Market downturns can disrupt retirement plans and long-term goals. Our strategy seeks to help reduce significant drawdowns during recessions while aiming to stay positioned for growth in favorable markets.
The market has historically rewarded long-term investors. But between the start and the finish, significant declines have erased years of progress — sometimes taking over a decade to recover. We believe a disciplined approach to risk management can seek to reduce the impact of these downturns.
of or relating to a maneuver or plan of action designed as an expedient toward gaining a desired end or temporary advantage.
Built for defensethe strength or force gained by motion — or by a trend that continues to build.
Built for growthIt’s built from two pieces that let the portfolio shift with the market — Tactical attempting to limit losses when trends turn down, Momentum pursuing growth when they turn up. Here’s each piece.
You’ve probably seen charts like these — maybe you lived through them. Look at how far each one fell, and how long it stayed down. Then consider the one thing a chart like this leaves out.
After the tech run-up, the S&P 500 peaked in March 2000 and slid for two and a half years, losing nearly half its value by October 2002. From that peak, it took about seven years to get back to even.
A 50% loss while you’re still working is a setback — you have years to make it back. The same loss once you’re retired is different in kind. Every withdrawal you take during the decline sells shares at the lows to cover your expenses, turning a temporary drop into permanent damage. Advisors call it sequence-of-returns risk. For anyone living off their portfolio, it’s the difference between a scary year and a changed retirement.
Two retirees each start with $1,000,000 and earn the same ten annual returns — one gets the bad years first, the other gets them last.
Difference from order alone: $445,613
Hypothetical returns, for illustration only — not based on any index, investment or strategy. Details in the notes below.
A 50% loss needs a 100% gain just to break even — and if you’re drawing income through it, the damage compounds.
When the next one comes, is your portfolio built to respond — or just to ride it down?
The tactical piece is risk management. When the market’s trend, measured across multiple timeframes, turns down, the strategy shifts toward defense in an attempt to avoid the full force of a major decline. Not by predicting the top, but by responding when the trend breaks.
Options that seek to limit losses below a chosen level.
The flexibility to reduce equity exposure when trend analysis signals deteriorating conditions.
Options that aim to generate income and reduce cost basis — at the cost of capping some upside.
And they aren’t rare — four declines of 25% or more since 2000
The momentum piece is how we pursue growth — and it isn’t stock-picking on instinct. It’s driven by the M10 strategy, our own rules-based algorithm that evaluates the market every trading day, ranks it by risk-adjusted momentum, and concentrates the portfolio in the names showing the strongest trends.
Conceptual visualization of the M10 process; dots do not represent actual securities, scores, weights or holdings.
In plain terms: M10 decides what the growth side of your portfolio owns — so the rules make the call, not a hunch, a headline, or a bad week.
Momentum reaches for growth while the trend is healthy. Tactical steps in to defend when it turns. You stay invested for the long run — with a plan for the drops along the way.
Momentum leads. While the trend is healthy, the portfolio is positioned to pursue growth.
Defense starts to build. As the trend loses strength, the balance begins to shift toward protection.
Tactical leads. When the trend breaks, the strategy shifts toward defense — protective puts and cash, with covered calls for income — in an attempt to limit the impact of a major decline.
Conceptual illustration. Trend signals can lag or reverse, and actual positioning depends on market conditions and varies by client and model.
The honest tradeoff: with defense built in, a portfolio can trail the market — especially in strong rallies, and in choppy markets where trend signals reverse. Hedges also cost money even when no decline comes. We think that’s a fair price for having a plan in place when the next crash comes.
A conversation, not a commitment — no pressure, no obligation. We’ll walk through how Tactical Momentum would apply to your situation.
This material is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Tactical Momentum involves risk, including the possible loss of principal, and there is no assurance any strategy will achieve its objectives or limit losses. Options strategies such as protective puts and covered calls carry their own risks and costs, including premiums paid and capped upside, and are not suitable for all investors. Before trading options, investors should review the options disclosure document, Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. A defended portfolio may underperform broad market indexes, particularly in strong rising markets. The momentum sleeve is concentrated and may be more volatile than a diversified portfolio. Allocations vary by client. Drawdown figures refer to S&P 500 index price declines and are shown for illustration; they are not a forecast or the performance of any Momentum Wealth Planning strategy. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Index data: S&P 500 price index, daily closes through December 31, 2025 (source: Yahoo Finance, ^GSPC); charts use weekly closes with peak, low and recovery dates taken from daily closes. “Below the prior peak” runs from a record close until the index first closed at or above it again. S&P 500® is a registered trademark of S&P Global Inc. You cannot invest directly in an index. The sequence-of-returns example uses hypothetical annual returns of −25%, −15%, +5%, +10%, +12%, +8%, +15%, +18%, +10% and +20%, applied in that order and in reverse, chosen only to illustrate the math; they are not based on any index, investment or strategy and are not a prediction. Withdrawals are taken at the start of each year, and fees, taxes and inflation are ignored; with no withdrawals both paths end at the same value. The illustration does not reflect any Momentum Wealth Planning strategy and does not suggest any strategy would change the order or size of returns.