It’s Summertime…and the living is easy. A familiar expression that reminds us of how life is supposed to be once the winter has passed and Spring flowers have bloomed. It’s human nature to paint a picture in our psyche that hard work throughout the year is justified once we trade our winter coats and spring jackets for sun visors, white linen shirts and turquoise shorts. Makes sense for us mere mortals…but what about our money? Does it get days off?
If you’re smart (and I know my readers are), your money doesn’t take vacations. It should be working while you’re on the beach at Ocean City, burning calories on the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, catching foul balls at Nationals Park or simply enjoying midweek “Happy Hours” at your favorite DC rooftop watering holes like Perry’s in Adams Morgan or the Watergate Hotel in Foggy Bottom.
But I digress. What I’m saying is, enjoy yourself! Just make sure someone is on the job managing your investments and keeping them working in the market. Over the past ten years, those that have stuck with today’s market, which is the longest “Bull Market” in history, have been greatly rewarded.
In fact, according to annual index performance, over the past 40 years, investing $10k per year into a balanced portfolio (50% stocks & 50% bonds) would provide a value of over $3.6 ml today*. With that formula in place, you lessen the risk of losing out on potential market gains because of long and steady compounded interest.
In short, make sure you speak with a financial professional (preferably a CFP) to help you balance your portfolio and focus your investments in high-quality productive assets. You can lessen the risk of losing out on market gains that allows time to do the heavy lifting while the sun is shining. In the south, we would say “while the cotton is high”. Why? Because we can’t predict the future, but we can plan for the risk.
If you have any questions or just need a second opinion on your portfolio performance, I’m here to help.
It’s your life…plan for it.
Eric D. Bailey, CFP ®