The Dow has fallen 10.5% over the last five sessions, marking its biggest five-day fall since August 2011. Yesterday we asked NAPA Net readers if the participants and plan sponsors you work with are reacting.
About a third (37.5%) of respondents said they had seen a significant uptick in participant calls over the past week, but none reported an uptick in calls from plan sponsors. As tumultuous as the past few days have been, it’s nothing like the response to the 2008 financial crisis, according to this week’s respondents. Nearly two-thirds (62.5%) said participants still seemed comfortable of a recovery, and an eighth simply stated, “there was no comparison at all.” The remaining quarter said they had no earthly idea how those reactions compared with the situation in 2008.
As for what their firms were telling people, while many say it varied, others were simply reminding folks that this is not 2008, while still others were telling investors that this was a good buying opportunity, not the time to sell. Their personal comments were very much in keeping with those sentiments. “Wait and see…” noted one, while another said simply “hold the course.”
Another said, “Buy low, sell high. If you are in the accumulation phase, lower prices now mean more shares purchased, and a higher potential value down the road. Whether you are in the contribution phase or distribution phase, try to keep your contributions or distributions level and don't try to time the market.”
Oh, and these advisors are putting their money where their mouth(s) are — 87.5% say they haven’t made any changes to their personal portfolio, though the remaining 12.5% limited that commitment, saying simply, “not yet.”
Today’s another day, after all.
p.s.: The survey is still open if you’d like to weigh in: https://www.research.net/s/mkttiming.
