Market Alert

For some time now, we have viewed the domestic stock market as overvalued, and, correspondingly, we have been cautious within client portfolios. The volatility we are currently experiencing is not surprising, and entering the year our caution was heightened, especially given policy uncertainty created by the incoming Trump administration.

Given our caution, client portfolios have fared better than the overall equity markets, due to our preference for high-quality government bonds and value stocks. However, now that the selloff is upon us, in earnest, we intend to recommend rebalancing portfolios to increase diversification. The list below details our intended recommendations, but will be individualized to your portfolio:

· Increase our foreign equity exposure to developed and emerging markets, due to recent performance, more compelling valuations, and higher dividend yields.

· Reduce our exposure to domestic large cap value stocks and small cap value stocks.

· Add/increase exposure to mid-cap stocks and rotate into domestic investments that have growth and value stocks.

· Add allocations to real estate and infrastructure.

· Cautious approach to fixed income, with a bias toward shorter tenors, due to a dramatically flatter yield curve.

· We also favor temporarily holding cash in money market funds due to their increased liquidity and comparable yield to short-term bonds.

We like to talk about “Knowables and Controllables”. We can observe when investments are a better or worse value. That’s the knowable. How we choose to respond is controllable.

In times of volatility, it becomes important to recall the words of Winston Churchill, “… an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” During this difficult time, you will start seeing us take advantage of opportunities for you.

Ultimately, we have all been through market events like this before and we will go through them again. I am grateful to collaborate with a capable and highly experienced team to guide our clients through these interesting times. We are here for you. Please do not hesitate to respond to this email or give us a call.

Michael Thayer

Senior Wealth Advisor / Founder