Bear market: Are you ready?

For the past decade — since the end of the 2008-2009 Great Recession — stock market experts have regularly predicted a major correction, a drop of 20% or more in the stock market, each year up to and including now.

So far they’ve all been wrong. This is the longest bull market in history. But eventually they will be correct and the market will tank. Then all their sky-is-falling-in predictions will be filed away and forgotten.

In the meantime there is a bear market. The C, S and I funds of the Thrift Savings Plan tank. Like last time hundreds of thousands of TSP investors, both active and retired, will trade in their shares of the stock index funds for the “safety” of the Treasury securities G fund. Then what, are you ready?

Which is why we called in Arthur Stein, a Washington, D.C.-area financial planner. Many of his clients are federal workers or retirees. Several are also TSP millionaires who rode out past financial ups and downs, investing mostly or exclusively in the stock market during good times — and especially “bad” times when stocks were on sale.

He also worked on Capitol Hill and has been called back to give talks on the TSP to congressional staffers. And he’s our guest today on Your Turn at 10 a.m. EST. Listen on www.federalnewsnetwork.com and also on 1500 AM in the Washington area. The show will be archived on our website so you can listen anytime and tell a friend about it. If you have questions for him please email them before showtime to mcausey@federalnewsnetwork.com