Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

In this Discussion

Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

    Support MFO

  • Donate through PayPal

Carl Richards: An Investment Lifeboat Drill Now Can Help Weather Future Disaster

FYI: Calm water makes a lifeboat drill much easier. We aren’t fighting the waves or the fear we feel during an emergency. Still, if the worst happens, and the drill becomes reality, at least we’ve rehearsed. We’ll know exactly what we are supposed do.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/business/an-investment-lifeboat-drill-now-can-help-weather-future-disaster.html

Comments

  • beebee
    edited May 2015
    Thanks for this article Ted.

    I'm look at this article from the eyes of retiree in their distribution phase of life.

    Retirees can't depend on current working income to buy "assets on the cheap" when markets periodically correct. When trying to ride out a correction as a retiree, one needs enough near cash (for distributions) to allow riskier assets time to recover. This could be years.

    I'm wondering what role treasuries and hard assets should play in these retiree's "distribution phase" portfolio? What other investments will help counters equity volatility? Corrections happen for different reasons and therefore a portfolio needs components that aide in a "flight to safety" scenario, a "sudden inflation" scenario, or "long drawn out deflationary" scenario.

    Treasuries have often been associated with aiding a "flight to safety" scenario, but they also pose a risk to the portfolio in a raising interest rate scenario. Hard assets have served as a currency hedge as well as a inflationary hedge, but hard asset remain vulnerable to long drawn out deflationary pressures of deleveraging.

    What's an old dog to do?

    Some thoughts:
    -Have cash (near cash) for portfolio distributions of 4 years.
    -Have near cash (or treasuries) for flight to safety corrections and have a equity buying discipline when these corrections occur.
    -Periodically reallocate some equity gains to cheap hard assets during deflationary periods.
    -Periodically reallocate some equity gains to Inflationary protected assets. Most of us have forgotten what these assets are (RE, I-bonds, Energy, and maybe even undervalued equities).
Sign In or Register to comment.