The Northern Star 08/16/18 Mixed Results as Turkey Stumbles
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Message from JonIt's back to school week! It's back to school week for many, and the chaos on the roads is a bit unrelenting if you are around campus or any of the high schools we have around town in the morning or early afternoon. You have to be constantly vigilant because even though you're doing what you are supposed to be doing because with the great number of inexperienced drivers on the road, you cannot count on the other person to make the right decisions. I suppose this is quite similar to investing. You can be doing your diversification properly by choosing the correct asset-allocation model/mix for your accounts, making sure you are spending a lot of time assessing fees and low-cost ETFs and funds just like your newsletters and research tells you to and BANG! your account still slides down. In today's market, you can do everything "correctly" and still see losses. It is times like these that your behavior model and expectations are critical to your financial health which is not unlike driving during back to school weeks. As long as your expectations are in line (it's going to be crazy, I'm going to slow down, leave earlier, take the bus, carpool, etc.) and your behavior is in line with expectations (slow down, don't tailgate...it's not NASCAR, leave earlier, stay later, listen to slow music to calm your nerves, etc.) you will do much better than most, BUT it still won't change the conditions or other drivers just like all your work and efficiencies won't change the market's ups and downs! So far 2018 has been nothing like 2017, and it is unlikely that the current year changes to behave like its predecessor, so adjust your expectations and your behaviors. Turn on some slow jams and sit back, investing is a marathon and not a sprint! Until we speak again, stay safe out there! Jon
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