Addiction

Posted on December 3, 2012 by billriley

Every talk show, financial news report has been saturated with the so called fiscal cliff that has hidden what is really going on in the economy. Most people I talk with have various levels of understanding what the Cliff is and what will happen if it comes into effect. As usual this fear mongering by the press and the politicians is in my perspective somewhat overblown. First of all not all of the provisions go into effect immediately and like all politically sensitive tax changes, they are subject to change either retroactively or by amendment. This reminds me of Y2K when we all sat around our computers on December 31,1999 waiting to see if the computer world as it was then would come to a grinding halt. At 12:05 am January 1, 2000 all was well. Now don’t get me wrong this situation is serious not only for the economy but what I feel is the most important is how America is viewed by the world for not being able to manage its affairs.

The most important barometer to focus on in this uncertain atmosphere is the market itself. The market has weathered in the last two years a lot of bad news, but since March 2009 the market is up quite attractively. However, even with these 100% gains during this time I still find on a daily basis that the investing public is sitting on loads of cash still remembering the past correction which is now about five years old. I even had someone tell me that he is afraid now because stocks are two high and he wants to wait for a pull back. He was probably the same fellow that said there was too much risk when the S&P hit 660.

As I have stated before with the price-to-earnings ratio on the S&P at 13 with history showing 17 to be normal and still attractive what is it going to take to change investor sentiment? Tomorrow I will list all the good news about how the economy is performing, however what will bring back the investor will be when the market goes up 1000 points on the fiscal cliff agreement. Remember most retail investors buy high and sell low or just stay in cash waiting for another excuse to stay out of the equity markets.

Bill

About billriley

Chief Executive Officer, Chief Compliance Officer A co-founder and shareholder, William Riley is a 33 year industry veteran, who observed, many years ago, that over time institutional investors typically outperform individual investors while accepting less risk. In his role as Chief Executive Officer, Bill works tirelessly to make the wealth management strategies used by the world’s wealthiest families and largest institutions available to our firm’s individual clients. Bill combines fundamental and technical analysis to minimize investment portfolio risk and maximize potential returns. He uses a variety of non-correlated asset classes, including alternative investments, to minimize portfolio volatility and seek absolute returns in down or flat markets. Finally, Bill believes in a comprehensive approach to wealth management that fully coordinates and seamlessly integrates portfolio management, risk management and asset protection, trust, estate, tax and charitable planning. Prior to co-founding Riley Wealth Management ,LLC, Bill held management positions at Merrill Lynch, UBS, Raymond James, Paine Webber and J.C. Bradford. Bill founded Fort Worth branches for Raymond James and J.C. Bradford. Prior to entering the financial services industry, Bill ran his families closely held businesses. Bill’s experience operating family businesses combined with his wealth management experience makes him uniquely qualified to advise entrepreneurs and business owners on a variety of matters including complex and sensitive issues relating to business succession. Bill’s degrees and designations included a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA), the Chartered Financial Consultant designation (ChFC), the Chartered Life Underwriter designation (CLU) and the Wealth Management Specialist designation (WMS). A Fort Worth native, Bill is a TCU alum and active in many civic and charitable organizations. Bill and his wife, Marsha, now reside in Colleyville, and they have four grown children and four grandchildren. When he is not working on portfolios or studying financial markets, Bill can be found on the golf courses of Ridglea Country Club.
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