THROUGH THE END OF MAY – The S&P 500 is down 5.0% YTD (total return) through 5/29/20. Just 121 stocks in the index are up YTD. The S&P 500 consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity and industry group representation. It is a market value weighted index with each stock’s weight in the index proportionate…
Category: risk tolerance
How to survive a bear market
“Investors can survive a bear market the same way hikers survive an encounter with a bear: Remain calm and don’t make sudden moves” as Wall Street Journal writer Jason Zweig advised on April 4-5, 2020. See: Staying safe around bears: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/safety.htm Consider your entire portfolio, including your human capital and Social Security benefits.as Zweig explains:…
How I learned to stop worrying and love the bear market
Spencer Jakab, writing for The Wall Street Journal (3/28-29/20) explains: A surprising share of a new bull market’s returns pile up in its very early stages, when the average investor is at their most fearful “Investor psychology in a major bear market is a mirror image of what it was the past few years: The…
So you think you’re going to time the market and jump in when things look good
Forget about it! The stock market lurches up and down in dramatic gains and losses with no warning!No bell rings at the bottom of the market signaling it’s time to buy!Some recent examples, among the gut wrenching downward drops:March 27, 2020 the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 12.8%! in one day!April 9, 2020: the DJIA…
Investing Facts of Life
Facts of Life Jonathan Clements | April 4, 2020 THE PLOT, THE SCRIPT and the characters may have changed. But we’ve seen this movie before. The current stock market swoon strikes many folks as unprecedented: It’s the frantic financial sideshow to a devastating global tragedy—one that’s seen 1.1 million people fall ill and 60,000 die, with every…