I was recently at a conference for independent financial advisors hosted by Charles Schwab. After a three-year hiatus, this annual conference was finally back in person. My favorite aspect of these meetings is not the presentations, entertainment, or even the location, but rather the opportunity to engage with other financial advisors from around the country.
I can admit when I’m wrong… Sometimes. When it comes to digital assets and cryptocurrency, I’ll admit that a few years ago, I was pretty critical and skeptical. However, I have since changed my tune and have become an investor and perhaps even an enthusiast. I could give you many reasons for my previous skepticism, but it amounts to not knowing the asset class well enough.
Before I get into the nuts and bolts of what is happening and how we as a firm view the market impact, I want to address this question: Should you be concerned? The answer to this question is the same for every market crash. You should be concerned ONLY if you are relying on your portfolio for income AND there is NO fixed income allocation in your portfolio. Allow me to explain, but first we must agree on the premises that you are investing for the long term, the market cannot be timed, and fear is the enemy of successful investing.
No matter your level of money management experience, as an individual, you have limited resources to research, trade, and manage things on your own. So, it is important to hire a financial advisor for guidance. If you are currently working with, or are considering working with an advisor, there’s one other question you need to be asking: How does my Financial Advisor get paid?
Once every 18 months. That is how often the S&P 500 drops 10%, also known as a “correction”. We all remember the last correction (also commonly referred to as a “crash”), which happened in March of 2020. But what you may not remember is how long it took for the market to recover from that crash. The market took less than 5 months to rebound, bouncing back in August 2020. That was an enormously quick turnaround. August of 2020 was 18 months ago, and guess what we have not had in 18 months? That’s right, a correction!
A financial professional's business card may say “financial adviser”, but that does not mean they are truly a financial adviser. By doing your homework you can increase the odds of hiring an advisor with a high level of integrity, however, you will still need to feel that you can trust them. Look for an advisor who you believe has a similar moral compass to your own. Once you find them, ask them the tough questions to make sure they are not just a good person, but that they are also qualified.
On January 18th, we initiated a gold position in many of our portfolios. As many of you know we are not flashy day traders. On the contrary, our investment approach has a long term outlook, is disciplined, and is built on the fundamentals of asset allocation. With that being said, we do not take a purely static approach to investing. We believe that adjustments over time are prudent and this change represents what we believe to be a prudent investment...
At FSG we understand you have placed a great deal of trust in us. You have worked and saved and, in many cases, invested your life savings with us. We do not take this responsibility lightly. In many of my previous writings you may have heard me use the term market noise and preach about focusing on the long term. I won’t call the Coronavirus market noise because people have died, so it feels a little insensitive, and with how quick the recent drop in markets has occurred I cannot blame you for being concerned about that “noise”.