George is nearing retirement and doesn’t want a downturn in the market to force him into working for another couple of years. On the other hand, George is worried about inflation and its impact on his standard of living while retired.
Ed and Mary are retired and depend on their portfolio to yield around 5% to supplement their retirement income. They want to maximize their investment income while not putting their nest egg at too much risk.
Max and Erma are well on their towards saving for retirement with a well-diversified portfolio. Although they have taken a hit in the recent bear market, they still have a substantial nest egg and want to protect their investments against any inflation threats that may arise from the massive monetary and fiscal stimulus actions taken by the U.S. and other large economies.
Jane and John have experienced significant declines in their portfolio over the past year and want to lock in capital losses now to offset future gains. They anticipate a market upturn at some point in the near future, so they don’t want to be out of the market. At the same time, they want to avoid any problems with the “wash-sale” rule that discourages the sale and repurchase of a similar security within a 30-day period.
Bill is a busy professional who is investing for the future of his growing family, to support his aging parents and to eventually retire. He has investments across several accounts and doesn’t have the time to review his portfolio holistically, let alone rebalance it on a regular basis.
Christopher is revisiting his portfolio and has decided to expand his investing horizons beyond the shores of the U.S. to the large, yet emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China, also known as the BRIC markets.
Bob is interested in adding gold to his portfolio after reading the results of a joint study by the World Gold Council and New Frontier Advisors. The study found that the appropriate allocation to gold is dependent on the portfolio risk level, recommending a 1-2% allocation for low risk portfolios and 2-4% in a balanced risk portfolio.
Fran is rebalancing her portfolio after the recent market turmoil and wants to simplify her fixed income investments. Her previous financial advisor was recommending individual bonds issued by banks that are now either out of business or severely weakened by the financial crisis. She’s learned her lesson – diversification is more important than an extra few basis points of yield.
Before the 2008 market downturn, Bill and Karen were planning to retire within the next 3 to 5 years. As the market correction continued into 2009, the couple decided that capital preservation was the number one priority and moved most of their investments into cash.
To preserve wealth and generate some income, Jim moved a healthy portion of his portfolio to Long Term Treasury Bonds. However, the improving economy combined with the Fed’s massive monetary response to the financial crisis has Jim concerned about the potential for a rising interest rate environment within the next 12 to 18 months.