By: Robert Jeter, CFP, CRPC

Volatility is the price we pay for long-term investment gains, that’s no secret. Our behavior on the other hand is usually what determines how much of those long-term gains we capture. Also, to what extent we are emotionally capable of riding this rollercoaster of volatility. While those are pretty obvious statements, what kind of volatility is considered normal?

Depending on who you ask, the biggest risk to a retiree can be one of many. One of the biggest that seems to be a back of mind item and often the least talked about, is inflation. Inflation is something we all know exists, and have felt and dealt with over the course of our lives. By definition: “a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.”

Since 1950, there have been 58 different 10-year periods (i.e., the 10-years from 1950-59, 1951-60, 1952-61 . . . , 2007-2016). The S&P 500 has produced a positive total return result in 56 of the 58 decade long periods, i.e., 97% of the time. (via BTN Research).

What Are We Doing?: Updating Our Trading System and Financial Review Document -- When I'm giving presentations or in meetings, I frequently have a chance to mention that I am 47 years old and I'm going to be working throughout many of our clients entire retirement. I don't often put it in my emails so I thought I would this time.

Medicare Isn't Going Broke and the Percentage 87%:

Medicare is frequently discussed as if it will cease to operate in the next decade. This really isn't how it will work out. Here's a great piece of research that is very good to know that I found during my weekly research this week:

The pace of change in the last five years is really incredible. Moving in this financial world has got back to being fun, while quite serious. Here's a quote from BlackRock's 2015 Annual Report on how they see things. "Machine learning" and "...discern what human factors are trying to tell us" are some interesting precursors.

Election: We have a new President of the United States. No matter who you might have voted for, here are some ideas to keep in mind:

Please click on the link to see the JP Morgan Chart mentioned in our August 2016 Market Update: 

/sites/default/files/users/ericjohnston2/Asset%20Allocation%20Returns%20JP%20Morgan%2030jun2016.pdf

Looking back: As summer comes to a close, we have had what has been a good year for the markets -- a more typical one for sure. Peak to trough we estimated the S&P500 index was down as much as 12% in February and has come back and then some over the last few months. Even bonds are up considerably this year. It has been a good year.