There
is an old curse: “May you live in interesting times.” The stock market has
definitely had those “interesting times” in the last few months. Triple digit
moves in the index (both positive and negative) have had investors hanging onto
their hats for a wild ride. Pundits on the financial news channels have
mentioned that the third quarter of 2015 was the worst quarter in the last four
years. For 2015 (January 1 through September 30), major financial indices have
been as follows:
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: -8.8%
- S&P 500: -6.7%
- Russell 2000 (Small Caps): -8.8%
- Barclays Aggregate Bond Index: -0.6%
- High Yield Corporate Bond Index: -7.8%
In this quarter's newsletter I discussed a “white paper” from the Vanguard
Group that I found quite interesting. As you probably know, the Vanguard Group manages
significant amounts of money in their mutual funds and exchange traded funds
(ETFs). A major area of emphasis for them has been indexing markets and market
segments. The article, “The added value of financial advisors,”
provides some interesting research insights from a company that was founded for
individual investors. One of advisor benefits cited is “…helping you get
through tough markets.” There are strategies which can potentially reduce the
market downturns. We hope you find the information worthwhile, and urge you to call
us to discuss those downturn strategies.
For a complete copy of this Quarter's Newsletter with the "white paper" article discussed please email info@paragon-adv.com and request to be added to the mailing list.
