Category: Market Crash

Don’t Waste This Crisis

Don’t Waste This Crisis

In his weekly commentary released on March 23, 2020, Senior Portfolio Manager, Chief Equity Strategist, Bob Doll states:

We think stocks remain in a bottoming process. Bottoming is a process, not an event, meaning this could take some time.

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As a financial advisor in 2008, I, too, experienced the painful process of the market bottoming out. It seemed like the drop in the market was also reflective of my life. In the months (even years) leading up to 2008, I was struggling to understand my purpose and God’s call on my life. That fall, I was asked to put my name forward in the Federal General Election and despite my slim odds of winning, I became a candidate. (The steepest drop on the chart highlighted in yellow represents the bail-out vote failure and also the time period that I was campaigning). My political career was short! After the loss on election night, I was back to facing the reality of significant financial loss in clients’ portfolios and the stress of a more difficult work situation. My emotions paralleled the chart of the stock market crash at that time.

 

This time of crisis caused me to question everything. Through a deep time of soul searching, I began to see what was previously hidden to me. I had imagined my work only to be God’s provision when in fact, it was God’s providence in a much deeper way than I had realized. He had always been part of my life but I had not made Him part of my practice. Through this process of bottoming, my practice became more than just a job; this was a mission, a fulfillment of God’s purpose for me. I was walking with clients through some of the most difficult times in their lives.  I was able to bring focus and provide a perspective that they needed in this financial storm. My life wasn’t to be a search to find God’s call but rather a living out of that call where God had already placed me – in a financial planning career!

There is a spiritual purpose when crisis happens.  I had to run to God, and nowhere else, as a refuge during my ‘perfect storm” of 2008.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are protected. The wealth of the rich is his fortified city; in his imagination it is like a high wall (Proverbs 18:10-11 CSB).

This proverb reveals that the greatest risk of wealth is “spiritual risk.” Most believe the greatest risk is the potential loss in value from our investment choices; that’s investment risk. However, the spiritual risk of trusting the security of money rather than seeing the Lord as our strong fortress is dangerous. We can begin to trust it more than God. Oftentimes, we imagine money to provide more security than is possible. Crisis has a way of refocusing us like nothing else.

Coronavirus is invisible, yet, we see the effects of it in our world today. What if the purpose of this crisis is to cause us to spiritually see the invisible? Dr. Tony Evans said, “If all you see is what you see, you do not see all there is to be seen.”

Maybe a pandemic and economic crisis is meant to open our eyes to the invisible.  Wisdom teaches that instead of imagining money and even our jobs, as our security, we should run to the only true refuge; the name of the Lord.  We must allow the invisible to affect us, especially in crisis. Don’t let this crisis go to waste. If we come through this and are able to see what was previously hidden, then this crisis has an eye-opening, spiritual purpose.

How are you feeling in the midst of this storm? How will you use this crisis ?

Try Trusting

Try Trusting

We are in unprecedented times and honestly, it is very disheartening to listen to the news, yet, we are compelled to do so in order to keep up with things that are changing so quickly. We are told we must self-isolate in order to protect ourselves and the people we love. Governments are having emergency meetings in order to deal with not only the health pandemic but also to provide sufficient stimulus to stabilize stock markets yet, recession seems inevitable. 

There seems to be no easy solutions and we are constantly being bombarded with bad news. Our measure of peace and contentment ultimately depends on what we are trusting in. If our sense of peace comes from the money that’s been accumulated, then it is understandable that you have less peace today than a month ago (because if your investments are connected to the stock market, you have less money than a month ago).

The wisdom of Proverbs (18:11) says,

“The rich think of their wealth as a strong defence; they imagine it to be a high wall of safety.”

This reveals the greatest risk around money – when we accumulate it, we begin to trust it & when we lose it we lose our peace.

“Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.”  Proverbs 23:5

I wonder if it says it “flies toward the heavens” because that is where the wealth came from in the first place? After all, God gives us the power to make wealth (Deut. 8:18).  It’s interesting that the Bible also says, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven” (John 3:27). Maybe a situation like Covid-19 is meant to redirect us back to the true source of our health and even our wealth – heaven! 

Portfolio loss creates fear naturally. We do not want to see loss and it causes anxiety, but consider this – what if the money is not actually ours in the first place? What if it is just entrusted to us to manage? We may feel like we are not doing a great job in our management roles in the midst of this, but we must understand that what is happening right now is beyond our control. We need to realize that God owns it all and He desires that we be invested (particularly our lives, but also our money). We cannot control what’s happening in our world and we must focus on what we can control, which is how we respond to all that is happening.

