Big time

By David Jackson, MBA, CFP^®, C(K)P^™ Managing Partner - Investments, SSCG

“The place where I come from is a small town

They think so small

They use small words

But not me

I’m smarter than that

I worked it out

I’ve been stretching my mouth

To let those big words come right out”

~ Big Time – Peter Gabriel (1986)

I spend a lot of time observing and paying attention to things that the average person doesn’t notice. One of those is the crazy things people in the media say about market downturns. I am especially interested in how they all want to “big time” us. They want to use a lot of fancy phrases and jargon to let us know how smart they are. My usual response, if you will permit one more musical reference, is Shania Twain’s “That Don’t Impress Me Much.”

Among my favorites are the experts that pull up charts and graphs to tell us exactly when the market will rebound. (Or exactly how much further a downturn will go.) If they knew that with any certainty, it seems they would be able to tell us about market drops before they occur.

Another favorite is those who boast about accurately predicting a market downturn. Usually, most of those people are always predicting a market downturn. If you predict something long enough, eventually you’ll be right. These predictions are also a lot like weather forecasts. Rarely does the weatherman predict a 100 percent chance of anything. So technically, no matter what happens, the forecast is accurate.

Martin and I always try to use simple, easy-to-understand language when we meet and talk with our clients. If you send a friend, relative, or business associate to talk with us, I promise that’s the way we will speak with them.

At the end of the day, all that really matters is what you should be doing based upon your own unique circumstances. We can go to an industry conference and go toe-to-toe with most of these presumed experts, but we try not to spend a lot of time trying to impress you with those things. We want to make sure that the advice you get is clear, concise and helpful.

We have been very impressed with our client base recently. We can’t think of many calls that began with “I saw a guy on TV who said…” We know that this has been a very stressful time for many of you. Many of you have moved into roles you were not expecting.

Some of you are working from home, some are not working, some are taking care of kids or grandkids that are not in school. Many of you had vacation plans that are either on hold or having to be cancelled or re-scheduled.

If the financial markets make you nervous during times like this, our first piece of advice is to simply look at your portfolio. Not the dollar value of it, because that is likely to change. But look at the holdings, especially the individual stock positions, for those of you that have them.

Do you see any companies that look like they could still handle a shutdown well? Do you see any companies that are likely to do a high volume of business once the shutdowns are phased out? Are there any of these companies that you do business with? If there are companies that you do business with, are you or people you know likely to stop doing business with them?

It may seem simplistic, but one of the best things to do if you are worried about your investments is actually looking at your investments. The investments themselves are usually much less scary than the constant chatter from “experts” who want to “big time” you.

Any opinions are those of Southern Springs Capital and not necessarily those of Raymond James. Expressions of opinion are as of this date and are subject to change without notice. There is no guarantee that these statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected.

Individual investor's results will vary. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Raymond James does not provide tax or legal services.  Please discuss these matters with the appropriate professional.

Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA / SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Southern Springs Capital Group is not a registered broker/dealer, and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services.