As the market continues its upward rise, we believe the emphasis we place on our managers holding cash makes more sense than ever. With most Mutual Funds lagging the S&P 500 Index for 10 years, we feel it is important to go against the crowd. For example only 3% of the 7,500 U.S. equity funds tracked by S&P Capital IQ recently had cash positions of 10% or higher, while 97% were almost fully invested.
The 4% rule has received a lot of attention recently, as recent market woes of the past 18 years – from the tech crash of 2000 to the global financial crisis of 2008 – have pressured both market returns and increased volatility in the portfolios of retirees.