The last several days have not been kind to the stock markets, but so has this year.
Adam Pukalo, a Commodities Futures Advisor with Ventum Financial, noted the markets have been in a downward trend since the beginning of the year. The S&P 500 is down about 14%, the T-S-X is down 7% to 8% per cent, and the NASDAQ is down over 20% in that timeframe, said Pukalo.
At Monday’s close, the TSX Composite Index was down 334.01 points to 22,859.46; the S&P 500 was down 11.83 points to 5,062.25; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 349.26 points to 37,965.60; the NASDAQ was up 15.47 points to 15,603.26; and the Canadian Dollar was 70.29 cents U.S.
The trend might make farmers worried about investment portfolios or retirement funds, but Pukalo reassured that every time the stock market pulls back the market “was substantially higher over the next one, three, and five year time frames.”
“In other words, long-term time horizon, I believe we can still go higher on the markets. Short-term, you can flip a coin.” he added.
Pukalo encourages people to see their advisor about tax law related strategies that can be used to their advantage as well as reviewing their investment plans with an advisor to see if any changes need to be made.
“All of my clients have written down financial plan and it really plans for events like this, so that’s where making sure that they’re aware of their risk and things like that I think are very important,” said Pukalo.
He says in all the volatility comes opportunity.
“There are a lot of chances to get into some very good quality companies I think that have been beaten down here. I think there’s opportunity but also at the same point, if a client is going to be staying awake all night because they’re wondering what their portfolio is doing, that’s when we have to find a different solution.”
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