Advice for Managing Your Portfolio in 2021

By: Chris Cook, CPA, CFA
Gilbert & Cook, Chief Investment Strategist

My advice for managing your portfolio in 2021 is a lot like my advice was in 2002 and 2009.  And no, I am NOT going to tell you to “stay the course”.  I am going to advise that you CHART the course under the calmest of mindset that you can conjure up amid elections and Covid.

Periods of stress change our thinking.  Human beings change their mind, second guess, feel regret, and feel blame.  So, on a Sunday afternoon, with no screens going and no markets open, set a 10-year course you can stay true to.  Balance your 10+ year optimism, (and yes you should have some) with your near-term needs.  Two main reasons individual investors fail in times of extreme pessimism as well as extreme optimism is the extrapolation of current events into the future.  Things will be bad/good forever.  We do not want to be a forced seller or lose our nerve at the bottom of the market in March of 2020.  This period of stress, like those before it, has retaught those lessons.

If you have any questions regarding your personal financial situation, please don't hesitate to call a member of our Gilbert & Cook team at 515.270.6444 or email info@gilbertcook.com