Mulligan

The stock market gave investors a mulligan to start 2019. Why do I say that? The S&P 500 Index finished January up 8%. Other market benchmarks were up similar amounts. That doesn’t bring us back to fresh highs, but it’s a good enough bounce back that you should consider toning down your risk if the October-December drop was too much for you to handle.

I never recommend changing your stock/bond mix based on market forecasts, but I highly recommend evaluating your personal situation at least once a year to see if you should change anything.

What could change? A lot of things.

You could be just a few years away from retirement and feel differently about market drops.

You could have a much larger portfolio than you did five years ago. While the recent drop in markets was nothing out of the ordinary, people measure investment performance in dollars. A 15% drop feels a lot differently to a person with a $1,000,000 portfolio than it does to one with a $10,000 portfolio.

You could run your financial plan and figure out you have it made. Maybe you don’t need to take much risk to meet all of your financial goals.

Whatever the reason, now is as good a time as any to review your investments and see if any changes are in order. Let me know how I can help.

Legal Disclaimer: These posts do not constitute an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any securities or instruments or to participate in any particular investment or trading strategy. They are for informational purposes only. CTW gathers its data from sources it considers reliable. However, CTW makes no express or implied warranties regarding the accuracy of this information or any opinions expressed by the author and may update or change them without prior notification.

About the Author: John O’Connor