The 2008 financial crisis left many investors cautious about investing in stocks, and rightfully so. The thought of experiencing steep market declines is a recipe for losing sleep at night, and no investor wants that type of feeling about their portfolio.
Investing with caution is understandable, but it’s to the point that many investors could be inadvertently hurting their retirement by choosing to remain in cash and other short term investments instead of putting their money to work.
The Opportunity Cost of Waiting in Cash
A recent survey by BlackRock found that nearly half of investor’s portfolios are in cash, with a relatively small proportion dedicated to longer-term investments like stocks. What’s more, half of those investors said they intend to keep that cash in their portfolios for the next 12 months, and 36% of investors said they plan on increasing their cash holdings over the course of the year.1
But here’s what investors with that approach have missed out on since 2009:
S&P 500 Stock Price Index (from January 2009 - March 13, 2014)
(Click chart for larger version)
Sources: St. Louis Federal Reserve, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC.
Investors generally need the type of growth the market’s seen in the last 4 years to help them meet their long-term retirement goals. But with so much cash on the sidelines, big gains in the S&P 500 don’t materialize as gains for a portfolio – it’s a lost opportunity.
An Investment Plan Can Help You Feel More Confident About Putting Cash to Work
Many investors are sitting in cash because they’re unsure of how to invest their money. 20% of investors surveyed said that they’d be willing to put their cash back to work if they had a better knowledge of investing.1
That’s what an investment plan can do for you.
An investment plan can show you how your portfolio might respond to difficult times in the market, while also showing you the growth potential that comes with taking some risk. Finding the balance between how much risk you want to take versus how much growth you need is key, and an investment plan can provide you insights as to what balance makes sense for you.
WrapManager Can Build an Investment Plan for You
Building an investment plan before investing cash is important, so have a game plan before you take the field. One of our Wealth Managers can map out a plan to show how your portfolio could help meet your needs over time and show you various money manager strategies that might make sense for you relative to your retirement goals. Give us a call today at 1-800-541-7774, or get started now by answering a few questions here.
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