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Market Recap: 4th Quarter 2018 vs 1st Quarter 2019

By: RL Wealth Partners Mar 23, 2019 6:00:00 AM

Retirement Planning Asset Protection Planning
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It was only a few months back when the markets created some unrest in a lot of investors, especially ones approaching retirement or in retirement. The 4th Quarter of 2018 saw extreme volatility, and mostly the bad kind. Major indices erased the year’s gains, the Dow Jones was down 12%, S&P 500 down 14%, and the NASDAQ down over 16%!

Some panic stricken investors without a plan in place, or an advisor to guide them, fled for safety out of lack of any better option. Some rode out the storm and have since seen most of those losses recouped. The 1st quarter of 2019 is off to a fantastic start – in the first few months alone, the Dow is up over 10%, the S&P over 13%, and the NASDAQ over 17.2%!

We can’t stress enough how important it is to have a plan in place – a plan that allows you to weather short term distractions like we saw at the end of 2018, because your long term plan will remain intact. Part of that plan should be proper diversification, and constant rebalancing. Rebalancing is most important during times of extreme volatility like the end of 2018, when your investments get out of sorts and you stray from the initial percentages. If we made short term reactions due to the volatility and losses in the market, we wouldn’t have seen our accounts bounce back to where they are today. And in some cases, are at their all-time highs.

In addition to a strong investment and income plan, there are also a myriad of software and tools you can take advantage of to help monitor your accounts and keep us on track. It is 2019, technology is booming, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t be taking advantage of these different tools to track the success of our investments, and help monitor them when the human eye can’t.

Here at Rubino and Liang Wealth Partners, we utilize Blue Leaf and Wealthguard. Blue Leaf helps to track your accounts, whether they are held with us or outside of us. Wealthguard monitors your investment portfolio - I like to think of it as a safety net that will catch your investments in case of a disaster.

If you’re interested in learning more about them, don’t hesitate in reaching out to either John Conley or Ryan Marston.