Investment Advisors

As one of the leading investment advisors serving our community, I help clients manage their investments effectively and efficiently. But that's not everything we do in the world of investment advising and financial planning. Often times, overseeing cash flow is a much more efficient way to build wealth than through financial investments. Recent financial headlines should act as a reminder that you can lose significant amounts of money quickly and easily in the stock market - further suggesting the importance of paying close attention to it.

What's been the problem? What we're seeing mostly, is that the stock market is acting in exactly the way that I've been saying it acts for years - as a large, bullying, unpredictable roller coaster. It's publicized as some kind of children's ride with a guaranteed rate of financial return when in fact is it not.

There are no guarantees. In fact, over the last five years you would have lost money if you invested in the stock market - even if you listened to what most of the investment advisors out there told you to do. Say you started investing money in August of 2006 - as of September 2011 you'd have lost 11 1/2 percent of your initial investment. And that's only if you were able to avoid hefty transactions costs and advisor fees which are not easy to avoid. That's a significant loss for five years of hard work.

Yes, the Stock Market Roller Coaster is really just that - the ugliest, hairiest, meanest, most vicious roller coaster ride you could choose to ride ... and that's what's so important to talk to you about right now.

If you're feeling sick, depressed and gut-wrenchingly bad about recent losses in the stock market - the Stock Market Roller Coaster is not the best option for you and your hard earned money. It's time for you to get a different strategy.

You must understand that financial investing is all about putting money at risk and hoping to get a return for that investment. This is the same risk that you take when placing your money in the stock market. Most investment advisors or those in the financial media wouldn't tell you this because honestly, there is a lot of money to be made when dealing with investments, but most often not (as I've previously stated) for people on your end of the desk. It is for the folks who make money off of your transactions. Even if you're losing money in the stock market, they're still making money off of you and your investment.

So, if you're feeling a gut-wrenching emotion, that's understandable and reasonable. It's best to understand it and try to figure out how much risk is truly appropriate and then find the best method that guarantees you the greatest return for the level of risk that you'd be willing to take.

Hopefully you'll have one of the honest and trust worthy investment advisors out there to help you along the way and explain in detail the risk associated with each particular investment. At Altus Wealth, that’s what we do best.