The Federal Reserve recently increased interest rates 0.25% recently. This is the first rate increase since July 2023.

The reasons cited were to address stubborn inflation. Inflation is primarily caused by the government spending too much money. This pushes interest rates and long-term bond yields higher.

Also, the Federal Reserve signaled there would likely be another rate hike before the end of week.

This will increase borrowing costs.

The markets reacted negatively. Higher interest rates typically are bad for stocks, the real estate market, and cryptocurrencies.

Fixed assets (CD's, bonds, and index products) thrive in a higher interest rate environment.

This is the "Golden Age" of fixed assets.

Ferenc shares several client examples that have suffered poor performance due to low performing indexes, high fees, caps, and low participation rates.