Good afternoon,
Thanks to everyone for the nice wishes for my son’s graduation. I, and he, appreciate all the kind words.
In my effort to list certain pieces of life advice which I thought might be interesting, I neglected to include the 3 most important unwritten rules for life. So here they are.
1.
2.
3.
And here is one more famous inspirational speech, known colloquially as the “wear sunscreen” speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkOympYTk3Q
“The market is falling again, what should I do?” Seems to be a common question from clients and friends in the last few months. So keeping in mind that I cannot offer blanket advice in a public newsletter, here are some things to consider during this period of volatility. BTW, I love how we call it “volatility” on the way down, but not when it’s on the way up. Call me for a review of your specific circumstances and individual recommendations. In the meantime, some strategies to consider might include:
- Pause. Breathe. Inhale through the nose for a count of 4, hold for 7, exhale through the mouth for 8.
- Rebalance to your desired allocation. The movement of stock and bond prices could have gotten you away from what you seek. Sometimes called the “Robinhood” rebalance, you would sell and/or buy various asset classes or sectors until you reach the target allocation.
- Consider tax loss harvesting. If any of your holdings are worth less than you paid for them, you may want to sell to realize a tax loss. Losses can be used to offset current and future gains and may lower your tax consequences. Beware of the wash sale rule when executing sales for losses. Call me for help.
- Reevaluate your holdings. Are the reasons you invested in the first place still valid or has something fundamental changed?
- Revisit your original financial plan and investment strategy. Is everything the same or have circumstances or objectives evolved?
- Investigate as to whether any of the various protection strategies or income guarantee solutions are appropriate for your situation.
- Do nothing if nothing is needed.
- Turn off the news.
It’s always a little funny to me, but totally understandable, that the stock market is one of the only places where people are scared to buy when things go on sale.
Ford is laying off nearly 600 salaried employees, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/28/ford-cuts-580-us-salaried-agency-workers-as-it-restructures-for-evs.html#:~:text=Ford%20CEO%20Jim%20Farley%20at,Lightning%20on%20April%2026%2C%202022.&text=DETROIT%20%E2%80%93%20Ford%20Motor%20is%20cutting,the%20company%20confirmed%20Wednesday%20night.
Hmmm, that’s not a great sign. Especially if you are one of the layoffs. If you are, or know someone who is, have them call me for help with their retirement plan rollover.
Wells Fargo mortgage and Rocket Mortgage are laying off employees as well. Which might be a sign that the residential housing boom of the last few years may be cooling off.
https://marketrealist.com/p/mortgage-industry-layoffs/
Rocket Mortgage is positioning the moves as “buyouts” which sounds nicer but means the same thing.
This is an actual Washington Post headline, “Healthy lifestyle may increase life expectancy, research suggests.” Wow. Groundbreaking. Call Ripley, someone finally figured it out. The WMR has only been advocating a healthy lifestyle since forever. And as I always point out, an increase in life expectancy means you’ll need a corresponding increase in saving and investing. In other groundbreaking news, living longer costs more.
Here's another “Wow” headline. The Andy Warhol painting of Marilyn Monroe just sold for $195 million. One painting, one hundred ninety five million. Wow.
I get the nostalgia and cultural influence of the piece, but wow.
I’ve used the “let’s pick a target and aim for it” analogy countless times over the years with regard to your financial planning, But it could be used for your health too. You have to identify a worthwhile target and then build a plan that will help you hit it. Like the saying goes, you can’t hit a target that you can’t see. And sometimes the target changes or moves, and that’s expected. So then you adjust your efforts. This guy went a little further, he built a moving target. The dart board literally moves to where the dart is going. Gets you a bullseye every time. Wow. If only he could build a system like that for financial and/or health targets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHTizZ_XcUM
You may remember the YouTuber responsible for this video. His name is Mark Rober and I’ve sent videos by him before. His amazing squirrel obstacle course video has more than 50 million views. And he’s got dozens of other fun and interesting projects as well. Look him up, but be prepared to spend some time going down his YouTube rabbit hole.
Not to be underestimated, Ted Lasso is good at darts also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ4YSXv6Xkg
This week’s crypto commentary, if I were to write one, which I’m not really supposed to do because my firm does not allow me to transact crypto currency, would be something along these lines.
Bitcoin is getting battered too in this latest market pullback. Down for the year and down 50% from its highs of 2021.
https://fortune.com/2022/05/09/bitcoins-price-half-down-from-peak-crypto-plunge-continues/
Which begs the question of whether bitcoin should be considered a non-correlated asset and/or store of value, which is one of the ways the proponents like to characterize it. However, right now it looks pretty highly correlated and not much value has been stored. But in fairness to the movements both up and down over the last decade, bitcoin doesn’t look all the different from any number of stocks, particularly tech stocks, and their peaks and valleys over the years.
Be careful out there in crypto land.
This week’s chuckle is Nate Bargatze again. The name on his plane ticket doesn’t match the name on his ID, uh oh, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cpbplNlSo4w
LF28 – “Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
Have a great week and stay healthy.
This material is for informational and educational purposes only. It includes links to third party sites not affiliated with Lincoln Financial Advisors. Lincoln Financial Advisors is not responsible for the content and does not guarantee the accuracy of any information or material contained therein. Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp. does not participate in the crypto marketplace or promote cryptocurrency as an investment strategy. The opinions expressed are those of Michael Acho and not necessarily those of Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp. CRN-4738800-051122
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Michael J. Acho, MBA, CFP®
Private Wealth Advisor
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