SHARE:
Wealth Management
Opportunities in Uncertain Times
A depressed stock market holds profits for investors who can overcome their fears.
Whoever wins the presidency is going to walk into a situation that
has a lot of
positive factors. 
Thomas H. Ruggie
Ruggie Wealth
Management
Founder, Tavares
Assets under management: $260 million
Minimum investment: Typically $500,000
What he likes: Financials, biotech, healthcare, technology and alternative investments (distressed real estate). For sector plays, Ruggie typically uses exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in order to mitigate risk. He favors large-cap growth over large-cap value, domestic equities over international, and small cap over mid cap.
What he doesn’t like: Oil, commodities, emerging market equities, particularly China. On the fixed-income side, Ruggie believes that interest rates will begin going up in 2009, so he’s focused on very short-term bonds. He believes high-yield corporate bonds currently offer more attractive net yields after taxes than highly rated municipal bonds.
Tax strategy: Ruggie believes that taxes will go up regardless of who wins the presidential election. He’s concerned that the capital gains rate could go up early next year and could be made retroactive to the beginning of 2009. He’s talking to clients now about whether they should lock in capital gains before the end of the year.
