And why should I care?

Well, it's all about the cash flow.

That's just one way to summarize things.

Boy is there a lot going on, not the least of which are elevated tensions in multiple regions around the world and a change of power that will go to vote in a few weeks here in the US.

But today, our eyes are drawn to two very specific situations.

First, we have a very unfortunate situation along the east coast and the gulf today as ILA workers walked off the job. While we will probably see the impact in the cost of things like bananas, beer and other household goods, it won't be long before the manufacturing sector may start seeing some supply chain issues.

The first strike for these ports in 47 years, there is a wide enough gap in the current offer and demands that could spell problems for us in the not-so-distant future.

Companies depending on the ports for their own business operations could be experiencing cash flow problems sooner than later and those stand to ripple across the economy. It has been claimed that a strike here for any length of time could be devastating to the US economy.

But wait, that's not all.

Along with the strike, hurricane season brought us Helene, and that has not only created a number of issues from the south all the way north and into the mid-west, flooding remains a serious concern. It is getting some global attention as well, specifically in a little town in North Carolina by the name of Spruce Pine.

You may or may not have heard of this town with a population that isn't even above 3,000. If you have, it is almost certainly for one reason. Their quartz mines, which are currently flooded, supply the majority of pure quartz that is used in the manufacture of semiconductors and silicon wafers everywhere on the planet. Yes. Everywhere.

And they can't even open the doors right now. They also have damage preventing the railroad from running in and out of town. And this certainly shouldn't minimize any human losses they are suffering.

We are looking at two major events that could both easily impact a company's ability to pay their invoices in a timely manner. Whether you sell into those industries or not, one of your customers may. If it happens to be one of their key accounts, you could notice the impact of slow or no pay sooner than you might ever expect.

Who knew that a week ago I would have never expected these things could be impacting my clients and their cash flow?

I suppose this is just a great illustration of how things can change on a dime and why risks should be mitigated proactively.