The Dow Jones has crept into negative territory for 2015 and bonds have sold off as interest rates have rallied. As we are now in year 6 of the bull market that started in March of 2009, valuations on both equities and fixed income look considerably stressed. While most market participants seem eerily complacent with their long stock, bond and real estate portfolios; the risks of permanent losses of capital are greater than they have been since 2007 and 2008, when similar feelings of complacency existed.
The key questions for investors to ask themselves are:
Are my investments trading at prices that reflect a large margin of safety and significant appreciation and/or income potential?
Can I handle a 20-30% selloff if I am long equity mutual funds or index funds?
Can I meet my retirement goals in a stock market that is likely to return no more than 5% per annum over the next 5-7 years?
Am I prepared to see my bond portfolio, which has incredibly low yields to begin with, provide me with losses when interest rates do eventually rise?
If you are uncertain about any or all of these issues, I’d encourage you to come to our webinar on Wednesday June 24th at 11:00 am PST, or 2:00 pm EST. On the webinar, we will be discussing current market conditions and ways in which you can both protect yourself, while also maximizing profit potential. There are other ways to invest rather than blindly plowing money into mutual funds and index funds trading at all-time highs, where you have virtually no protection when valuations get out of whack.
If you’d like a free portfolio review prior to the webinar, please feel free to contact me directly at 805-886-8140, and we can arrange a convenient time to review your portfolio.
Thank you very much and we look forward to speaking with you!
Tim Travis
Chief Investment Officer