Making the Most of a Bear Market

If you’re a young professional, negative market returns can carry less weight than you might think. Let’s use 2022 as an example.

Positives About the Market

2022 was a historically painful year as an investor with stock markets experiencing a bear market, and bond markets having one of their worst years ever. However, as we enter 2023, I’d like to consider the positives.

Chart of the Month – Jan 2023

It's natural to sit down at the end of the year and reflect on what happened. Here is a short recap of what happened in the markets and the world in 2022.

Chart of the Month – Dec 2022

Those of you who keep up with the financial news are likely familiar with the three most quoted indices, the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the NASDAQ. Sometimes, the returns for all of them are similar, but sometimes they are not.

Chart of the Month – Aug 2022

The housing market has been hot since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prices have soared and the interest rate to borrow money for those homes has been at historically low levels. But what is happening now?

Recession “Reaction”

Plenty of arguments exist as to why we will be and/or already are in a recession. However, there is good news out there that isn’t readily reported.

Bear Markets and Life Jackets

For anyone invested right now, it feels like we’re sinking. But just as boats have lifejackets to keep you afloat, your financial life should have its own lifejackets in place to help keep you from sinking in bear market times like these.

Thinking About Stock Market Volatility

What caused the stock market to rise by over 20% in the second quarter of 2020 even as the COVID pandemic was out of control? How about the over 11% rise in the fourth quarter of 2021 as inflation ticked up and the Fed was warning of rate increases? It seems a little more obvious why the US stock market has fallen in the first 6 months of 2022, but should it have fallen more…or less?

What to Do When the Market Is in a Bad Mood

When the going is good, we’re not all that concerned with asking or answering the question. It is when the going gets tough, like right now, that we find ourselves more interested in asking. So, “What should we do?”

Nervous About the Market? Maybe You Need a Lifeboat.

Market volatility tends to unnerve even the calmest of investors. How do we know what to hold and how much to hold at any particular time? That’s a crucial question, but the answer does not need to be complicated.

Are You in the Bear Market Buyer’s Club?

For the person who is currently contributing to a portfolio and does not need to take distributions anytime soon, this is a gift. That’s right, a bear market is a gift to those investors. If you are contributing to an investment account right now, you are already in the Bear Market Buyer’s Club.

Chart of the Month – July 2022

Sooner or later, we're likely going to see demand cool off. The big question is how quickly inflation alters consumer spending and how quickly that pulls back inflation.