• Host – Michele Heyward, Founder, PositiveHire
• Guest – Shehara Wooten,Certified Fianancial Planner, Founder – Your Story Financial LLC

With the pandemic, the stock market has been volatile to say the least. To a dress the current market, beyond and the question many employees have “Is Now The Time To Stop My 401k Contributions?”, I’ve invited Shehara Wooten, a fee-only CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional to speak with the PositiveHire community. Join in as Shehara answers questions in order for you to make the BEST decisions about YOUR 401k and other investments.

But why Shehara? What makes Shehara different than other financial planners? First she understand the black tax i.e. how under represented communities help each other financially. Next she used to be an engineer! Sure nuff she has a degree in electrical and computer engineering. Lastly, she is fee-only which means her costs are transparent and you receive unbiased ongoing financial advice.

So let’s jump in. 

What Is Your Vision

With investing or just anything we’re doing financially, I always think it starts with a vision. It’s really important to have a vision for what you want to do and how you see yourself handling your money. Also, identify what your story is about with your money.

You need to understand your values. If you value independence, security, or being able to pass on a legacy, all of those things are going to gear you back towards your overarching goal of winning your finances. 

Investing Long Term

When you invest, you’re really thinking about long term investing, not so much the short term outlook. You want to be in it for a while. If you have something and the market goes down, like what we’ve [recently] experienced, then we can have the temptation to pull out of that [market].

It can get very emotional, but I will tell you just looking at even long term investing, over the years, we’ve had a quite a few pandemics or epidemics.

Imagine if somebody had invested $1,000 for you back then never pulled that money out. It most likely would have been quite an inheritance for you. Standing the test of time is important. 

Limit your Exposure and Concentration to One Particular Stock

 A lot of us are tempted in our 401k because we work for the company and we feel positive about the company we work for everyday. We might be tempted to maintain a lot of the company stock that they might give us. And when the market goes down, you can potentially lose a lot of your 401k. So, you really want to limit your concentration in that one particular company and start to diversify and look again at some quality investments that you can diversify into. 

Understanding Your Risk Tolerance

When I say understand your risk tolerance, you’re really looking at your plans. How do I feel when the market goes down? What is the next step? Am I calling my financial planner to pull out of this and go into something less risky, or when the market goes down? Are you willing to ride it out? Are you the type of person that is willing to buy some more investments? Those are the things you might consider…

Watch the entire video to learn more about assessing yourself and financial investments during and post COVID-19!