How clients can thrive during market downturns

For many of our clients entering retirement, it takes a lot to step back and trust that their investment strategy will be enough. They have worked hard for their wealth and, in this next stage of life, want to continue to enjoy the comfort of a steady, generous income.

A good amount of our Wealth Management clients come to us with a substantial account balance in their company-sponsored 401(k) but aren’t convinced it can replace their paycheck entirely. With each client, we talk through their concerns, objectives and lifestyles, to determine the best approach forward. Together, depending on their needs, we may decide the best route is to roll their 401(k) into an IRA and invest in our Endowment-Cornerstone strategy. This method is designed to generate a reliable and generous income, allowing our clients to relax, knowing their paychecks will be more than covered.

Even when the financial crisis of 2008 hit.¹

As we know, this was one of the worst recessions in modern history. For our clients, however, it was pretty much business as usual. The strategies we’d developed continued to produce income. Even when the Dow was down 37%, our clients’ dividends and interest only decreased 3%. This allowed them to continue receiving their monthly withdrawals, without touching their principal.

As the market has recovered, our client’s dependable income not only remained steady, but it increased. Plus, the value of their investments experienced healthy growth – a growth outpacing the S&P 500’s performance throughout the recession and recovery period.²

This is what our investment strategy does best. It seeks to ensure that your plan and your savings are on the right track, no matter the financial climate. Our goal is that clients in our strategies are able to live at ease, confident that they are financially secure.

[1] The above chart depicts an actual account that is representative of an account that remained invested in the Endowment Cornerstone strategy from 2007 -2018, while distributing a consistent amount of income from the account throughout the reporting period.

The actual results portrayed were chosen to illustrate the long-term performance an actual account invested during significant market turmoil, and therefore relate only to clients utilizing this criteria.Accounts that did not meet this criteria may have materially different results (either positive or negative depending on factors such as timing of cash flows.

The returns of the representative account are net of advisory fees, brokerage or other commissions, and other expenses the client would have paid. Dividends and interest in excess of the distribution amount were subsequently reinvested in time. The performance of the representative account is for illustrative purposes only, and no representation is made that you would achieve similar results. Investing involves risk, and past performance is not indicative of future results.

[2] The Endowment-Cornerstone strategy seeks return through investing in dividend paying stocks while the S&P 500 index tracks stock of large companies regardless of whether these companies pay dividends. All performance is net of fees and reflects the reinvestment of dividends and other account earnings which may have a material impact on overall returns. All supporting performance data available upon request.