Because we’re in the midst of a historically significant bull market, many investor portfolios have performed well for several years. That means it may be time to re-examine your portfolio.
The last bear market ended almost a decade ago. Since then, the rise we have seen in stocks is almost unprecedented. It is the second oldest without at least a 20% drop in the S&P 500 Index.
That may sound great. Who doesn’t like strong performance? Why make a change, when things are going so well?
But we will undoubtedly experience a market correction at some point, and you may want to start thinking about how you will position your portfolio then.
As hockey great Wayne Gretzky once said, you want to skate to where the puck is going, not to where it has been.
This doesn’t mean you should try to time the market; you may simply want to have a conversation with your financial advisor about how to best position your portfolio for now and the future.
Perhaps you focus more on capital preservation, for example. Or perhaps you consider how you might re-allocate among asset classes. That way, when there is an event such as a market downturn or a geopolitical shock, you are already ahead of it and can continue making changes.
The end of the year is a good time to have this conversation, because it is likely that you are already thinking about the changes you might make to your portfolio to keep it in tip-top shape over the coming year.