4th Quarter 2019 Update

Hi everybody. Greetings from sunny, Sarasota, Florida. Hope all is well with you and your family. Hard to believe we're coming down the stretch already in 2019. It's been a great year in the investment world, a good year for your portfolio, as I'm sure you see from your statements. We have been recommending that clients remain cautious on the stock market in the US and we continue to believe that. Very quickly, the earnings of the S & P 500 companies, so the 500 biggest companies out there, are up roughly eight to 10% in the last 12 months, which is great. However, during that same period, their stock prices are up around 20%. So roughly double the rate of earnings. Historically, these numbers tend to come into line with each other.

This is not a time to chase stocks. The two key takeaways are number one, discipline. Even though stocks look good, it's not a time to add money to stocks in a big way, in our opinion. Number two, diversification. When we get into a time where stocks don't do as well, we want to have exposure to other areas that will continue to do well. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let us know. Thanks again for your confidence in us here at GWP and best wishes to you and your family for a happy and healthy holiday season. See you soon.

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