It’s not your fault that your stock portfolio went down 20% in 2022. You did not know how to prevent this. If you used a financial advisor, you were probably not told how to avoid this. That is because financial advisors only know the products they sell, and they do not sell the solutions you need. They do not get paid for selling them, they do not understand them, and if you take money away from them, they are not able to charge you fees on the money you remove. They are not evil. Far from it. Most of them want to look out for you. They get distressed, as you do, when your account is down in value. Their advice to “stay the course” (i.e., do not panic and wait for the market to go up) is good advice as regards the products they sell. The problem is that they do not have or understand the products you need to make sure that you participate in market growth, and NEVER LOSE MONEY when the market is down.
Fortunately, you can get out of whatever portion of your stock investments that you want to protect from further losses, and participate in the rebound when it happens, and avoid future losses in the meantime.
Keep the stocks you like, the more secure ones—the stocks that pay dividends, have a history of growth and earnings, and that are not the flashy ones you see on the news. But the rest—stop the risk of loss, or further loss.
I am putting more and more clients like you into annuities. None of them have an understanding of how annuities work before I meet with them. If they have heard of annuities, they usually have misinformation. Their advisors certainly don’t understand annuities—they rarely recommend of sell them. It is not part of what they do. Talking to financial advisors who manage portfolios for a living is as ridiculous as asking your hairdresser for medical advice. And if you buy an annuity, the money your advisor manages for you decreases, so they earn less from you. It is not in their interest to learn about annuities. But it is in your best interest to know about these important products that provide guaranteed growth, and guaranteed income for life.
Please reach out to me at Louis@LouisBerlin.com if you want more information. Thank you.