In today\u2019s Steady\nInvestor, we look at what is going on in the markets and our key takeaways and\nquestions for investors to consider, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Year of Failed IPOs\n\u2014 <\/strong>At the outset of 2019, many investors and fast-growing corporations were\nexcited about the year of IPOs ahead. Baseline expectations were that 2019\nwould eclipse 1999 as the best year for IPOs raising money in the public\nmarkets, which would have meant generating more than $108 billion. But 2019\nfell woefully short of that mark, with 211 companies raising just $62.33\nbillion. Some of the shortfall came from issues out of corporations\u2019 control \u2013\nthe government shutdown at the turn of the year led to filing delays for many.\nBut a more compelling reason for the shortfall, in our view, was growing\ninvestor concern over frothy valuations, high growth companies with no profits,\nand management teams that were unproven and lacked experience. Companies like\nUber, Lyft, Pinterest, and Slack all had high hopes, name recognition, and fast\ngrowth rates, but many investors who got in early are still underwater on their\ninvestment. According to Dealogic, shares of companies that went public this\nyear are trading about 23% above their IPO prices, which lagged the S&P\n500\u2019s near 30% rise on the year. Isolating only tech companies makes the field\nof IPOs look worse, with just an 8% gain compared to the Nasdaq\u2019s close to 35%\ngain.1<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get These 7 Secrets to Building the Ultimate Retirement Portfolio<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong> ______________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n China Starts 2020\nWith Signals of Stimulus \u2013 <\/strong>Coming off a minor breakthrough with Phase 1 of\na trade deal with the United States, the People\u2019s Bank of China (PBOC) announced\nat the turn of the year that they are tilting even further towards easy money.\nLast week, the PBOC said it would lower reserve requirements at commercial\nbanks by 0.5%, meaning that approximately $115 billion would be released into\nthe financial system. Liquidity in China\u2019s financial system tends to get tight around\nthe Lunar New Year, but this is also a signal that China remains committed to\ngoosing economic growth particularly as the trade war enters a make-or-break\nphase. China has also signaled an understanding that it can no longer rely on\nforeign investment and exports that have maintained high levels of economic\ngrowth for the past decade and beyond, as countries grow more protectionist and\nas the U.S. becomes are more aggressive trading partner.3<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Americans are Binging\non Home Equity Lines of Credit, Again \u2013 <\/strong>With the housing market remaining\nfairly strong and Americans continually financing lifestyle with debt, house\nrefinancings are on the rise. According to mortgage-data firm Black Knight, nearly\n60% of 2018 refinancings came at higher interest rates \u2013 the biggest share\nsince before the financial crisis. Homeowners are taking out money at rates and\nat a pace much higher than the average from 2009 to 2017. While some are using\nthe cash for investments or property renovations \u2013 which can increase property\nvalues \u2013 many are using the money to pay off credit cards, swapping one type of\ndebt for another.4<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n As we wait to see how these stories pan out in\n2020, I recommend focusing on your long-term financial goals. To help you do\nthis we are offering our just-released free guide, 7 Secrets to\nBuilding the Ultimate DIY Retirement Portfolio<\/em>.5<\/sup> It\nprovides a step-by-step blueprint of our customized investing process to\npotentially help you build a sound retirement portfolio of your own and pursue\nlong-term investing success. Home equity loans on the rise, China injects liquidity into economy, big name IPOs disappoint investors <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-private-client-group","category-steady-investors-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10658,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8424\/revisions\/10658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Navigating market cycles while creating a retirement portfolio that meets your financial goals is no small feat. To build a portfolio that can potentially reach your goals, you must put some time and effort into defining your investing objectives, determining your asset allocation, and managing your investments over time.
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If you have $500,000 or more to invest, I recommend downloading our guide\u00a07 Secrets to Building the Ultimate DIY Retirement Portfolio.<\/em>\u00a0It provides a step-by-step blueprint of our customized investing process to potentially help you build a sound retirement portfolio of your own and pursue long-term investing success.
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Download Your Copy of\u00a0<\/a>7 Secrets to Building the Ultimate DIY Retirement Portfolio.<\/a>2<\/a><\/sup><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nIf you have $500,000 or more to invest, get this\nguide to learn our ideas on the step-by-step process to building and\nmaintaining a retirement portfolio that may help you reach your goals and enjoy\na secure retirement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"