The stock market downturn along with social distancing has put a strain on our members and local small businesses. We spoke with financial advisor and Chamber member Jason Edwards, Managing Partner of Edwards Financial in Winter Park, to get some expert advice on what to do as an investor and as a small business owner.
 
The overriding message he has is to not let emotion override logic and affect your financial decisions. “How do I know that emotions are interfering with logic? We have a national toilet paper shortage for a respiratory virus,” says Edwards. He has been through four market corrections, so he feels confident that we can trust what history and experience show us.  “During the market crash of 2008, everyone panicked, but if they had held onto their investments, they would have been whole and would have made money.” His advice today is to stay calm and trust your financial advisor to keep putting money into your investments regularly.
 
The biggest mistake he sees is misjudging market timing. A lot of investors have sold their stocks in the last several weeks and plan to get back into the market when it starts to go back up. But the problem is they don’t know when it will go up. If you aren’t planning to retire this year, you don’t need to make major adjustments to your portfolio. If like most of us your retirement timeline is five years or more from now, the best course of action is to relax and stay the course. If you have a sound strategy, understand your time horizon and risk tolerance, and follow the DCA model (dollar-cost averaging, which is an investment strategy to divide up the total amount to be invested across periodic purchases of a target asset in an effort to reduce the impact of volatility on the overall purchase), then you will be fine.
 
 
History shows that when there has been a health crisis, such as SARS, Ebola and H1N1, the stock market’s downturn has been relatively short-lived. While this crisis is still unfolding, it will end, and the market and the economy will rebound. Edwards says there is more than $11 trillion dollars sitting on the sidelines right now just waiting to be put back into the market. Everyone has PTSD from the negative news right now, but he thinks once some positive news starts coming out about the pandemic the market will rebound quickly.
 
For small business owners absorbing a big economic hit right now, Edwards says there will be help coming from the federal government. They should closely monitor the SBA and FEMA websites to keep up to date on information about subsidies and grants. The SBA is offering low-interest disaster assistance loans right now to small businesses, but Edwards anticipates information about federal grants to small businesses to be released very soon. The grants would essentially be free money that businesses wouldn’t have to repay, provided you qualify and you use that money for your business and for keeping it operational. When that information comes out, apply immediately. Edwards also says that if you can ride out this hiccup, your market share will have a level of consolidation that you can capitalize on. Meaning, if your business is one of the ones left standing, you’ll be well positioned to thrive.


SBA: https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance
FEMA: https://www.fema.gov/