The Great Bear Market of 2008 - 2009

This is What Quest Did . . . What Did Your Advisor Do For You?

It’s very easy to jump on the bandwagon when you see where it is.  While the movers and shakers in Washington and on Wall Street were sounding the trumpets for a pleasant future in June and July of 2008, Quest and Raymond James were looking at a much more conservative future and began marching along to their own drum.  Before we knew it, the trumpeters were marching along with us.

Quest Capital Management, Inc. has over a 20 year history of helping their clients through the good times and the bad.  There’s not a single person you could meet who would not agree that the bear market of 2008-2009 is one of the worst economic times in living memory.  By being proactive with our practice and our clients, Quest creates plans and strategies designed to help them not only survive the downs but positions them to make the most of the ups.

Starting in August, 2008, Quest felt the need to begin a series of seminars titled Surviving the Bear Market - seminars aimed not only at our clients, but their friends, families and colleagues.  This was a message that needed to be heard by everyone.  Originally, it was just to be two seminars - one during the day on September 9th and the other two day;s later on the evening of September 11th.

The message presented was: 
1.    It’s not over yet.
2.    It will get worse before it gets better.
3.    It’s time to work on defensive and year-end strategies. 

Both seminars were highly acclaimed and before long, Quest was hosting another one in October. 

Not only was Quest being proactive within the community with seminars and company communiqués, but also one-on-one with our clients.  While Quest has always enjoyed a close personal relationship with our families, we increased that communication and the personal touches.  We began defensive positioning on portfolios and started tax loss harvesting as early as July, 2008.  Quest planners proactively reviewed our client’s risk tolerances, made adjustments to their IPS (Investment Policy Statements) and reviewed and revised client financial plans and goals as needed.

February 10, 2009, Quest conducted our 2009 Annual Economic Update featuring Marci Rossell, acclaimed Former CNBC Chief Economist. The unprecedented economic climate resulted in the largest attendance of this well-received analysis of the past year and commentary of 2009 expectations.

As the market was looking to be at its bleakest, Quest began to conduct more seminars – this time titled Moving from Defense to Offense:  Strategies for Today’s Market.  Once again, Quest was on the leading edge, helping our clients prepare for the inevitable upswing.  The week the market hit its’ lowest point (S&P 666; DJIA 6,497), we sent a “Save the Date” on March 11 for this new seminar to our clients and advisor partners.  We proposed that it was time to again review and reposition as appropriate into the market because at the deepest low is the time to make the greatest profit.  Our first Moving from Defense to Offense seminar was presented to the general public on March 26, 2009. 

On April 2, 2009, Moving from Defense to Offense was presented as a webinar for the benefit of our families who live out of state.  Then to assist our CPA friends it was presented once again on June 5, 2009.

As a result of Quest’s proactive stance in these unprecedented times, our use of aggressive tax loss harvesting, our implementation of defensive strategies and our management of expectations, we believe Quest’s clients are in a position to participate in and benefit from one of the most dramatic market rises of their lives. (The Dow Jones experienced a 48% increase from a March 9, 2009 low of 6440 to 9547 on September 9, 2009!!!  The S&P 500 increased 55% from its March 9, 2009 low of 666 to 1033 on September 9, 2009!!!)  No one is bold enough to be calling an end to market woes, or to the recession we are experiencing, and while there is nothing certain about the markets, times like these often offer excellent investment opportunities.   

So now the question needs to be asked...
What did your advisor do for you?