The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the market decline and why I thought we had a little more to go. Turns out I was right - not to brag. These falls throughout the year are not uncommon. In fact, the average decline in any given year is about 14%.

Perspective is so important, yet it's not easy. We get so caught up in our own world that it's hard to see the forest for the trees. Last week I wrote about "Common Uncommons", and I explained how history tells us that this decline, historically, has further to go.

The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics kicked off over the weekend, and markets we're in a celebratory mood. The S&P 500 clawed back some of its losses on Friday, but still finished the week around 1.5% down. The Nasdaq finished 3.2% down. Meanwhile, the small-cap Russell 2000 finished the week over 3.1 % up, underlining the current rotation away from tech.

I spent the school holidays in Bali with my family. We travelled through Sanur, Uluwatu, Ubud, and Canggu. We'd never been to Uluwatu before, it was our first time this year. And it was amazing. Beautiful weather, spectacular beaches, really cool vibes, it was incredible.

I started investing just after the dot com bust, right through the commodity boom. I was buying individual stocks and names, mining companies I had never heard of, IPOs at 20 cent issue prices, the major banks, and whatever else was hot at the time. I was in my early 20's. I made a few dollars and felt like a genius. But when it all came crumbling down, I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was an expensive exercise, yet it was the most valuable lesson I ever learnt. One that would not only set me up personally, but also my career and philosophy in wealth management.