“Your Future Is Whatever You Make It. So Make It A Good One.” Back to the Future
(borrowed from last year’s commentary)
It is somewhat arbitrary to make a forecast about markets at the beginning of a year. It is said a portfolio manager buys their portfolio every morning. What that means is that you have to look at every stock and say would I buy it today or should I sell it. Over the holidays people have more time to examine their portfolios and ask if they are structured properly for the next year. Our view is the markets will remain volatile over the next few months until there is greater clarity on when the central banks have finished their inflation fight. There is a bit of irony that the markets will recover when it appears the economy is slowing as it will be one step closer to a recovery.
When we look at the stocks in our client portfolios, we like many of the attributes including the average dividend, the history of dividend increases and the underlying earnings potential. We focus on the combination of the price we pay for the stock in relation to the future earnings stream and the degree of certainty of the earnings.
