By Ben James
This week’s stock market selloff caught many investors off guard, but at least one local firm seems to be doing things a little differently. They call it evidence-based investing.
“Anyone can tell you to buy the dip,” says Ben James, co-founder of Deupree James Wealth Management on Line Avenue in Shreveport. “Our clients want someone who is proactively trying to protect and grow their wealth.”
While the markets have been concerned about the Coronavirus, Ben says investors should be focused elsewhere. “Obviously you can’t predict a pandemic, but you can use market history as a guide. Economic growth and earnings have been slowing for some time now, and we had the yield curve invert last year. Typically that isn’t a recipe for good returns.”
A lifelong baseball fan, Ben cautions clients with a Yogi Berra quote: “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.’ In 2019 we thought the trade war would be bad news for exporters, but in fact, exporters outperformed the S&P 500 for the year. So we’re not always right, but we’re trying.”
Ben is responsible for portfolio management at Deupree James. “The first lesson my grandfather taught me about investing was the rule of large losses – if you lose 50%, you have to make 100% to get back to even,” he says.
You can find the firm’s thoughts on the market on Social Media and on their blog.
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