“Rethinking Investing” is legendary financial consultant Charley Ellis’ “eureka” moment when all his investment wisdom and experience came together in one short volume.
ONE INVESTMENT
ELLIS: LONG, LONG RUN INVESTMENT
Buy a low cost index fund or ETF of your choice
Slight tax benefit to ETFs

I agree with all of the comments that have been made here. Thanks.
As it happens the accounts (all 4 of them) moved to self-directed within the last few hours.
fyi, it is Wells Fargo Advisors. they have always been very friendly and helpful for years -- until this. The ironic thing is that the #1 reason I still had accounts there was out of a sense of loyalty.
Anyway, I guess I'm feeling liberated. End of an era.

Oh dear, did someone trigger FD1000 today?

Maybe it's time to move to another brokerage? Some Brokerages will do most of the work for you & possible give you a bonus $$$

Stock fragility, a measure of a company’s daily share-price move relative to its recent volatility, is on track to reach its highest in more than 30 years among the largest 50 stocks in the S&P 500 Index, based on the average magnitude and frequency of such individual shocks so far in 2025, according to Bank of America Corp. strategists.

“The sideways range the stock market has been in for almost three months is hiding a big increase in volatility for individual stocks,” Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co., said via email. “When you combine this with higher bond yields and concerns over tariffs, it has created a much higher level of uncertainty and nervousness than we usually see when the market is near an all-time high.”

Let me guess.
Dems=great. GOP=Terrible. Until the next election we will see daily articles like thism
The only problem is that great Dems used to be Kennedy and Clinton. Something to ponder.

Donald Trump threatened to ramp up his economic assault on some of America’s biggest trading partners on Thursday, vowing to impose new tariffs on countries that target products made in the US within weeks.
The US will impose “reciprocal” duties, the president announced. “We want a level playing field,” he declared in the Oval Office, pledging to roll out a “beautiful, simple system” of new US import duties that match those imposed by other countries.
No new specific tariffs were announced, however, triggering a relief rally on Wall Street. Instead, Trump signed a presidential memorandum ordering the development of a comprehensive plan to address what the White House described as “longstanding imbalances” in the global economy.
Americans could face “some short-term disturbance” if the US imposes higher tariffs on foreign goods, Trump acknowledged. “Prices could go up somewhat short-term,” he said. “But prices will also go down.”
“What will go up is jobs,” claimed Trump. “The jobs will go up tremendously.”
It is the latest bid by Trump to strain Washington’s trade ties with countries across the world – allies and rivals alike – to obtain political and economic concessions.
A press notice circulated by the Trump administration promised it would take action to “put the American worker first, improve our competitiveness in every area of industry, reduce our trade deficit, and bolster our economic and national security”.
US officials pointed to a series of examples of tariffs and other trade barriers that they said demonstrated how other countries were not treating the US fairly. They pointed to the European Union’s 10% tariff on cars, alongside the 2.5% US tariff on cars, and claimed that shellfish from 48 states cannot be exported to the EU, while the bloc “can export all the shellfish it wants to America”.
They also cited a 100% tariff imposed by India on US motorcycles, while the US only charges 2.4%, and an 18% duty in Brazil on US ethanol, while the US charges 2.5%.
Trump also called for Russia’s return to the G7 group of industrialised nations, saying it had been a mistake for Moscow to be expelled. Russia was suspended from the group – then known as the G8 – in 2014, following the annexation of Crimea, and announced its permanent withdrawal in 2017.
The administration has so far threatened more tariffs than it has introduced. Duties on Colombia were shelved when it agreed to accept military aircraft carrying deported immigrants; duties on Canada and Mexico have been repeatedly delayed; and modified duties on steel and aluminum, announced earlier this week, will not be enforced until next month.
An additional 10% tariff on goods from China is, for now, the only threatened trade attack actually enforced since Trump returned to the White House. On Friday, it emerged that a key component of this – removing the longstanding duty-free status of low-cost packages – had been delayed.
Inflation is already proving stubborn. In January, as Trump returned to office, it ticked up to an annualized rate of 3%. Egg prices have been soaring in recent months, as many US consumers continue to grapple with the elevated cost of living.
Trump said he would not commission any studies into how his mooted tariffs could affect prices for Americans. “There’s nothing to study,” he said. “It’s going to go well.”
Asked whether the Trump administration’s plan to align US tariffs with those imposed by other countries risked raising prices for US consumers, Lutnick – standing alongside the president – sought to shift responsibility onto other countries. “​If they drop their tariffs, prices for Americans are going down​,”​ he said.
Trump has frequently highlighted the US’s trade deficit with the world – the fact that the value of its imports greatly exceeds that of its exports – as evidence of unfairness.
“Closed markets” overseas reduce US exports, while “open markets at home result in significant imports”, the White House notice said, arguing that this had undercut the US’s ability to compete.