3 Investment Strategies to Protect Your Money From Stock Market Drops

3 Investment Formations to Protect you From Scary Stock Markets-LIKE THIS ONE! Although there are many ways to protect your cash from an unexpected event in the equity and bond markets, I would highly recommend learning (or hiring a pro who understands) about the three Defensive Investment Formations below. 1.) Buy Insurance for your Portfolio When someone buys a house or a car it is assumed and is often a requirement to purchase insurance for that asset. When you think about your investments ask yourself: Do you have any form of insurance to protect you from loss? What is the potential risk that your portfolio is exposed to? Could you sustain a 30-50% drop in your investment accounts? What kind of impact would a large drop in account value have on your lifestyle or future dreams? Have you thought about the need and or benefits of adding protection to your investment portfolio? There are a variety of ways to insure your investments, one simple example is called a Married Put, a hedging strategy named after an old IRS ruling. This happens when an investor purchases a put option contract while at the same time purchasing an equivalent number of shares of the underlying security. This type of strategy can be used when an investor wants the benefits of stock ownership but has concerns about the unknown downside market risks. Sounds simple right? So then why isn’t your advisor talking to you about these strategies while markets are at all time highs with a variety of economic and geopolitical concerns looming around the corner? Maybe it’s time to interview a new advisor….(Interview New Advisor) The equity and bond markets have been on bull runs for a very long time and as our last blog discussed there are several reasons why that run MIGHT come to an end. If you’re retired or nearing retirement and exposed to the equity markets, bond markets, or real estate markets I would advise taking a hard look at the pro’s and con’s of buying Put Options on those holdings because now when index options are cheap relative to long term history is the time to take action if action becomes part of your plan. Of course, with any investment or insurance there are pros and cons to this strategy. The purpose of this article isn’t to tell you to take action today, it’s to tell you to think for a minute and consider a solution that’s different than heading down a class 5 rapid without any oars. 2.) Buy Inverse ETF’s An Inverse ETF like ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 can work as a synthetic equivalent to buying Puts against you stock positions meaning it will benefit you in a market correction. SPXU will increase in value as the S&P 500 declines, in theory it will gain 3X as much as the S&P loses so if the S&P 500 is down 2% your UltraPro Short ETF should be up 6%. If the market stays in the same place SPXU will work better than buying Long Puts. In a flat market your $100,000 SPXU position remains in tact while the same flat market erodes the cost of your Long Put contracts. Assuming no adjustments are made, the Long Put Premium Premium (cost to buy them) will be lost like your car insurance payment. When working with leveraged ETF’s like this you MUST be sure to know your calculations and of course when in doubt ask for help from or just work with a pro like us (Click Here For Questions). http://www.proshares.com/funds/spxu.html 3.) Take Some Profits Ok, so you rode the market down to it’s lows and had the guts to ride it back to the current levels...will you learn your lesson this time? When’s the time to take profits? Should you hang on and pray? You can do what you want, but if you decide that the risk of a market crash is making your stomach turn why not take some profits? Listen, if you’re at or near retirement, or if you just believe in statistics… now is as good of a time as any to CONSIDER taking some (or maybe all) of your profits. If you decide to take profits it’s pretty simple. Login to your account (or call your broker) and sell (x) amount of your holdings. Chances are your broker will fight you tooth and nail, but if you made the choice and you know you can’t tolerate a 50% drop and you know a 50% drop would feel worse and impact you more than a 50% gain from here… then stand firm on your decision. Take some time on the sidelines and re-evaluate your choices. Note I wouldn’t recommend moving to bonds right now either, click the link below to find out why. Are Bonds Safe Investmentprofessor.com