As many of you have seen, the Senate recently passed the CARES Act. While it is not yet final and may still undergo a few structural changes, the essence of the bill is in place and individuals and businesses can start assessing how it impacts them.

 

There is A LOT to digest, and we will certainly explore how this impacts each of your plans, but there will likely be something in this bill that effects everyone, even if minimally. You can read a decent summary of the bill in a piece the Tax Foundation put together yesterday.

 

Hope all is well in your remote worlds.

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Today’s Distillery feels like an appropriate topic as we (as of this writing) are currently experiencing our second consecutive up day in the markets. I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m operating at a more relaxed level today.

But let’s also be honest, we don’t know where the market will end up today, let alone a month from now. While we’re all still coming to terms with what this “new-normal” actually means mid and long term, I want to offer up two planning strategies that we at The Advocates think appropriate to consider given the current market environment.

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A Distillery on a Tuesday, whaaaaat? That’s right, we have quite a lot of news to distill lately, so we’re moving to a more frequent format for the time being. We hope you appreciate the increased commentary. 

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Today’s The Distillery is an excerpt from a recent “Ask me anything” session on Reddit this week with Bill Gates. We all know Gates as the founder of Microsoft, but after “retiring” Gates has been even more focused on world health and wellness initiatives via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As outspoken advocates on preparing for potential outbreaks such as this one, Gates offers up his encouraging opinion on the present situation.

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Despite a nice recovery day on Tuesday, it now appears that the investment markets are in full panic mode, the result of the World Health Organization declaring the Covid-19 virus to be a global pandemic.  Traders on Wall Street are selling at virtually any price, which is causing the markets to drop into bear market territory.

 

The long bull run that started in March 2009, and set many records along the way, is now officially over.  May it rest in peace; we will all remember it fondly.

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Ahhhh, perspective. Who doesn’t need a healthy dose of this every once in a while? For investors, now seems like a good time to consider perspective. Perhaps you can think back to the previous pull-backs and recessions in the stock market and consider what you would have done different. Would you have bought more or sold more knowing where you are today, on the other side of those events?

No one knows where the market goes in the short term, but considering we’re all holding a 10% off stocks coupon in our hand currently, the long term answer is likely up.

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This week’s The Distillery addresses declines, or paper losses, in the stock market. As the title alludes, said declines are the investor’s “price of admission” for long-term investment returns above inflation and other less risky investments such as bonds.

 

While the piece is excellently crafted to logically explain “normal” market returns, at the end of the day, we’re all still left with our emotional reactions. That’s where we come in. If you’re feeling stock-motional (I just made that word up) at any point in the day, shoot us an email or pick up the phone and call us. We’d love to hear from you.

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This week’s The Distillery is a crash course in Safe Withdrawal Rates (SWR), or in hopefully simpler words, how much can I safely withdraw from my portfolio each year, starting at Retirement? I was impressed with the relatively short summary that the author was able to put together while still discussing a somewhat complex subject. If you have limited time, at least view and understand the first graph in the piece. It summarizes visually what is usually taught in 300 page textbooks. Also, if you’re wondering what The Advocates employ, the closest comparison is #3.

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This week’s The Distillery revisits timeless investment axioms, under the pretext of Japan’s most recent 30 year anniversary….of its last market high! Can you imagine if the US experienced something similar over the next 30 years? Although unlikely, it’s still within the realm of possible and worth our consideration. Read More >

This week’s The Distillery was brought to my attention by our CEO and fellow Advisor Cole Campbell. I hadn’t seen an article written quite from this angle before, but I love how it gives advice but at the same time creates a sense of urgency for us plan while we can. In our experience planning is often done after a significant event, opposed to be before it. Have a great rest of your week.

 

 

Adam Frinsco, CFP^®, CMT

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