As November approaches, we are performing year end reviews for client portfolios. A lot has happened since I wrote this post nearly 1 year ago:
There were no shortage of commentators predicting that October 2018 was just the start of a market correction. It appears, at least thus far, that those commentators could not have been more wrong. Just yesterday the S&P 500 hit a new all time high All Time High. It goes to show the difficulty in predicting market movements over the short term. I contend it is virtually impossible. Those that reacted to the dire predictions of October 2018 are probably lamenting those decisions.
None of this is to say that there aren’t some very real market risks right now. In fact, just last week I wrote about the biggest of these Market Risks. But as always, I advise against making rash decisions based solely on what talking heads or commentators are saying.
So what will we be looking for when we do these portfolio reviews?
- First, have any of our client goals and/or risk tolerances changed? This is probably the most important part of the process. We will be reaching out to you for your input here. If something has changed we will explore that in more detail and adjust our planning for your needs specifically.
- Second, has anything materially changed in our client’s lives that needs to be explored?
- Third, are the funds and ETFs that we are utilizing still “doing what they are supposed to be doing?”
- Last, have any of our client’s holdings gotten out of balance? If so, what do we need to do to get the holdings back in balance?
That’s the process we utilize. Fairly straightforward. Notice we will not be making any market predictions or acting on hunches in this process. If you are a current financial planning client, you know this is our approach.
If we are not currently working with you on your financial planning but the above methodology makes sense to you, please feel free to contact us to see if a working relationship makes sense.