A Bear Market is Officially Here
Submitted by Elk Mountain Financial LLC on June 16th, 2022June 14, 2022
Dear Valued Investor,
June 14, 2022
Dear Valued Investor,
While it may be prudent to use a financial professional when you start your investment journey, there are a lot of things you can do before you ever speak to a financial professional. Investing, like everything else in life, has no guarantees, and even the hottest stock or the best tip may not always perform the way we would like.
As we move into spring and leave behind the last signs of a long winter, many worries from a chilly start to the year for markets, unfortunately, are still with us. The S&P 500 Index had its worst April in more than 40 years, leaving the index down over 13% for the year. Previously highflying stocks have come back to earth, with many of them cut in half or more.
More than 60 million Americans had their identities stolen in 2018, a significant increase from 2015, where more than 15 million consumers were affected. With identity theft numbers on the rise, it certainly doesn’t appear likely that scammers are going away anytime soon.
Unlike the summer family reunion and work meetings, you can always count on a few specific dates every year. Days like birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and Tax Day. But even if April 18th is hardwired into your brain and calendar, sometimes it makes more sense to file for an extension instead of the tax deadline.
If you have a child graduating from high school or college and entering the workforce, they may have the opportunity to open up a 401(k) through their new employer. In some cases, that employer will also offer matching contribution funds up to a certain percentage.
The green shoots are hard to see right now as spring approaches, clouded by war in Ukraine. Democracy is under attack and innocent lives are tragically being lost. But while we keep one eye on overseas developments, the other remains squarely focused on the fundamentals of the U.S. economy and the stock market to help investors stay the course.
Dear Valued Investor,
Stocks have gotten off to a very rocky start in 2022, with the potential for Federal Reserve rate hikes coming and the geopolitical worries over Russia and Ukraine only adding to the uncertainty. We don’t want to minimize the impact of that major geopolitical event, but there is some positive news out there, even though it might not feel like it.
The calendar had barely flipped to 2022 and investors were reminded that even attractive long-term stock returns come with a cost: volatility.
If you’ve only just begun your career and are starting to collect a decent paycheck, the last thing on your mind is probably retirement planning. When you’re in your twenties and thirties, retirement can feel light years away, but it will get here much quicker than you can imagine. And when it does, you’ll want to be prepared.