MARCH 2022 - NEWSLETTER

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Markets and Investing

Maintain your composure – and long-term focus – when volatility emerges.

It can be unsettling for investors when their portfolios and the markets start heading into the red. Here are six investing basics to keep in mind during volatile times.

1. Periods of volatility are normal.

All markets move in cycles, and periods of steep contraction are completely normal. While the length of market contractions varies, periods of growth and expansion are usually waiting on the other side. The markets have proven remarkably resilient over the long term, and while returns can be quite volatile year-to-year, they’re generally positive over multi-year periods.

2. Know your portfolio.

Understand your investments and how specific assets represent different goals and outcomes. Keep in mind your risk tolerance and investment timeline, and if either has changed, consider talking to your financial advisor about rebalancing your portfolio. Diversification can potentially help balance risk during a downturn and mitigate extreme swings in value.

3. Stay the course.

Remember your financial plan and long-term goals and stick to them. A disciplined investment approach is a sound strategy for handling market downturns and will likely enable you to participate when the markets rebound.

4. Consider opportunities.

Working with your financial advisor, determine whether periods of volatility are a good time to take advantage of investment opportunities in line with your long-term plan.

5. Don’t overreact.

Letting emotions dictate your investing strategy is a risk you shouldn’t take. Short-term decisions can have long-term consequences on your portfolio. Being patient can pay dividends.

6. You’re not alone.

Your financial advisor is available to answer your questions and provide help when you need it. He or she can guide you through difficult markets and be the independent voice that helps you stay focused on your long-term goals.

Investing involves risk and investors may incur a profit or a loss. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.

It is a dormant volcano located in Tanzania in East Africa, not far from the border with Kenya. Despite its height, Kili is a “walkable” mountain. You are able get to the summit without needing repelling ropes or an ice pick, for example. The mountain spans 5 separate climate zones including a lush rainforest and ending with Alpine Desert and an Arctic zone. Glenn saw monkeys in the trees at the bottom, but only a bird here and there during the climb. Near the summit there is no more vegetation. “It was like a moonscape,” he described.

 

The climb took 8 days and 7 nights, beginning as early as 7:30 am and lasting until 4:00 or 5:00 in the evening. Glenn’s group of 15 climbers was accompanied by guides that carried equipment, set up camp, cooked, and cared for them. The biggest concern, and most common reason people aren’t able to make it to the top, is altitude sickness. Twice a day their guides would ask them each a series of questions and run tests to ensure they were fit to continue. This ranged from whether or not they were sleeping and eating well to their pulse and blood oxygen levels. If they didn’t pass, they were not allowed to continue. In Glenn’s group of 15 only 3 didn’t make it to the summit.

Glenn mentioned 2 interesting ways that they combated altitude sickness. The first was to climb in a zig-zag so that the altitude increased more gradually. The second was to “climb high and sleep low”. For example, they might climb to 14,000 feet and then go back down to 13,500 feet to sleep.

 

The night before they got to the top, they made camp at 15,300 feet, leaving less than a mile to climb. They started at midnight and it took a full 8 hours to climb the last mile. When they reached the top, they were not able to see the sunrise they all anticipated, due to the freezing rain, wind, and snow. They stayed only long enough to take a few photos, about 20 minutes.

 

Glenn said that climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was the hardest physical thing he has done and is proud of his accomplishment of making it to the top.