A good start, but what’s next?

What a difference a few months makes. In our last newsletter we counseled patience and to stick with sound investing disciplines at a time when the market was going through quite a shake-up. Here we are three months later, and the market has made a very nice recovery from the lows at the end of 2018. We didn’t know exactly when things would turn around. In fact, when we sent our last newsletter we were already past the low point and the market had begun its recovery. But at the time, it was impossible to know that for sure. This is part of why market timing is not an effective strategy. It’s easy to look at a historical chart and say “Of course! Why didn’t we get out here, or get in there?”. In the moment it just doesn’t work that way. Even when we were saying that we thought the market would rebound we didn’t know when it would happen. Which brings us to today. What happens next? No one knows for sure. The US economy is strong and that gives us some confidence but there are always risks and unforeseen events. What do you do with that? Talk with your advisor and practice your disciplines. Focus on the things you can control, and on making smart decisions. For more insights, check out this commentary from JP Morgan’s Chief Global Strategist David Kelly.