In offering a rare take on the current market, I come back to one of my investment truths.

The hardest day to invest is always today.

One of my earliest manager meetings was with Jeremy Grantham in 1992.

He made a compelling case that the bull market of the 1980s had run its course.

Around the same time, I learned about Warren Buffett and considered buying Berkshire Hathaway stock.

At $12,000 per share, Berkshire Class A was beyond my means.

I assumed I was too late. The easy money had already been made. But in hindsight, I was

standing at the starting line of one of history's greatest bull markets.

Over the past four years, we've hosted Capital Allocators University six times.

In each session, I presented a slide titled, The Hardest Day to Invest is Always Today.

And every time, new market conditions made that statement ring true.

Today is no exception.

We face heightened uncertainty from tariffs, economic conditions, valuations, private market liquidity, and crowding in alternatives.

Even leading macro strategists have begun to question the durability of U.S. exceptionalism

on the Capital Allocators podcast. When stocks, bonds, and alternatives all appear unattractive,

what's an investor to do? I've been thinking about the bull and bear cases across asset classes.

None of these observations are earth-shattering,

but collectively they illustrate a complex investment landscape with few compelling

opportunities. U.S. equities boast strong, resilient mega-cap companies, a lagging cohort with

catch-up potential, and implicit policy backstops from the Fed

and Treasury. But they face headwinds from high valuations, rising government debt, and

escalating economic and geopolitical risk. The familiar comfort of buying the dip no longer

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