consumers are relatively resilient and the us economy remains strong from the vantage point of mellody hobson cochief executive of value manager ariel investments who also chairs the board of starbucks ticker sbux during the march 24 barron’s level up virtual discussion hobson touched on a range of topics that included the banking turmoil why the coast may not be clear for hightech growth stocks and the small steps anyone can take to become more financially secure the following are highlights from our discussion the latest banking problems are a “very different situation” than what the sector faced in 2008 and 2009 with big money center banks in a great position says hobson who is a board director at jpmorgan chase jpm regulators made good decisions in a moment that could have spiraled by stepping in to guarantee deposits “should we be in a tough position again—though treasury secretary yellen said they wouldn’t be guaranteeing deposits over 250000—the precedent has been set that suggests they wouldn’t allow a situation to spiral out of control that could be very bad” hobson says “we aren’t going to be on steady ground for a bit but the responses to the challenges seem to be very smart” from hobson’s perch at starbucks  she says the economy looks strong feeding that view is strong demand from consumers who hobson described as wellpositioned coming out of the pandemic because of the stimulus money both in the us and elsewhere that drove spending while starbucks recently reported an increase in quarterly revenue higher costs dented profits but hobson notes that inflation isn’t growing as fast lately with wage growth beginning to slow and the decline in energy costs and supply chains recovering from pandemic disruptions helping that said hobson says it’s unclear whether inflation will return to the fed’s 2 target very fast “this is for many leaders a firsttime phenomenon we haven’t seen this type of inflation in 50 years and it’s not a problem we can deal with quick fixes” she notes credit is likely to slow in the wake of the banking turmoil and the fed’s rate hikes but hobson isn’t sure if that tips the economy into a recession if it does however hobson doesn’t expect a recession to be that deep or difficult noting the overall strength of us businesses is strong balance sheets look good and the us consumer is still burning through stimulus cash “we haven’t had one in so long that we have gotten very afraid but normally recessions happen every three to five years” higher interest rates have wrecked some damage on highgrowth technology stocks while the value stocks ariel favors are performing better though value investors typically hunt in beaten up areas hobson says declines in highgrowth technology stocks and the faang stocks— facebook ‘s parent company meta platforms fb amazoncom amzn apple aapl netflix nflx and alphabet ‘s google goog—may not have yet taken their course in part because hobson says she isn’t sure venture capital has taken the marks needed in their portfolios to reflect the compression in multiples in the highgrowth technology stocks that could bring further declines one area for possible good hunting financial services companies that have been beaten up amid the recent banking turmoil but aren’t pure regional banks hobson says it’s never too late to start investing—and no amount is too small even if it’s starting at 50 cents a day “give yourself a number small enough you can’t fail” hobson says suggesting people first build up an emergency fund of three to six months of living expenses before moving on to investing and for those wary about investing in the stock market she suggests starting with retirement accounts and the free match many employers offer “free money—don’t let it ever go people say i’m nervous about equities and volatility but if a company gives you 50 cents on every dollar to invest that’s a 50 return that should assuage your fears about volatility which does smooth itself out over time” “i always embraced the fact i wasn’t a white male” says hobson who is one of barron’s 100 most influential women in us finance “instead of feeling singular or different i said ‘i’m going to use this difference to my advantage’ if i do make a point or have a conversation i try to make it mean something leave someone with an impression because they’ll remember how different i was from others in the room i was very deliberate” “i had this belief that if i was really good at my craft my job everything else would come from that” hobson says of her path to gaining board seats and broader influence outside of ariel “sometimes people think you have to market yourself and do all these different things” she says “i’m always asking them in your core competency are you excellent if you are that becomes your launchpad for other things you might do you don’t have to tell people how well you are doing they will know and they will do the advertising for you”