It is the beginning of a new year. That time when we receive the year-end statements from our brokerages and retirement plan managers. News that for the past 3-4 years has been awesome. But this year the overwhelming majority of us will face very unpleasant reports: RED INK. And, most of our losses were sustained in the fourth quarter adding to our dismay.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index finished the year down 6.2 percent, with the steepest declines recorded in the fourth quarter. On Christmas Eve the DOW officially dropped into a Bear market - come on Santa.

With the January 2nd Apple announcement of disappointing sales in China, stocks continued their downward plunge through the first week of 2019 dropping over 600 points on Thursday. While underlying economic data has remained strong, there are some rumblings that 2019 may be quite a bit rougher than 2018. An article in the New York Times reports that corporate executives are becoming more pessimistic, according to surveys, and Americans are conducting Google searches for the word “recession” at the highest rate since the last one ended in 2009.

Many investors flee the market in these times — or at least shift our 401(k) into cash. Most financial advisers maintain that this is a bad move.

This same article in The New York Times gave this advice: If you are a long-term investor (and any money you have tied up in the stock market should be intended for the long term The sensible response to this unnerving series of developments is to do pretty much anything else (but move into a cash position)to begin with). Read a book. Go for a walk. Take up knitting. Or just do nothing at all, like take a nap. Tumult like that of the last few months isn’t something that should cause panic. Rather, it’s the price you pay for enjoying returns that, over long time horizons, are likely to be substantially higher than those for cash or bonds.

At Elevated 1031 and Millcreek Commercial we are not investment advisers, stockbrokers or securities dealers. But the conventional wisdom makes no sense to us. We are commercial real estate experts that have developed a vehicle that will allow you to own commercial real estate in your retirement accounts. This product enables us to capture the stock market gains of the past four years and secure a steady stable return into your retirement account.

Contact us today to learn how to convert a portion of your retirement portfolio into investment grade commercial real estate assets that will return in excess of 6% annually regardless of market trends.

(619) 436-1031