For a lot of people, allergy season has begun. The trees, flowers, grass are all starting to bloom and come to life, but that also means there is pollen EVERYWHERE. For me, I’ll tolerate the itchy eyes, and stuffy nose for the warmer temperatures and sunshine. However, it got me thinking.

Allergy medicine really only works if you start taking it BEFORE the pollen arrives. If you wait until everything is blooming and your eyes are beat red, you’re too late! This reminds me of exposure to certain asset classes in your portfolio, bonds in particular. If you’re owning bonds to protect your account for when the stock market turns down, you need to own those bonds BEFORE it happens. Buying bonds after the fact is too late! Keep that in mind next time you want to sell your bond exposure.