Sorry, Fed Chair Powell, financial advisors watch their own economic indicators

investmentnews.com:

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has his data. Financial advisors have theirs.

Powell has repeatedly said the central bank will take a “data-dependent” approach to future interest-rate hikes, focusing on numbers like Friday’s all-important August jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While the Fed Chair may have more data-collection resources at his disposal than any single financial advisor, he doesn’t have a monopoly on economic indicators.

In fact, financial advisors often rely on their own signposts to guide their market decisions.

“When my clients that are the most scared of the equity markets call me thinking it is time to buy, it is a great indicator that the market is very near a peak,” said Jon Swanburg, president of TSA Wealth Management.

Conversely, when his long-term equity investors call him wondering if it’s time to sell, Swanburg’s gut instinct tells him the market is “usually pretty close to a bottom.”

Along similar lines, Anne Marie Stonich, chief wealth strategist with Coldstream Wealth Management, counts the number of client phone calls to discern if a market change is at hand.

“Our clients are well educated on market volatility and typically do not get overly worried about the markets. However, if we reach a point where I receive three to four calls from clients who are considering selling or are extremely worried, that is my indicator that we are nearing ‘capitulation’ and possibly the bottom of the market,” Stonich said.

On the flip side, when Stonich fields a series of calls from clients all asking if they should buy the same thing, such as a rental property or a particular tech stock, that’s her sign that “a high in the real estate market, or maybe a bubble for a particular stock” is