Is Trump turmoil risking portfolio?

Headache for investors as recession looms in US

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This week a new client at my financial planning firm - concerned that his portfolio would reduce in value - asked me if the stock market was going to fall much further.

Invariably, the question behind the question is: “Should I be doing something different with my portfolio?”

In other words, this is just another version of the market-timing question, dressed in different clothes.

Should I sell stocks and wait for a more favourable outlook to buy them back? Or more precisely, can we find clear trading rules to tell us when to buy or hold stocks, when to sell, when to admit our mistakes, and so on?

The lure of that winning trading strategy is seductive - if only we could find one, our portfolios would soar.

Motivated by the substantial payoff associated with successful timing, for years researchers have examined a wide range of strategies.