Hello there.

What a 5-alarm fire this past month has been. Are you burning the candle at both ends yet? Okay, sorry, that’s enough puns.

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This level of tension is enough to light a match under anybody… okay, for real now, no more jokes. This is big business. Very serious. Moving on.

Today’s sponsor:

Have you seen those “gas prices in the ‘90s” edits going around? Yeah, those were the days. Now we're staring down $4-a-gallon gas for the first time since 2022. That’s a 43% jump in a month. Ouch.

In a fun plot twist, a refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, exploded this week, sending gas and diesel prices spiking even higher. And while Trump's been talking about productive conversations with Iran (which Iran immediately denied having), oil prices are still way up from where they were before all this started. Even if the war ends tomorrow, experts say it'll take months for prices to actually drop at the pump because turning oil production back on isn't like flipping a light switch.

Why should you care? Every extra dollar gas prices go up costs American households about $1,000 more per year just at the pump. And it's not just your tank that feels it. Diesel prices are over $5 a gallon now, which means every single thing that gets shipped by truck (so basically everything you buy) is about to get more expensive.

On the plus side (kinda), energy stocks like Chevron and Exxon tend to do well when oil prices spike, so if you're looking for a hedge against your painful fill-ups, that's one angle. Something to think about before you panic-sell or panic-buy anything. More on that below.

Larry Fink runs BlackRock (the world's biggest money manager with $14 trillion), and he just dropped his annual letter with some genuinely helpful thoughts for everyday dudes.

His main point: Don't try to time the market. He says if you'd invested in the S&P 500 over the past 20 years, every dollar would've turned into eight bucks. But, if you missed just the 10 best trading days during that stretch, you'd have made less than half that money. So basically, trying to jump in and out based on scary headlines is a great way to accidentally miss the good days and tank your returns.

Fink also thinks Social Security needs an upgrade. Right now, the program keeps old people out of poverty (which is huge!), but it doesn't really let your money grow the way a regular retirement account does. He's suggesting that maybe a portion could be invested more like other pension plans instead of just sitting in Treasury bonds earning 2.6%. Some people love this idea, others think it's risky. A lotta people think our generation won’t be able to retire, so who knows. Either way, the Social Security trust fund is projected to run dry by 2032, so something's gotta give. The cost of waiting just keeps getting higher.

A lot can happen in a week!

Let’s take a quick look at who struck gold and who struck out since our last issue:

Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM): +5.36%
América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. (AMX): +4.95%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM): +2.22%
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM): +0.14%
Apple Inc. (AAPL): +0.08%

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): -3.18%
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): -2.48%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO): -1.34%
Amazon.com, Inc (AMZN): -1.33%
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): -0.27%

That’s all for today. Write us and let us know your thoughts on the market, the newsletter, or the weather—we’d just love to hear from you.

Till next time,
— Brandon and Blake of Invested Inc.