Dollars and cents: “Summertime” investment strategy

By Mike Jones

Now that summer is officially here, you may be looking forward to vacations, barbecues, ballgames and other events of the season.

But even while you’re engaged in these activities, you can’t forget about other aspects of your life — such as your plans to achieve your long-term financial goals. However, your summer activities can actually provide you with some valuable lessons on managing your investment strategy.

Here are a few possibilities:

• Plan your trip. If you’re taking a long road trip this summer, you’ll need to choose your vehicle, map out your route, determine how far you want to go each day and be quite certain of your destination. And, essentially, the same is true for your investment strategy. You need to choose the right investment vehicles, familiarize yourself with your ultimate goals (such as a comfortable retirement) and chart your progress along the way.

• Try to avoid getting burned. If you’re going to spend a lot of time outdoors this summer, you may need to apply some sunscreen. But you don’t have to be exposed to the sun to get “burned” — it can happen in the investment world, too. However, you can help prevent this from happening.

How? By building a diversified portfolio. If most of your money is tied up in just one type of investment, and that asset class falls victim to a downturn, your portfolio could take big hit.

But while some investments are moving down, other may be moving up, so it makes sense to spread your money among a range of vehicles appropriate for your risk tolerance, investment goals and time horizon.

Of course, diversification, by itself, cannot guarantee a profit or protect against loss, but it can help reduce the effects of volatility on your portfolio.

• Keep yourself “hydrated.”

When you’re outside on hot days, you can lose a lot of fluids, so you need to drink plenty of liquids to remain hydrated. As an investor, you also need a reasonable amount of liquidity.

In the severe market downturn of 2008 and early 2009, many investors found they had insufficient amounts of the type of liquid investments — cash and cash equivalents — that held up better than other, more aggressive vehicles. Furthermore, if you are relatively illiquid, you may have to dip into your longer-term investments to pay for short-term emergency needs. Try to always keep an adequate level of liquidity in your holdings.

• Dress for the season. As you go about your summer activities, you won’t always wear the same clothes.

On hot days, you might want to wear shorts, but on cool, rainy days, you might need heavier items or even a raincoat. And as you go through life, you may need to adjust your investment approach depending on your individual financial “season.”

For example, early in your career, you might be able to afford to invest more aggressively, as you’ll have more opportunities to recover from the inevitable short-term downturns. As you close in on retirement, though, you may need to take a more conservative approach so that you can lower your investment risk when you need to access your money.

So there you have them — some ideas for “summertime investing.” Use them wisely, and they may be of value to you long after summer is over.

Mike Jones is a financial adviser with Edward Jones Investments. He has an office in Russellville and can be reached at 256-332-7924.