Weather Market Volatility with Safe Money

By Brent Meyer — SafeMoney.com Founder & Editor Reviewed by Licensed Financial Professionals  |  SafeMoney.com — Trusted Since 2011  |  Updated Regularly Quick Answer: Discover safe money alternatives to weather market volatility. Protect your retirement savings today with expert strategies. Learn more at SafeMoney.com. After we enjoyed the sweet ride of an 11-year bull market, market volatility is back in style now. Where things will go from here is anyone’s guess. But even more importantly, what about you and your personal outlook? How can you take steps to protect what you have accumulated over the years? Can you do anything to help you ride out this wild wave of volatility ? You can, and there are steps you can take right away. If they make sense, some tools and strategies that you might consider could add more stability, predictability, and certainty to your portfolio. Here are six ideas that you can put to work right now. 1. Check up on your portfolio and if appropriate, consider your allocation. Many advisors have espoused a 60/40 mix of stocks and bonds in your retirement portfolio. But this ratio of stocks to bonds may not be the best thing for you in this market environment . The prices of bonds typically drop when interest rates rise. In a zero-interest-rate environment , rates can’t go anywhere but up. Stocks, on the other hand, have clearly fallen from their peaks at the beginning of the year. They have recovered to some extent. However, a large percentage of investors are still waiting for their stock portfolios to reach their previous levels. But they may be waiting a long time. 2. Avoid rush decisions to move too much money into lower-risk assets. Snap decisions to make a major ‘flight to safety’ can also be self-deating. After all, you are liquidating the losses and will be left holding the bag. The markets have had their ups-and-downs for decades . They are going to weather this storm, too. But it could take some time for the markets to reach their previous highs again. Even then, moving a large portion of your retirement assets into low-paying guaranteed instruments probably isn’t a good idea. Your financial professional can help you work through this and other crucial questions. 3. If appropriate, think about having some money in asset-protecting instruments. On the other hand, this doesn’t mean a complete “no” to such choices . By holding a portion of your money in