It is clear to all of us that the coronavirus is impacting every area of our lives. Schools are closed, gathering of 50 or more people are being eliminated, more people are working from home and we are all being told to keep our distance from other people. Here at Secure Planning, we’ve made the decision to not have any appointments in the office but rather to do them by phone, for the time being. This is in both our clients and employee’s best interest.

The stock markets have not been immune to the impact of this virus. As of the close of business on Friday March 13th, the S&P 500 showed a loss of 16.1% year to date and the international markets (using the DJ Global ex US index) a loss of 25.3%. The volatility in the markets is extreme, as seen by the market having its worse day in years on Thursday, then rebounding by almost the same percentage on Friday. Fear is not a friend of the stock market. Much of the money leaving stocks winds up going into bonds. Fortunately, most of our portfolios are well diversified with bonds making up a substantial portion of the portfolio. While we are showing losses, they are not at the level of what a portfolio of stocks alone would be expected to produce.

It has been my experience over many years that in these situations you do best not to sell into this type of market. We believe our overall asset allocation is good at this time.

Ed Mallon

Posted March 16, 2020