) for free daily and weekly newsletters, in-depth industry coverage and analysis, and access to ProStation - a powerful tool to help you manage your clients’’ portfolios.: I have a wealthy friend who has recently taken investing courses so she can make her own decisions. She has learned about put and call options and other topics I know nothing about.
The truth is that your friend doesn’t know what the market will do next year. Nobody does. But on any given day there will always be someone predicting a market collapse and someone else calling for the market to soar. But let’s say she’s right and the market plunges in 2020. By going into cash now she’ll avoid losses in the short run. But getting back in might be a lot harder than it sounds. Bear markets are usually accompanied by scary headlines, dire economic warnings and pervasive fear. Maybe your friend has nerves of steel, but it’s possible that she will be too freaked out to reinvest any of her cash.
Nor do I see any reason for you to use put and call options or other exotic tools. These products have a place in sophisticated trading strategies, but for most small investors I believe that a simple buy-and-hold approach is best. If you’re concerned about losing a chunk of your capital in a downturn, my advice would be to review your portfolio to make sure that you are diversified across sectors and hold only high-quality companies with a history of raising their dividends.