Using Market Uncertainty to Your Advantage

Dear Clients & Friends,

As the concerns surrounding the Coronavirus have continued to heighten this past week—we wanted to reach out to provide some additional perspective.  Below please find a 10-minute video clip from Chief Economist Brian Wesbury as well as how the market has performed historically after a down (bear) market.

Starting off on a positive note, today Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that the IRS tax-filing deadline has been pushed from April 15th to July 15th providing taxpayers with an additional three months to file.

Until we have further clarity regarding the containment of the virus, we have decided to change all in-person client reviews to teleconferences with screen-sharing via WebEx.  Rest assured we will continue to be available via phone and email throughout the duration of what’s to come.

Our counsel to families during this extraordinary time is to focus on looking after yourself, your family, and your loved ones—to that end, below are timely action items for your children, extended family members, and friends/colleagues while they are stuck at home (at the very least allowing them to avoid annoying family members for a few minutes):

• Now is an opportune time to accelerate making 401k, HSA, Roth IRA, and college savings 529 plan contributions with stocks on sale -35% from their previous highs – years from now they will be glad they did
• Interest rates have come down considerably and it is worth evaluating all outstanding debt such as mortgages, car loans, student loans, etc. to potentially refinance these loans and save thousands of dollars in interest payments

As you may have noticed, we are continuing to take advantage of the current market environment by booking tax losses to reduce capital gains taxes, opportunistically rebalancing portfolios to purchase the greatest businesses on the planet (stocks) at a substantial discount, and additional IRA to Roth conversions.

It is perfectly normal to be fearful and scared in times like these, but humanity will see this threat off.  This too shall pass.  While a global recession may occur, fear not because this is the normal order of things and a healthy part of a regular business cycle.  While the reason / catalyst for each global recession is different, the economic cycle is far from broken.

We are in this together—we appreciate your continued trust and confidence during this challenging time.

With warm regards,

Brandywine Oak Private Wealth