Nick Pirsos, Wealth Advisor at MRA Advisory Group, published his updated view of equity markets. You are invited to schedule a complimentary first meeting (via the link below) to discuss his views in greater detail and to learn how to best to optimize your portfolio to better attain your retirement goals.
February saw a split performance across global equity markets with the US and Hong Kong slipping between 3%-6%, while Europe and rest of Asia gained between 0.4%-5.2%.
Mixed economic indicators are fueling the ongoing debate of recovering or slowing global GDP trends. In the US rising interest rates appear to be having an impact, while China covid recovery also appears to be gaining traction.
Buy & Hold or Fold? – Yes.
Four months have passed since the October 2022 market low, with the S&P 500 up 10%, begging the question; new bull market or a bear market rally? Putting that aside, we always encourage investors to take a long-term view.
What should one conclude from the graph above? Easy – don’t take a blunt approach with your retirement savings. From 1996 to 2008 (12 years), the S&P was unchanged. From 2008 to 2022 (14 years), the S&P 500, on average, albeit with great volatility, increased 12.3% per year. Over the 26-year time frame, the S&P 500 increased on average 6.5% per year.
Would these have been your returns? Consider two different investors in 1986? First a 35-year old married couple. Would they have been able to consistently invest over the 26-year time frame or would investable income in the early years have been used for housing and starting a family? Alternatively, consider a 55-year old in 1986. Would they still be with us at the current age of 81? Would they have needed investment funds in their senior years for medical expenses, thus, having missed the recent bull market?
Conclusion: Long-term fundamentals are important but so is your personal circumstances. Don’t go it alone. We can help you best align your specific conditions with our current and long-term market view for optimal output.
Where is the market today?
If we look at six common valuation measures, we see half suggest the market is fairly valued and the other half suggest modestly over-valued. Focusing only on forward P/E, we see the S&P 500 is trading at its long-term mid-point of 16.8X.
Despite a more attractive current valuation relative to the past two years, will the S&P 500 trade flat as it did between 2005-2013, will an even better entry point present itself or is now the time to increase exposure?
The answer to the above may depend on your circumstances. Investors need to be prepared for all economic possibilities while always driving towards ones retirement objectives. Avoiding the markets is rarely a winning formula.
ACTION PLAN: “How do you know when you have arrived, if you don’t know where you are going?”
Call us today and we can help you align and optimize your Savings and Retirement funds with your Lifestyle Plan to current and expected investment market conditions.
Specifically, we can assist you with these and other personal advisory services:
- Building consistent monthly investment income.
- Strategies to mitigate monthly equity volatility.
- Identifying your portfolio’s current and long-term expected risk/opportunity preferences.
- Capital gains tax optimization.
- Or any other personal Financial Planning and Retirement Savings needs including College Planning/529 Plans, Insurance (Life, Disability, Group Health), Wills and Estate Planning.
- Small Business owners, we can help improve employee retention creating low-cost 401K plans, Pension Plans and Group Medical Health Insurance programs and maximize owner tax deferred contributions.
Feel free to share our views with family or friends who are also confronted with these important life Wealth Planning decisions. MRA Advisory Group and I are ready to discuss all your investment concerns to best position your Retirement Goals.
We offer a broad spectrum of affordable, custom tailored, subscription services.
Your answers and solutions are one click away! To get started, simply click the “Let’s Talk” button for your free Zoom consultation!
Advisory Services are offered through MRA Advisory Group, a Registered Investment Adviser. This information was developed by Broadridge, an independent third party. It is general in nature, is not a complete statement of all information necessary for making an investment decision, and is not a recommendation or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. The investments and strategies mentioned may not be suitable for all investors. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Nothing herein, nor any attachment, shall be considered to constitute (i) an offer to sell, nor a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any security, or (ii) tax or legal advice.