COVID-19“Should I Stay or Should I Go Now”?..

If the stock market is keeping you up at night or you find yourself checking your accounts balances weekly (even daily) maybe something needs to change.

Just like a bad relationship has red flags, an unanswered nagging feeling or a pit in our stomachs – the recent stock market turmoil can leave you feeling this way.  “Darling you got to let me know, Should I stay or should I go?…The indecision’s bugging me”; the lyrics of the 1980’s band The Clash resounds in my head as I read articles and talk with clients. “Should I stay“ (invested in the stock market) - translation: buy/hold or “should I go”- translation: sell and go to cash - and in many cases lock in losses.

Are you familiar with that quintessential Italian-American or Yiddish slang word “agita”? The Oxford dictionary defines agita as “anxiety, stress, aggravation”. Investing is a very personal decision, as you may be the one with “agita”, tossing and turning, keeping your partner up at night, or waking up with a feeling of overwhelm or dread. COVID_19 has made this worse now, as income and expenses are uncertain. Folks are getting laid-off or furloughed, and small businesses are struggling to stay open and pay expenses. Quarantining and social distancing have left many of us feeling anxious, as there’s nowhere to go, and many of us are now home with others that we usually don’t spend this much time with.

It Depends..

So, the answer to “should I stay or should I go”, is “it depends”, as is the answer for so many things important in our lives.

With the market volatility of late, many people are going to want to change their investment strategy, and there are so many variables to consider. Are you in the “accumulation” phase, looking for growth, with many years until you will begin withdrawing from your investments? Or are you within a few years of, or in retirement and drawing down your account values (decumulation phase)? In the latter case, you may be open to “sequence risk”, selling lower in a down market to raise cash to live on. Consequently, this may create a situation where your nest egg may not last as long as you originally planned. Or do you have a strategy in place, maybe an annuity, HECM, or bonds maturing annually to create access to income outside the stock market that you can live on (in the years that the market is down)?

Are you anxious or uneasy because of uncertainty in your current situation? Maybe that’s an indication that you had invested too much in stock market to begin with and you’re taking on too much risk. The stock market is supposed to go up and come down. We’ve had a bull (increasing) market for so long that it’s easy to be blinded when everything is going up and have a false sense of security that it will stay that way. But when things are going down, we get a true picture of our appetite for risk.  This is known as our “risk tolerance”. Quarantining has removed many of the “usual” outside distractions and heated up our stress levels as we watch this roller coaster ride called the stock market. 

SELF-CARE NOTE: Don’t use this extra time to engage in hype and monitor the stock market minute by minute – this is not an item to add to your new “to-do” list.

How Do I Know?

Everyone’s situation is different. We hear so many conflicting messages out there and there are so many different reasons that different groups are buying or selling, which helps make the market go up and down. I read a good article recently "Buy or sell? Why it's hard to know what to do",  that helps make sense of what you are hearing. You may want to check it out.

No one can get the answers by reading an article or blog, and I’m not intending to solve that for you here, but rather give you some things to consider. What I do know is that this decision takes education, thought and discernment.

Ask: How I am feeling? Am I making a decision from a place of fear?   What is the worse case scenario if my fears come to fruition?   This may be a good time to re-evaluate and get re-grounded using tools such as journaling, mediation or yoga.

What now?

Working with a professional can help make sense of your individual situation in these uncertain times; to help identify these answers and support you in getting clear on your goals, where you are, where you going, your timelines (time horizons), and develop and understand your strategy. CFP.Net and FPA.org as well as FINRA.org and your state’s insurance licensing board are good places to research for a professional. More detailed information on identifying a financial professional can be found at “How Do I Find a Financial Advisor”.

Connect / Follow me ????   Michelle Buonincontri

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 This article is not meant as counseling, investment, tax or legal advice, but rather information. It is always advisable to seek out and work with a qualified professional in their area of expertise to determine your unique situation and what particular options are available to you.

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