S&P 500 and Nasdaq have another poor September showing
For the stock market, Septembers historically are gloomy and September of 2020 was no exception. The S&P 500 was negative 3.92% and the tech heavy Nasdaq lost 5.16%. (Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/%5EGSPC/history?p=%5EGSPC and https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/%5EIXIC/history?p=%5EIXIC). We’re always looking for opportunities to buy low, so we purchased some stocks in our portfolios in an attempt to buy the dip in the market, but the market kept heading south. As a result, our Moderate portfolio was down 0.84%. With the market down around 4%, losing less than 1% is not bad. The market has been recovering for the last week and has started October off positively as well despite the President’s recent Covid test. Our short term research continues to be optimistic for the stock market, and we plan to hold these stocks for a bit longer. However, everyone has their eyes on one thing: The presidential election.
How will a Trump or Biden win effect the market?
To predict the election results at this point is nearly impossible, because we learned in 2016 that you cannot trust the results of polling. As a result, we have prepared multiple plans: One for a Trump victory and one for a Biden victory. Our goal is to take advantage of the situation whoever wins, whether that means buying stocks in bulk, or potentially investing against the stock market to try to profit from a downturn. In the days leading up to the election, we plan to monitor the situation and we will consider hedging to potentially avoid losses, because we are not gamblers, we’re investors. We know both names on the ballot have a chance at victory. There is also a chance we won’t know after election night who is the victor because of mail in ballots, and we anticipate the market will not enjoy that uncertainty.
Increasing the complexity is what may happen in the senate and house of representatives, because a large swing to one party or the other will also affect the markets. Bottom line: We plan to do everything in our power to protect and grow your money in 2020, despite the coronavirus and the election. By reviewing your portfolio holdings at TD Ameritrade daily, we believe we have the potential to accomplish that goal.
If you have any questions about taxes, your individual investment portfolio, our 401(k) recommendation service, or anything else in general, please give our office a call at (586) 226-2100. Please feel free to forward this commentary to a friend, family member, or co-worker. If they would like to receive this commentary in the future, please send us an e-mail at info@summitfc.net at your earliest convenience. If you have had any changes to your income, job, family, health insurance, risk tolerance, or your overall financial situation, please give us a call so we can discuss it.
Thank you for your confidence and referrals!
Bob Wink, Ken Wink, Jim Wink and Zach Bachner
Special Request: If you have a friend or family member who has investments and they are concerned about losing money in the market, please have them contact us to receive a complimentary second opinion. We can analyze their existing holdings and show them (through independent research) what hidden fees they may be paying, as well as provide a risk assessment. Call us (586) 226-2100 or respond to this e-mail and we’ll contact them.
Interesting Points
In August, it only took 22 days to sell a home in America, matching the fastest rate on record. Source: CNBC, September 22, 2020
Since 1972, the stock market has rallied from Election Day (or shortly thereafter) until the end of the year on 10 of 12 past such occasions, with an average gain of 7.2%. Source: -MarketWatch, August 18, 2020
This year has been topsy-turvy and upside down for so many reasons. So, it’s probably little surprise that something else you thought would never happen, happened: Vinyl records have outsold compact discs for the first time in 34 years. Source: -Bloomberg, September 10, 2020
A Confederate memorial that stood on the courthouse lawn in Lake Charles, Louisiana, for 105 years was toppled by Hurricane Laura’s historic winds – just two weeks after local authorities voted not to remove it. Source: -New York Times, August 27, 2020
A surge in home renovations and do-it-yourself projects during the pandemic has driven lumber prices up 134% year over year. That adds around $14,000 to the cost of building a new home. Source: -Fortune, August 31, 2020
The U.S. imprisonment rate is at its lowest level in more than two decades, with the greatest decline coming from black Americans, whose imprisonment rate decreased 34% since 2006. Source: -Pew Research Center, May 6, 2020
In July, even though there were 75% fewer screened airport passengers than the previous July, the TSA found guns at three times the rate. Eighty percent of the guns were loaded. Source: TSA, August 10, 2020
Notes & Disclaimer: Stock market indices, like the S&P 500 Index, are unmanaged groups of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general or subsets of the market, and their performance is not reflective of the performance of any specific investment. Investments cannot be made directly into an index. Historical returns data are calculated using data provided by sources deemed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to their accuracy, completeness, or correctness. This information is provided “AS IS” without any warranty of any kind. All historical returns data should be considered hypothetical. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
