Article - August 2019 In Review

As we are early in 2022 it’s a good time to reflect on the guiding principles which govern our investment advice philosophy.

H&A’s overall basis of investment advice is goal-focused and planning-driven, your vision, goals and objectives provide the guidance for our decision making. We are long-term, equity based, investors, working steadily toward the achievement of your lifetime goals.

Long-term investment success comes from continuously acting on a plan. Tactical adjustments to portfolio allocations can sometimes be a good thing to do, and we look for those regularly. Investors who maintain a disciplined process and long-term focus in making those decisions tend to be more successful than those making knee-jerk reactions to market, economic or political events. We always welcome your thoughts and conversation around macroeconomic events as they guide us as we implement your plan.

It is helpful to look historically at market action as it can guide our expectations looking forward. While we are not in a “bear market”, there have been 16 “bear markets” in equities since the end of World War II - an average of one every five years or so. The average depth of these declines was something on the order of 30%.

But at year-end 1945 the forerunner of the Standard & Poor’s 500-Stock Index was about 31 (Standard & Poor’s). The Index ended this past year at 4,766 (S&P). So, at least historically, the permanent advance has triumphed over the temporary declines. Since we accept that the equity market cannot be consistently timed by us or anyone, we believe that the only way to be sure of capturing the full premium return of equities is to ride out their frequent but ultimately temporary declines.

Regarding Interest rates and Bond market performance our investment themes remain unchanged: relatively low interest rates, though because of economic growth and the subsequent inflationary pressures the trend for interest rates is up.

Most importantly, we would like to thank you for your trust and business. We deeply appreciate the opportunity to serve you, and the trust you have placed in us, as your investment and wealth management advisory firm. It would be our pleasure to provide you with a copy of our most current disclosure brochure (Form ADV Part 2A).

The brochure describes our firm, our investment and financial planning offerings, fees, and other business activities. If you would like us to send you a copy of the brochure, please contact us at 412-261-5966 or reh@hapanowicz-associates.com.

Additional information about our firm is also available on the internet at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. You may view the firm’s information on this website by searching for our firm. You may search for information by using Hapanowicz & Associates Financial Services, Inc. name or by using our firm’s CRD number, 157523.

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