Many ask, “Where is God in all this; doesn’t He care?” Interesting that most places of worship are now closed and forced to go online in this crisis. That allowed me to hear a message this past Sunday that I would have otherwise not heard. What was shared was a most familiar story from the Bible when Jesus was asleep in the boat and a vicious storm arose, seemingly out of nowhere. There was a sense of panic in the disciples, likely very similar to what many are feeling during these days. The disciples felt helpless and completely powerless to deal with this situation (after all it was out of their control). Our situation now is beyond our control in a similar manner.

In this story, Jesus is sleeping and the disciples are full of fear. The disciples wake Him up and his response to them is to address their level of fear and speak to the storm to calm it. Let me quote this pastor friend of mine: “We are in unprecedented times and it may be unprecedented for you to even consider calling on Jesus, but we need to wake Him in our lives.” The Bible says that God neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psm. 121:1), but it may seem that He is asleep and not caring for us at times like these.  In many cases, the storm may rage around us but we can have a peace in the midst of that storm. The calm that comes within us allows us to face the storm that is around us.

Realize this: God is someone you can trust, especially in the storm, so look to the heavens. Your faith can sustain you through this pandemic.

 

Have You Hit Bottom Yet?

Have You Hit Bottom Yet?

It is hard to believe what is happening in our world these past few weeks. Conferences, major international sporting events, schools are cancelled and even our country’s borders are being restricted. Provinces have declared states of emergency while most people are now working from home where possible. Many businesses are shut down to guard against infection of Coronavirus which is wreaking havoc on the economy.

Screen Shot 2020-03-19 at 3.37.57 PMThe end of February saw the sharpest 7- day decline in the history of the stock market. Markets go through downturns, corrections and even crashes for many different reasons. In 2008, it was the housing crisis, prior to that, we had the technology bubble and 9-11, so a 30% loss is not really anything new. Ron Blue, the founder of Kingdom Advisors says, “Fear is a normal human response to economic uncertainty.” I have heard it said that “It’s different this time and what we are experiencing now is unprecedented,” but the fact is, “Economic uncertainty is certain.” The reasons for the uncertainty are always different, but the response is the same every time: fear and panic.

The Bible instructs us to “Be anxious for nothing” yet, fear and panic is the typical and natural response. It was even this way in the time of Jesus. Think of the disciples in their boat in the midst of the storm – they were in panic mode, “But Jesus was sleeping!” (Matt. 8:24b). Jesus was in a different place, yet, he was in the same boat as the disciples who were fearful. He was emotionally and spiritually secure, resting despite being tossed by the wind and waves just like the disciples. Jesus said they had “little faith.”

Back to the markets for a minute: Bob Doll, Chief Economic Strategist, said on March 16 in his commentary, “We think stocks are bottoming, but that process will take some time.” I recently heard him say the market making a bottom is not an event, it’s a process. I expect the same is true for us; when we are in the midst of fear and panic, the move from there (place of fear) to faith and confidence is a process, not an event. 

Phil. 4:6-7 instructs us to “bring everything through prayer & petition, with thanksgiving.” I believe this is the process that moves us from being anxious about everything to the peace which surpasses all understanding, where our hearts and minds are guarded and we can sleep in the storm.  Part of that process is thanksgiving. How are we thankful today? If you have suffered a paper loss on your investments in recent days, you may not be happy about it, but you can certainly be thankful that you have those investments (many have no investments and would love to have your losses because it means they at least have investments).

It is easy to quote a Bible verse and feel we get it, but in reality, getting to that place of rest and peace is a process, a journey. Being thankful is part of that process and it seems that crisis is often part of that journey, at least from my experience. 

Please look at this graph below. Where would you graph yourself today?

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Now go back to early February 2020, when things were much more stable, markets were making new highs and there were just whispers of Coronavirus. Would you graph yourself differently?  Our circumstances tend to shift us from faith into fear, then we tend to bottom out and the process of making a bottom (like in the markets) begins. That typically means we bounce from “mostly fearful” to “some fear,” maybe back to “mostly fearful” until some truth enters our hearts and we move to “neutral.” Then more toward “some faith,” maybe back to “neutral” but the more truth enters, the more “faith-filled” we become. That process in the market is very much like the process of shifting us away from “mostly fearful” and closer to that place where “the peace of God which surpasses our understanding will guard our hearts & minds.”

If you are a financial advisor, you have the opportunity to walk with your clients through this process. In the midst of self-isolation, pray for opportunities to strengthen and encourage others to move away from the fear that so easily fills our hearts. Once you get to that place of faith, circumstances tend to have less and less of an impact and we can remain strong. This is what it means to “walk by faith and not by sight,” (or the circumstances around us). Getting to that place is a process!

Where are you in the process? Closer to “mostly fearful” or “faith-filled?”