Planning For Scary Times And Scary Markets

Right now, a lot of people are scared in the United States because of the Coronavirus, which is spreading, and we’re getting news alerts every day of the details of it spreading.

Just recently, we learned the state of New York has ordered the national guard to quarantine an entire town. The entire country of Italy has been put on quarantine. Schools are closing. People are not working. We have shut down all travel to and from Europe. Companies across the country a having their employees work from home. All major U.S professional sports have been suspended. The President has declared a national emergency and we are to avoid all gatherings of 250 or more people. Houses of worship are not holding services to avoid large gatherings.

Times like these can be scary. It’s human nature to be scared, and fear and panic is not just over toilet paper, hand sanitizer and Lysol, it’s poured into the financial markets. We’ve seen the financial markets take huge swings over the past few weeks. We’ve now entered a bear market. On Thursday March 12^th we saw the largest decrease percentage wise on the Dow Jones Industrial averages since 1987.

But what can somebody do when times are scary like these?

We believe the best thing to do is have a plan.

When you have a plan of action, it can keep you from making fearful decisions. It can keep you from making emotional decisions. And that’s why we here at Beratung Advisors are so passionate about what we do.

We help people to build and develop their financial plan to pursue their goals and live a fulfilling life. Not only do we help them build and develop, and execute on that plan, but help him them implement that plan, and we help them to stick to that plan.

Times that are scary, like these, we think you need help, that you need somebody else out there that can help you to implement that plan and to stick to that plan. That’s what we here at Beratung Advisors help our clients to do.

Over these past few weeks, we’ve been working to make sure that our clients are sticking to their financial plans to pursue their own personal goals that they set out for. As long as those goals haven’t changed, we want to help them implement that plan that we built together.

When we build a plan for our clients, we test them. We can’t predict the future. But we can do our best to simulate times like these. We test our plan against past market downturns, and we see if we could be successful in times like these.

We can’t predict the future. We can’t guarantee your success, but we can do is help you build a financial plan, that allows you to pursue your goals and avoid short term emotional decision during scary times like these.

We don’t know when the Coronavirus will stop spreading. We don’t know when we will be able to find toilet paper in the stores again. But what we do know is we’ve been through scary times before.

I know I can remember distinctively the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I was a senior at Freeport High School. I remember sitting in Mr. Jones physics class and listening to a radio while we worked on our project and hearing about that first plane crashed into a building.

We were confused and bewildered. Was there something wrong with the pilot? As we turned on the TVs, we saw that second plane crash into the second World Trade Center and then we found out there were more hijacked planes in the sky that were going towards unknown targets.

We realized we were under terrorist attacks. We were scared. How many more planes were going to come?

And then we found out that one was coming across Pennsylvania right over where my high school was. Then we found it crashed landed an hour from my school.It was scary times!

I remember going to dinner that night out to the Quaker Steak and Lube in Cranberry and thinking this might be the last time we ever eat out. I remember the whole restaurant becoming completely silent when the President of the United States, George W. Bush, addressed the nation. I remember like it was yesterday.

I remember thinking, when is this going to be over? Will we ever go back to normal? Were they going to attack us again?

I can also remember the D.C. Sniper attacks and being scared to even go to a gas station. I remember being confused as to why someone would just randomly target innocent people. Was it one shooter? Multiple shooters? We didn’t know. Were they ever going to find the shooter(s)? Was the shooter going to go outside the D.C. Beltway area? Were they going to come to Pittsburgh? Were they going to go the west coast? Was it going to be copycats? We didn’t know. It was scary.

I can’t predict the future, but what I do know is, we’ve been through scary times before. And I know we’ll go through scary times again.

I believe that thing that’s going to help you get through those scary times is to have a well laid out plan!

Let one of our advisors here at Beratung Advisors help you to develop your customized financial plan. To help guide you through implementation, but to also help stick to that plan even during scary times like these.

To help you to get that plan started, give one of our advisers a call today at 412-357-2002.

We would love to give you guidance with a plan. I pray God protects you and your family and brings you peace in these scary times.

_{This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events or a guarantee of future results. Investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principal.  The information is meant for educational purposes only.  It should not be considered investment advice, nor does it constitute a recommendation to take a particular course of action. Please consult with a financial professional regarding your personal situation prior to making any financial related decisions. (03/20)}