John, good to see you. I'm excited about this one, will there be a September effect? September has a reputation for being the worst month of the year for the stock market. Historically, it's actually been the weakest month for the s&p with an average decline of .5% since 1950. So we look at history for perspective not for predictions, of course, but is the September affected real?

You can't argue with history here and you have to know that, over half the time, September shows negative returns. So that's a pretty big sample size over 100 years of market returns. So yes, that this September swoon seems to be legitimate.

Oh I, like September soon, okay, so let's see what that looks like when we take a look at the downturn there. We look at September's performance against other months. If a downturn is coming John, how do I prepare for that?

Well, you just understand that short-term volatility is always going to happen. And short-term volatility is just that, it's a blip on the radar and if you listen to me in the past, you've heard me say that even 1,3, or 5-year returns should not have a huge impact on your third-year variety. Retirement is not a one, three or five-year time horizon 30-year horizon. That's how your game plan has to be. So if you're following that concept, one to two or three months shouldn't be a big deal. You just need to understand that you have to have a plan for that blip, and to stay the course.

Right? Because if you're not staying the course, this is something we've visited often, John right? You're often missing the best days.

Yeah, I mean, if you're gonna try to time the market, that is a known academically proven failed strategy. And who knows when the best days could be because they often fall the worst days, September has plenty of those worst days. And if you just miss out on one of those best days that can have a long-term negative effect on you.

Will you be surprised then if you see some selling in the market as investors participate this September?

Well, you know, emotions and people are a huge factor in driving the market. And I'm glad you said that, “Will you see people selling?”, Yes, you will. And really there are two reasons for that number. Number one, a lot of the market forecasts that may have been rosy at the end of last year, well, we're about eight, nine months into the year and people realize that maybe that company's not doing so well and you have a sell-off there. So that's one reason the cyclical sell off happened. The other reason is that people muck up the investment world and a lot of traders have been off in the summer, they're back to work, people are saying, “hey, we want to sell” “we want to go to cash” “we want to market time”. And that's causing the muck up also.

So let's talk about any good news. So that does come with market downturns, some tax opportunities. Tell me about the strategies John that you are talking to the clients.

Yeah, well, you know, going back to that graphic, you saw that drop in August, September, October. That's typically usually happens that way. If you're doing some proactive tax management, you're doing some Roth conversions. Well guess when the best time to do Roth conversions is? Right at the end of October, early November. And, you know, take advantage of some of the losses that your portfolio may have incurred in those couple months, move into tax free and get that recovery and that feature growth tax free.

So interesting. I love doing a deeper dive under the hood with these headlines or these things that we hear, John if somebody has questions about how they should be preparing for any downturns, what's the best way to reach you?

Well, always visit our website www.go securus.com. We have a ton of resources on there for you, all free. We believe in education. And while you're on the website, you click on the contact us tab and from there you can schedule a 15 minute phone call or answer any questions for you. Or you can schedule a vision and clarity consultation completely complimentary. Or if you like doing it the old fashioned way. Give us a call at the office 858-935-6210 and Emily will get you scheduled.

All right John, thank you so much.

Thank you.