Is your money under your mattress, or buried in the back yard, after losing money, or losing faith, in the stock market? Have you simply “gone to cash”?
First was the bursting of the “tech bubble”, and the resulting stock market debacle, that spanned much of 2000 – 2002. From peak to trough that cost investors an average of about 40% of their portfolios. Then after waiting over five years to recover, the financial meltdown of 2008 cost investors as much as 55% of their hard-earned investments over six horrific months from October 2008 to March 2009. Amazingly, the market has recovered almost all of those losses as the Dow Jones Industrial Average sits a scant 7% below the all time high. And yet how many of you have participated in those gains? How many threw their hands up in despair and quit the market for good? Or did the “flash crash” drive you out? Maybe something else like the recent LIBOR scandal?
If you’re out, what are you doing to save and invest for your future needs? Current research suggests that many individual investors, average Americans like yourself, gave up in fear (or disgust) and are sitting on the sidelines with their money in the bank, earning next to nothing. If you’re one of those people, you’re potentially endangering your entire financial future. Fear and avoidance is not a plan. It’s time to speak with a trusted advisor and implement a plan that can put you back on track to achieve your financial objectives.