This month, I would like to talk about the elephant in the room. The nation’s Black Swan Event. Well, really the world’s Black Swan Event. In the past, we have almost always been able to point to something we, as humans, did to mess up the stock market. World wars, dot com bubble, bad loans, and derivatives causing the simultaneous crash of the housing and stock markets, among other things. This time, we can point to a pandemic. When the world shuts down, for the most part, revenue and profits shut down too. We have never shut down the United States before. This is truly a first. How do you prepare for something that has never happened before?
Well, our clients were set up to not lose the nest egg. We almost always have at least half of our client’s assets in guaranteed accounts that make a reasonable rate of return and can participate in market-like gains but protect your hard-earned money from loss. Some of these accounts do not even have fees! The other half of your portfolio is likely to be in the market directly, but not typically the broad stock market. We will mitigate risk by selecting specific sectors as a hedge on world events and domestic issues.
We have learned a few things from this event and are repositioning some assets to give our clients even greater protection should this happen again. Our financial planning team has been getting a lot of phone calls from our clients thanking them for having their back and giving us words of encouragement. Words that are greatly appreciated! We have also been getting a lot of very appreciated referrals from you, our clients. Folks are calling asking us how we can protect them the way that we protect their friend. For those of you that have decided to extend your furlough into full retirement, we are happy to review your 401(k)s and pensions to see if they are positioned for safety.
So, this month’s Financial Tip is more of a ‘thank you’ note to our clients. Thank you for your understanding. Thank you for your praise. Thank you for your encouragement. I, and our entire planning team at American Retirement Advisors, thank you for being a part of our client family.