Don’t Panic. Move to a Safer Position if you Must

We hate to sound like a broken record, but when the markets get ‘hairy’ and you want to just toss in the towel on investing and instead bury your funds in the backyard–DON’T.

We have mentioned many times that a safer alternative during these rocky times is something that might resemble our 2014/2015 Short/Medium Duration Portfolio.

This portfolio has returned 5.2% in approximately 8 months (about 7.5% annualized).  Day to day movments rarely exceed 1/4%–meaning one can sleep soundly while garnering a substantial income. While it is too soon to declare that this portfolio is one of the best we have ever devised, we can say that it is the one that has given the most consistent returns without ‘heartburn’.

One can use some of the issues in this portfolio as a ‘base’ portfolio and then add some amount of risk assets–i.e. REITs, MLP’s to goose potential returns–or can do something like the portfolio without adding risk assets.  Of course the further the deviation from the base portfolio, the more risk/reward (and potentially sleepless nights) potential one adds to their portfolio.