We ask two top financial planners to give us one idea each for the average investor.
Thomas Meyer, CEO & Chairman, Meyer Capital Group
The only thing guaranteed in the stock market is risk. Our job, as CFPs, is to mitigate risk by investing in places like the Hussman Fund (HSGFX), which is a risk-managed growth fund. It protects the portfolio by buying puts against the major indexes and calls against the same indexes to produce income. The fund is up 9 percent year-to-date and was down the same amount last year. This methodology has produced a positive 9 percent per year return since 2001. This fund should be a core holding.
Doug Lockwood, Principal, Harbor Lights Financial Group
If you’re a long-term investor (and you should be), consider the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY). The fund acts like a stock, so you can put in a stop-loss to protect on the downside. Just make sure to dollar cost average in over 3 to 6 months. A pullback at these levels is likely.
Lockwood and his clients own (SPY)
Meyer and his clients own (HSGFX)