A Long-Term Approach is the Key to Successful Investing
For the May 21 edition, the North Bay Business Journal interviewed Jason Gittins, Senior Wealth Advisor and Managing Partner with Willow Creek Wealth, about how investors can manage their concerns about the economy, stock market volatility, and personal financial planning. Below is Jason’s excerpt from the article. “Today, it is more important than ever to carefully assess a client’s entire financial situation and execute a holistic financial plan. With investor concerns about stock and bond market returns being low, the way to enhance a client’s household wealth is to be very mindful of alternative ways to build or preserve wealth. Key topics which we carefully analyze to seek opportunities to build or preserve wealth include tax planning, debt management (i.e.: should you refinance your mortgage), cash flow planning, insurance and estate planning, retirement plan funding (are you getting your company match?), pension and social security planning. Our approach today would be no different than the approach six months, one year, or five years ago. Successful long-term investors have been invested through all turbulent markets, have taken advantage of the downturns by buying low, and the bull markets by selling high. They have endured both the highs and the lows, and have the long-term “wealth building” returns to show for it. The economic climate is always changing and evolving, but the fundamentals of successful long-term investing remain the same. Health care costs create a lot of concern for clients, too. Clients need to be prepared to spend more than they may expect on health care expenses in the future. Another concern for our clients is the worry of how their children, grandchildren, and those in their community (who don’t have their resources) are going to compete and maintain the good quality of life they enjoyed. We counsel our clients how to save for the next generations, and how to structure their estate plans to provide not only for their family but others in the community as well.”