Yesterday I sent all of my financial planning clients an email about the current environment.

I confirmed that while there are certainly reasons to be worried about the current trade war and tariffs, the market impact on their investments is not one of them.

Why?

Because, we’ve prepared for this.

Not this exact situation, but one like it.

We’ve built their portfolios and chosen their risk aligned with their specific goals and situation (and expecting volatility).

I am confident in every single one of their portfolios and can speak to why they are exactly as they should be- regardless of how long this lasts. Why no changes are needed.

Why for them, “buy and hold” and continue to “buy more” are excellent advice

But contrary to popular belief, this isn’t good advice for everyone.

All portfolios are not created equal- and not everyone’s investments are going to make it.

I saw a headline today about a couple who lost half of their money last week.

$80,000 

They wanted to know if they could come back from this.

My answer? Maybe.

But I wouldn’t bet on it.

Yes, the market is down and the market historically always comes back.

I would bet all my money on that (and, I literally am- I automatically invest every week in every market).

But in order for that to be true for your investments, you need to own the whole market.

If this couple did, their losses would have been more in the neighborhood of 10%.

Something is wrong here.

But look, if they know their investment strategy was off, now they can do better with all of their other investment dollars going forward.

Thank God they only invested $160,000 not $1.6 million.

There’s this insidious idea that the worst thing you can do in times like these is sell, and that selling is the only reason people lose money in the market.

“Ignore the noise.

Head down.

Keep buying.

Everything is on sale.”

No, everything is not on sale.

Some things are actually overpriced and on their way to going bust.

We can’t know exactly which stocks those are until it’s too late.

That’s why we buy everything.

All of this is to say, there are things to worry about right now- potential layoffs and increased prices on goods and services among them.

What you should not be worried about is whether or not your investment strategy was built for times like these-

You deserve to have the confidence that you have a sound, long term strategy that fits your goals, and that continuing to buy (if you’re buying) will accelerate your growth on the rebound. 

If you don’t, there is no better time or reason to find out.

Nicky