David Sterman is a journalist and registered investment adviser. He runs Huguenot Financial Planning, a New Paltz, NY-based fee-only financial planning firm.

Even for mighty Microsoft, $595m is a lot of money. That’s how much the software giant’s sales were reduced in the most recent quarter by the ever-stronger US dollar. Indeed, a broad range of US large-cap companies have been trimming forecasts due to a drop in repatriated profits that results from dollar strength.

Yet near-term sales and profit trends are just the tip of the spear when it comes to the impact of a strengthening dollar. Of far greater importance is the potentially damaging global economic effects that currency strains are triggering. Financial advisers who have been complacent about these risks need to sit up and take notice now that it’s clear the Federal Reserve will continue to hike interest rates, a path of action likely to boost the dollar even more.