Perception is reality in your mind. It’s all in the way you look at things and process them. If for instance you look at the stock market’s deeply red numbers the last 3 days, see amongst them the worst day in a few years, and think of it as the end of the world and your financial future then it will be. You might sell, take your losses and live to fight another day – albeit from a weakened position.
However, if you are of the mindset of say, a Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich and Outwitting the Devil, you might look at today and think to yourself, that “Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat,” as he wrote.
Here at The Wealth Training Academy we have spent much time on creating The Wealth Shield System for you. Today, had you been with another advisor that allocates all your money to mutual funds and blue-chip companies, you may have been forced to sell, not knowing what parts of your portfolio are designed for Guaranteed Income, Market-Based Income or Growth. Not so for our Wealth Training Academy clients who have bought into our process – our bucket approach that calls for diversifying not just the sector of your stocks, or the size of the companies we buy for you, or where in the world they are located, but diversifying into different asset types with different features. Every bucket has a purpose for your money, a calling that meets your financial needs in different ways.
Roman philosopher and playwright Seneca once said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Well, at WTA we have prepared … and the market just gave us all an amazing opportunity. So, we’ve created our own luck you might say by building your bridge before the storm. We have standing by three buckets ready to receive buy-in. What would you like to purchase? As they say at the famous Atlanta hot-dog vendor, The Varsity, “What’ll you have?”
Growth at a great discount? How about creating a ton of Market-Based Income in our Monthly Cashflow Strategies? When those ETF prices are down, such as they are now, when you buy in you get to create a lot more income than you could have a month ago. Ready to fight back against the inflation we’ve had the last few years by creating more income? Here’s your chance. If you are truly afraid of the market (and that’s totally fine), how about layering another stream of guaranteed income to supplement your Social Security?
It’s rare that opportunities reach out and try to grab you. If you have any excessive cash on the sidelines, in savings, checking, cash value in life insurance policies you don’t need any more or from the sale of collectibles you no longer collect, it’s a great time to invest. Remember Warren Buffet said once, “Be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy.” Well, the VIX, the stock market’s volatility index, is at a plus 40 today. So, it can be said that right now, others are fearful.
It’s fair to warn everyone that we are not calling a bottom here. The market could go lower for sure and there may be more, or a lot more, short-term pain right around the corner. But if you think about this on a 5-years-plus timeline, and you are focused on the Growth Bucket, or it’s one year or more and you are thinking about the Market-Based Income Bucket, our view is buying in now can make a ton of sense, depending of course on your risk tolerance, goals, time horizon and financial needs.
If you don’t have much cash on the sidelines to invest, consider this: I made a very exciting call to one of our somewhat recently retired clients that has just transferred a large, fixed annuity over at the end of its term and has cash ready to deploy into this market. What an opportunity! I hope I didn’t scare him with my exuberance, but it’s an amazing financial moment for his family. This can be viewed as a good chance to move between buckets, just as he and his wife are doing, from the Guaranteed bucket to our Market-Based Income bucket – taking assets that haven’t dropped in value and buying in at a low(er) level (that purchases even more income), which could pay in spades for the rest of their retirement. We would encourage all of our clients to take a moment to think about this, call us, and if it makes sense with your risk tolerance, to potentially buy into one of our buckets.
We see our duty of care also as a directive to monitor, always pay attention to happenings in the market and to identify opportunities for our clients and execute those changes for you with our Wealth Shield System. If you have not done so, please locate the email from in your inbox we sent on Friday that references the State of the Markets online presentation and watch that. There’s a lot hanging in the balance right now and many different moves you can make which can greatly affect your future. This is your fiduciary reminding you that … if you listen to us, we’ll change your financial world.
Sincerely,
The WTA Investment Committee
