While You Were Barbecuing...

From the Desk of Joe Rollins

We hope that all of you have found time to enjoy a little R&R over these summer months. Unfortunately, here in Atlanta, it has rained virtually every day and is now being referred to as the “Seattle of the South.” Although the rain may be refreshing every now and then, I would prefer that the golf courses actually have the opportunity to dry out at least once this summer.

Many of you may not have noticed that on Friday, July 19, 2013 the S&P was up an astonishing 20% for the year. What is even more remarkable is that index is up a full 6.2% for the month of July alone, which only included 14 trading days. For the 12 months ended July 19, 2013, the S&P is up 25.71%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 23.32%, and the NASDAQ Composite is up 20.96%.

A good indicator of a strong market is that the smaller cap stocks are actually outperforming the large-cap stocks. The S&P Mid-Cap 400 Index is up 31.92% for the 12 months ended last Friday, July 19, 2013, and the Russell 200 Small-Cap Stock Index is up most amazingly 32.86%.

Needless to say, no one can predict what will happen for the rest of the year, but we need to be thankful for how well the market has performed thus far. As much as I hate to interrupt your summer fun, I found it impossible to let such an important occurrence pass by without recognition. As these markets go up, you are building wealth to help ensure that your retirement years will be sound and secure.

Given the aforementioned numbers, I can’t help but wonder how the investors that decided to keep their money in cash feel about that decision now. From an investment standpoint, a phrase I hear more than any other is, “I do not want to invest until the market comes down.” By virtue of waiting, you have missed a run of over 25% for the last 12 month period. Those potential investors that have been sitting on cash, money markets, or CDs have missed out on a great opportunity to accumulate wealth.

We would love the opportunity to sit down with you and discuss how to best utilize your uninvested cash in order to prepare for your future investment needs. While certainly everyone is anxious about investing cash in a market that has already gone up a great deal, the opportunity to invest in dividend stocks or other types of investments may calm your jittery nerves.

As always, the foregoing includes my opinions, assumptions and forecasts. It is perfectly possible that I am wrong.

Best regards,
Joe Rollins