This communication is only intended for recipients who reside in states where our agents are licensed to sell these products. Investment advisory services are offered through Summit Financial Consulting, LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Summit Financial Consulting Investment Advisor Representatives do not render tax, legal, or accounting advice. Insurance products and services are offered through Summit Financial Consulting, LLC. Note: Please update Summit Financial Consulting, LLC, if your investment objectives have changed or if the personal or financial information previously provided has changed. The investment advisory disclosure document that describes Summit Financial Consulting investment advisory services account is provided to you annually. Please consult Summit Financial Consulting for a copy of this document should you need an additional copy. All guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Past performance cannot predict future performance. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. The Sherman Group, LLC is not associated with Summit Financial Consulting, LLC in any way, other than a research sharing partnership. Back testing is more heavily scrutinized than any other type of investment analysis because it can be updated to take advantage of past data. The algorithms and trading signals that we receive from the Sherman Group, LLC were created using back testing with the goal of creating a sustainable research process. We have reviewed data from the entire 20 year period which was mostly back tested, and have also personally reviewed the live data for the past 5 years and feel comfortable with it, but we encourage you to meet with us and ask questions so you are fully informed on what we plan to do with your investment assets at TD Ameritrade. It is important to look at fees, taxable repercussions, and trading frequency when looking at a rate of return number. There is no perfect system or research feed, and Sherman Group, LLC has had both longer term and short-term periods where they lost money. Investing involves risk, and these portfolios are no exception.
Disclosures regarding our performance reporting: Because some clients are in the 10% tax bracket and others are in the 37% Federal tax bracket, we have decided to report performance before taxes. If you have a non-qualified account, please feel free to contact us to determine your individualized rate of return after tax. All of Summit’s performance is after our 1.25% advisory fee that is deducted monthly. Your fees may be higher or lower depending upon the amount of assets invested with our firm. Feel free to contact us to receive online access so you can see your personalized rate of return. The Aggregate bond index we use is ticker AGG, and all dividends and distributions earned are reinvested and included in the performance numbers. The S&P 500 index and Dow Jones index quoted above does not include dividends within the performance. If a holding within our portfolio does pay a dividend or other income, it is reinvested, so our performance does include dividends. This report has been prepared from data believed reliable, but no representation is made as to accuracy or completeness. Total return and principal value will vary depending upon the deduction of advisory fees, brokerage commissions, reinvestment of dividends and other earnings or fund charges and because of this, especially if you are a brand new client that was invested in the middle of the month or if you made a deposit or withdrawal in the month, adviser’s clients may have had materially different results from the results portrayed in the performance numbers disclosed. This information is provided to you in combined form, solely for your convenience and ease of review and is not an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities. In order to verify that all account values and transactions are accurate, we encourage you to compare the information provided in our statement with the statement you receive directly from your custodian. All written content is for information purposes only. It is not intended to provide any tax or legal advice or provide the basis for any financial decisions. The performance data in this report represents past performance and does not guarantee or imply future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted in this report. Because we use bond funds and inverse funds as hedges, there will be months where we underperform the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 index, but also months where we will outperform. We do our best to manage stock market volatility, but anything is certainly possible.
The returns are calculated using a true daily time-weighted rate of return (“TWRR” as a primary performance return methodology). TWRR is the CFA Institutes Global Investment Performance Standards (“GIPS”) required calculation for managed accounts. TWRR provides a measure of how an account was managed regardless of the dollar value and is unaffected by external cash flows. TWRR is required in GIPS Guidelines for managed accounts for two primary reasons:
- Impact of external flows on TWRR: Since an advisor typically does not control the timing or magnitude of investor cash flows, TWRR is deemed appropriate as it isolates performance regardless of the portfolio/account’s dollar value and external flows.
- Comparison across portfolios and benchmarks: TWRR can be used to directly compare performance with other portfolio/accounts and is an appropriate metric to use when comparing portfolio/account performance to benchmarks.
Please update Summit Financial Consulting LLC if your investment objectives have changed or if the personal or financial information previously provided has changed. The investment advisory disclosure document that describes Summit Financial Consulting investment advisory services account is provided to you annually. Please consult Summit Financial Consulting for a copy of this document should you need an additional copy.