At Peachtree Investment Partners, we have a long-term relationship with our clients. We work with you to build a customized portfolio that reflects your goals, your financial situation and your approach to risk. Our primary focus has been and remains on preservation of principal.
We use a number of criteria to evaluate companies for client portfolios. We look at a company’s historical performance as well as the potential for future performance. In particular, we consider a company’s profitability and its positioning in the market. We also prefer companies that pay dividends.
We make dividend-paying stocks the centerpiece of our clients’ portfolios. Dividend-paying stocks can add significantly to overall returns and also can help smooth out volatile markets. Although we do invest in some select stocks that do not pay dividends, we focus mainly on those that do.
The U.S. stock market came down with a case of coronavirus this week, as the Dow fell more than 1,000 points Monday on fears that the virus would cause serious problems in the world economy. The slide, which wiped out the market's 2020 gains, was followed by a drop of 879 points Tuesday, as politicians and investors alike scrambled to come up with strategies to help deal with the situation.
One of the things for which we are grateful in the year past is the performance of the stock market. Virtually all the indices posted records, and the Standard & Poor's 500 saw its best year since 2013. That is good news for investors large and small.
Still, there were periods during the year when investors were nervous and that positive outlook seemed unlikely. In August, for example, the market dropped 800 points in one day, leaving investors spooked and prompting talk of a coming recession.
In recent months, the markets have been running in place, showing a whole lot of movement without actually going anywhere. There has been a lot of volatility, including several steep drops and rises fueled mainly by the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China. But at the close of the quarter, the markets ended up almost where they had started.
