Will the Fed’s Inflation Cure Trigger a Hard Landing?
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Will the Fed’s Inflation Cure Trigger a Hard Landing?

By GRANT EDMUNDS
Fri, Nov 11, 2022 8:33amGrey Clock 2 min

In our post pandemic economy, all eyes are on the Federal Reserve and the tools at its disposal to unwind the effects of the unprecedented Covid-era stimulus. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and his cohort face a formidable challenge as they try to cure one economic ill (high inflation) and prevent another (recession) when the treatment for one is contraindicated for the other.

For now, Powell has made his choice: fight inflation by raising interest rates and reducing the emergency-sized Fed balance sheet to intentionally slow the economy and inhibit consumer demand. In effect, the Fed is administering high doses of inflationary chemotherapy while trying to avoid the significant side effect of a ravaged economy. As Powell put it in a July 27 press conference, “We’re trying to do just the right amount, right? We’re not trying to have a recession. And we don’t think we have to.”

What are the odds of this approach working? Historically, the Fed’s success rate in fighting inflation while avoiding a recessionary “hard landing” has been mixed. The Wall Street Journalfound that of the previous 11 battles the Fed has fought against inflation, six produced “soft landings,” where inflation and economic growth were reduced without causing a recession.

So it is possible. But interest rates are rising at the fastest pace in U.S. history. Add to that the slowdown in GDP growth, record debt, and rising geopolitical tensions, and a recession is looking dramatically more certain. Bloomberg estimates a 100% chance of one within the next 12 months.

If inevitable, a modified bright side of a recession in 2023 is that stock markets tend to bottom out ahead of recessions. Equity markets are forward-looking indicators, which means that often the worst-case scenario is priced in ahead of time. From peak to trough, the median S&P 500 drop during recessions since 1948 is around 24%—which is comparable to the lows set thus far in 2022. The S&P 500 average decline during the past nine recessions was -1.5%, and in four instances it actually generated positive returns. Timing a market bottom is nearly impossible, but by the time the doomsday scenario arrives, equities may already be headed higher.

As the market continually digests new information, it is easy for clients to lose track of the bigger picture. As ever, during volatile markets we recommend that investors avoid trying to time the market and emotional responses to short-term volatility. We advise patience and a return to investment principles such as long-term thinking, diversification, and taking advantage of market conditions to selectively tax-loss harvest and rebalance.



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The Longevity Vacation: Poolside Lounging With an IV Drip

The latest trend in wellness travel is somewhere between a spa trip and a doctor’s appointment

By ALEX JANIN
Tue, Apr 16, 2024 4 min

For some vacationers, the ideal getaway involves $1,200 ozone therapy or an $1,800 early-detection cancer test.

Call it the longevity vacation. People who are fixated on optimising their personal health are pursuing travel activities that they hope will help them stay healthier for longer. It is part of a broader interest in longevity that often extends beyond traditional medicine . These costly trips and treatments are rising in popularity as money pours into the global wellness travel market.

At high-end resorts, guests can now find biological age testing, poolside vitamin IV drips, and stem-cell therapy. Prices can range from hundreds of dollars for shots and drips to tens of thousands for more invasive procedures, which go well beyond standard wellness offerings like yoga, massages or facials.

Some longevity-inspired trips focus on treatments, while others focus more on social and lifestyle changes. This includes programs that promise to teach travellers the secrets of centenarians .

Mark Blaskovich, 66 years old, spent $4,500 on a five-night trip last year centred on lessons from the world’s “Blue Zones,” places including Sardinia, Italy, and Okinawa, Japan, where a high number of people live for at least 100 years. Blaskovich says he wanted to get on a healthier path as he started to feel the effects of ageing.

He chose a retreat at Modern Elder Academy in Mexico, where he attended workshops detailing the power of supportive relationships, embracing a plant-based diet and incorporating natural movement into his daily life.

“I’ve been interested in longevity and trying to figure out how to live longer and live healthier,” says Blaskovich.

