You filled up in Kingsport this week for $3.89 a gallon. Same as last week. Tennessee and the national number both slipped a few cents. Our corner of the country is still getting off easier than most.
But look back a year. That same gallon in Kingsport ran $2.69. That's $1.20 more today for the very same tank, $24 more every time you fill a 20 gallon tank. It stings. You feel it every time the pump clicks off.
Here's the part that's just for you. Savers have a hard time becoming spenders. Prices went up this year. Your income can too. Your accounts have been working, protected and still participating, up over the last year and the last three. If we haven't talked about giving yourself a raise, call me. The money's there. That's what it's for.
The bigger story the last 3 months was interest rates. The 10 year Treasury pushed past 5% in September and finished the quarter at 5.30%, the highest since 2007. The Fed raised rates for the first time since 2023. In most years, a move like that knocks the market flat on its back. This time it didn't. The market finished the quarter higher and sits close to a record, because companies kept making money.
Here's how I read it. The climb got steeper. Steep we can handle, 5.30% is a hard grade, not the end of us. But there's an edge up ahead in the cloud, and the higher rates climb the closer it gets. Call it 6%. That's the one you don't want to walk off blind. Here's the thing. You're on the rope. Somebody's out front, everybody tied in. We never climb without it, even on the easy stretches, even when you don't think you need it. That's what keeps a steep day from becoming a bad one. You're tied in. You're built to hold.
None of this changes the plan. Go to work, go to the ballgame, sit at the dinner table with your family. You hired us to do the worrying. We're on the wall. You go live your life.
Keep the Faith. God Bless America.
Jeff
The Weekly Quiz
Last week's answer: The last time you could get a 30 year mortgage under 3% was 2021. Nobody got it, so the prize is still sitting there.
This week's question: The 10 year Treasury just hit its highest level in years. The last time it was this high was what year? (The answer is right here in this letter.)
Give us a call at 423-247-1152 with your answer. Every right answer goes into a drawing for a prize. Answer next week.
Sources: Gas prices, AAA, this week as of October 10, 2026; last week as published in the October 5, 2026 edition; a year ago, same week 2025. Market background: Aptus Capital Advisors, The Market in Pictures (October 9, 2026) and David Wagner, Rearview to Windshield (October 6, 2026). Fill-up arithmetic assumes a 20 gallon tank at the Kingsport price.