Happy New Year, Happy New Decade

I want to start this final Alert of the year with a few thoughts on the market of 2009, as well as a few thoughts on the market as we head into a new decade. If we stop and think about where we are at the end of 2009 compared to where we were at the end of 2008, I think we all can agree that we’d much rather be where we are right now than where we were just 12 months ago.

Take a moment to reflect back on just how worried, scared and, for some, how downright panicked you were at the end of 2008. I must admit that I was worried, too, although I wasn’t really worried about the holdings in my personal accounts, in my advisory services, or about how we were going to weather the fiscal storm. Rather, I was worried that so many investors around the globe were losing so much of the wealth that they worked so hard all of their lives to accumulate.

I knew from more than three decades of dispensing market advice that “this too shall pass,” as the Biblical passage reads. I also knew that we had a proven plan in place to cope with whatever the financial markets threw at us.

You see, the same principles that protected our money from harm during last year’s financial crisis — adherence to a plan, and an unswerving vigilance toward preserving capital — also will continue protecting us against the inevitable pernicious downturn that almost certainly will afflict investors again sometime within the next decade.

And, as we enter into this second decade of what has so far been a truly tumultuous 21st century, those principles will continue guiding us through the ebb and flow of both barren bear markets, and bountiful bull markets.

Finally, I want to thank you, the Alert reader, for letting me in your life each week. It is because of you that I’m able to continue doing what I love most in this world — helping people achieve the wealth, and the lives, they deserve.

Now, no year-end issue would be complete without a market snapshot, so let’s take a quick glance at the chart below of the S&P 500.

As you can see, it’s been a very good year for the bulls, and one that I hope you participated in. If you did make money in this market in 2009, I applaud you. If you didn’t make money this year, then rest easy. There will be plenty of opportunity to make money in the equity markets in 2010.

These opportunities may not be as widespread, or as easy, as they were in 2009, but as the old adage says, “There’s always a bull market somewhere.” Of course, identifying those bull markets and positioning your money to best take advantage of them is much easier said than done, but hopefully, the Alert will help you identify those opportunities, and take advantage of them in the year — and decade — that lies ahead.