How will the ‘no’ vote in Greece affect you?

The big news from yesterday was that Greece held a vote in which the people of Greece decisively rejected a bailout deal from the country’s creditors.  How this will affect the global markets in both the near and long term is anyone’s guess. Or maybe we should say everyone’s guess.  Every major news and financial reporting outlet has experts, columnists and analysts all publishing their guess on what might happen as a result of the “no” vote.

• How will it affect our US Stock Market?
• Are European markets going to crash?
• Will it affect the US Federal Reserve’s timetable for raising interest rates?
• Will the cost of Greek Yogurt skyrocket? (ok, maybe that’s a bit over the top)

The answers to all of these are simply predictions and guesses. In the media you will likely hear some really smart people predicting completely opposite effects. Situations like this leave many investors in a quandary.

Media noise, in our opinion, should not dictate portfolio changes. Our continued advice is to employ a portfolio management strategy that is both a) adaptable and b) based on impartial data. A well thought out, written strategy that allows for portfolio changes based on what is actually happening may help investors from either over, or under, responding to world events such as the current crisis in Greece.

Do we find the media coverage interesting and informative?

Sometimes.

Is it the basis for a change in our clients’ portfolios?

Never.

That said, we believe it is important to be informed. There have been several very good reports on the Greek crisis in general and what the ‘no’ vote might mean, etc.  We believe they are worth a read and we have linked them below.