How A Financial Plan Helps You Endure Market Volatility

A key characteristic of a well designed financial plan is the consideration of market volatility - and for a good reason.
A well-designed financial plan can help you brave the ever-changing ebbs and flows of the market.
A financial plan can give you a better idea of how to meet your goals and is dynamic. People often think that their plan has to be fixed in stone and while you don’t want to wander too far away from your goals—objectives can change. As your goals evolve, your plan must change too. Life changes can affect your financial goals as much as market changes. You may land a new job, enter a new tax bracket or buy a home. You may decide to file for Social Security at the minimum age or postpone filing until the maximum. There’s no way to predict what mix of assets will return 10 percent a year for the next decade. However, you can build a plan that accounts for the different scenarios that life could throw at you.
What Pitfalls Should I Be Aware Of?
Focus on what you want to do with your money—not the trends and noise that could pull you off track. One danger that could potentially derail your plans are emotions. Emotions can distract from goals by driving you to deviate from your plan. Instead of letting market volatility dictate your actions, always look to your plan for guidance. A good plan that’s carefully crafted and has flexibility should enable you to make rational decisions and decrease the risk of being blindsided by unexpected factors.
"Most of our clients only get to experience significant life events once, such as retirement. As financial advisors, we go through these events dozens of times as we guide each client. This enables us to have the knowledge, experience and wisdom to best serve our clients," said President and CEO of Covenant Wealth Strategies, G. Ward Keever, CLU, ChFC, RHU, AEP, CFS, AIF, CKA.
Enjoy The Confidence A Financial Plan Brings
It has been said that the two directions of the market are not "up" and "way up". That is to say markets go up and down. Sometimes it is like an escalator on the way up and an elevator on the way down. A financial plan allows you to endure the inevitable challenging times.
"During times of volatility it's important to remember time horizon and to rely upon the planning that we've done together. As part of our planning with clients, we seek to align risk and time horizon for different portions of a client's portfolio," said Randy Eveland, CFP, RICP, CDFA, Wealth Advisor.
Our Covenant Wealth Strategies Investment Team manages the market volatility by paying attention to market signals - including both fundamentals and technicals – in an effort to make wise and appropriate choices in our investment portfolios. We are also executing tax loss harvesting strategies in non-qualified accounts to take advantage of the volatility. We offer a variety of different investment models to our clients.
If you have specific questions related to your own investments or financial planning needs, we welcome you to contact us to set-up time to discuss how we can assist you.
Disclosures:
This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. There is no assurance that the views or strategies discussed are suitable for all investors or will yield positive outcomes. Investing involves risks including possible loss of principal. Any economic forecasts set forth may not develop as predicted and are subject to change.
Throughout this communication, the terms “financial advisors” and “advisors” are used to refer to registered representatives and/or investment advisor representatives affiliated with LPL Financial LLC.