I keep going back to two words in conversations: agency and governance. 

Agency is the ability to exert control over your own life. It’s critical and should be non-negotiable. Governance is next-level stuff. Governance is the operational leverage required run big things for the benefit of many.

Governance might well be the eighth wonder of the world. Let me tell you where this is coming from. 

As of last week, there are seven trillion dollars in money-market funds. Many of these dollars are parked in money-market funds because they seem like "a deal too good to pass up."

But remember: The market doesn’t make a habit of handing you free money. To make matters worse, when people face significant uncertainty, certainty goes for a premium, even if it’s just the illusion of safety. And uncertainty has been high for years and shows no signs of letting up.

“There are things that investors probably don't totally understand when they buy and hold covered calls," says Jonathan Treussard, founder of Treussard Capital Management.

"For example, are you okay with giving up market upside but retaining downside risk in exchange for income?"

"It's very important to understand that, by and large, covered-call ETFs tend to be an order of magnitude less tax efficient than plain-vanilla ETFs.”

“Be like water” is about being flexible and adaptable. It’s about being liquid-like. There is something to that, when it comes to investing.

Of course, the world changes, and you should evolve your opinions with new facts. But there is something else about the two basic activities of investing: managing risk and pursuing returns.

Since the early 1990s, ETFs have grown in popularity relative to mutual funds. At this point, ETFs are roughly 30% of all assets held in '40 Act Funds overall. It’s been explosive, but ETFs have a long way to go if they’re going to munch their way through the remaining 70% or so like Cookie Monster.

If someone in your life wants the bare minimum so they can make reasonable decisions on their own, whether it’s a kid’s investment account or their first 401K plan, here it is. There are three fundamental concepts to get your head around. If you get those, you’ve got the real basics.

Key Insight: "History is full of examples of upward momentum being accelerated by investors’ lemming-like fear of missing out. Falling prices can likewise be reinforced by trend-chasers, as well as by market mechanics such as margin calls." - Jonathan Treussard

From the unexpected moves in Japan and a potential U.S. economic slowdown to the pitfalls of engineered yield strategies, we break down what you need to know to navigate recent market volatility and economic uncertainty.