TWEAKING MY INVESTMENT PLAN FOR A FALLING STOCK MARKET

With the horrible news of terrorist attacks in Brussels the market took a tumble today.  I'd expected to see the recent rally end anyway, but this tragic event just precipitated the matter.  After reviewing my portfolio, I decided to tweak my investment plan for what I believe will be a prolonged drop, if not an actual bear market.  Since the true performers in my portfolio are all individual stocks, I'll keep reinvesting the dividends in those, increasing my holdings and reducing average price per share as the stock prices drop.  For the stock and bond funds purchased mostly for their monthly dividends, I'll be taking all dividends in cash.  Cash dividends from funds will be accumulated to purchase additional shares of individual stocks.

This tactic will improve the quality of my investments overall and hopefully lead to better returns in the future as the market recovers.  I may see growth in monthly cash flows slow, but I intend to compensate for that by making cash purchases of more shares of my two best performing stock and bond funds.  Hopefully we'll see better leadership in Washington after this years presidential election and see some improvements in our economy and the war on terror.