways. Don't get into investments that you might not be comfortable owning just because of the fear of missing out. And don't let the fear of ever-present risks and volatility in the market lead you to making emotional decisions that abandon your long-term plan.

To illustrate this, just earlier we talked about the 19% drawdown in the S&P 500 last year. If you had panicked in April about the impact of tariff announcements, and you abandoned your long-term plan and sold out of the market, well, just by the end of December, you would have missed out on 37% growth from that low point in 2025. Unfortunately, this happens. A lot of investors sold out the depths of the great financial crisis, and they missed substantial gains in the market that followed. It happened again in 2020 with COVID. You have to be invested in a way that helps you to not panic and not make those knee-jerk reactions. 

And finally, do some personal reflection on how much risk you're truly prepared to take on. I want to look very recently here. And since people might be listening to this at different times, let's use the Super Bowl as our reference point. Up until the Thursday before the Super Bowl, tech stocks were scuffling. Software stocks were 30% below their highs. Bitcoin was 50% off its highs, and gold and silver had just seen historic plunges. We saw a rally that Friday that carried over to the next Monday. But ask yourself, come Thursday, were you worried? Did any part of you think it was time to start selling and move to cash? And then by the end of the day on Friday, were you all of a sudden less worried? Well, if so, you wouldn't be alone, but we should never be having those kinds of swings and emotions over daily, weekly, monthly moves in the market.

We need a much longer lens, and we need to be in a place where we don't have daily angst like that. So if you find yourself with recurring concerns about the markets and your investments, reach out. We can help.

MIKE: Well, Dan, as always, a great conversation. Love your thoughts about sort of the psychology of investing there, particularly at the end, and about how important it is to keep having those conversations and keep checking in on your portfolio. Really appreciate your perspective on what ordinary investors are concerned about and how you and your team can make them feel more comfortable. I think it's incredibly valuable. So I really just want to thank you for taking time to join me today. It was a great conversation.

DAN: Thank you so much for having me, Mike.

MIKE: That's Daniel Stein, branch manager for two Charles Schwab branches in Virginia.

That’s all for this week’s episode of WashingtonWise. We’ll be back in two weeks with a new episode. Take a moment now to follow the show in your listening app so you get an alert when that episode drops and you don’t miss any future episodes. And don’t forget to leave us a rating or a review—those really help new listeners discover the show.   

For important disclosures, see the show notes or schwab.com/WashingtonWise, where you can also find a transcript.   I’m Mike Townsend, and this has been WashingtonWise, a podcast for investors. Wherever you are, stay safe, stay healthy, and keep investing wisely.