Vitamins and ozone

When Christy Menzies noticed nurses behind a curtained-off area at the Four Seasons Resort Maui in Hawaii on a family vacation in 2022, she assumed it might be Covid-19 testing. They were actually injecting guests with vitamin B12.

Menzies, 40, who runs a travel agency, escaped to the longevity clinic between trips to the beach, pool and kids’ club, where she reclined in a leather chair, and received a 30-minute vitamin IV infusion.

“You’re making investments in your wellness, your health, your body,” says Menzies, who adds that she felt more energised afterward.

The resort has been expanding its offerings since opening a longevity centre in 2021. A multi-day treatment package including ozone therapy, stem-cell therapy and a “fountain of youth” infusion, costs $44,000. Roughly half a dozen guests have shelled out for that package since it made its debut last year, according to Pat Makozak, the resort’s senior spa director. Guests can also opt for an early-detection cancer blood test for $1,800.

The ozone therapy, which involves withdrawing blood, dissolving ozone gas into it, and reintroducing it into the body through an IV, is particularly popular, says Makozak. The procedure is typically administered by a registered nurse, takes upward of an hour and costs $1,200.

Longevity vacationers are helping to fuel the global wellness tourism market, which is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2024, up from $439 billion in 2012, according to the nonprofit Global Wellness Institute. About 13% of U.S. travellers took part in spa or wellness activities while traveling in the past 12 months, according to a 2023 survey from market-research group Phocuswright.

Canyon Ranch, which has multiple wellness resorts across the country, earlier this year introduced a five-night “Longevity Life” program, starting at $6,750, that includes health-span coaching, bone-density scans and longevity-focused sessions on spirituality and nutrition.

The idea is that people will return for an evaluation regularly to monitor progress, says Mark Kovacs, the vice president of health and performance.

What doctors say

Doctors preach caution, noting many of these treatments are unlikely to have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, producing a placebo effect at best and carrying the potential for harm at worst. Procedures that involve puncturing the skin, such as ozone therapy or an IV drip, risk possible infection, contamination and drug interactions.

“Right now there isn’t a single proven treatment that would prolong the life of someone who’s already healthy,” says Dr. Mark Loafman, a family-medicine doctor in Chicago. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Some studies on certain noninvasive wellness treatments, like saunas or cold plunges do suggest they may help people feel less stressed, or provide some temporary pain relief or sleep improvement.

Linda True, a policy analyst in San Francisco, spent a day at RAKxa, a wellness retreat on a visit to family in Thailand in February. True, 46, declined the more medical-sounding offerings, like an IV drip, and opted for a traditional style of Thai massage that involved fire and is touted as a “detoxification therapy.”

“People want to spend money on things that they feel might be doing good,” says Dr. Tamsin Lewis, medical adviser at RoseBar Longevity at Six Senses Ibiza, a longevity club that opened last year, whose menu includes offerings such as cryotherapy, infrared sauna and a “Longevity Boost” IV.

RoseBar says there is good evidence that reducing stress contributes to longevity, and Lewis says she doesn’t offer false promises about treatments’ efficacy . Kovacs says Canyon Ranch uses the latest science and personal data to help make evidence-based recommendations.

Jaclyn Sienna India owns a membership-based, ultra luxury travel company that serves people whose net worth exceeds $100 million, many of whom give priority to longevity, she says. She has planned trips for clients to Blue Zones, where there are a large number of centenarians. On one in February, her company arranged a $250,000 weeklong stay for a family of three to Okinawa that included daily meditation, therapeutic massages and cooking classes, she says.

India says keeping up with a longevity-focused lifestyle requires more than one treatment and is cost-prohibitive for most people.

Doctors say travellers may be more likely to glean health benefits from focusing on a common vacation goal : just relaxing.

Dr. Karen Studer, a physician and assistant professor of preventive medicine at Loma Linda University Health says lowering your stress levels is linked to myriad short- and long-term health benefits.

“It may be what you’re getting from these expensive treatments is just a natural effect of going on vacation, decreasing stress, eating better and exercising more.”

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This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan

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