If you have been following the stock market, I’m sure you are aware that it's in bear territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18,592 on March 23, a 30%+ decline from its peak of 29,551 on Feb. 12. (The S&P 500 index peaked on Feb. 19.)

Since March 23, the Dow has made dramatic daily moves, ranging from a massive climb of 11.4% on March 24, one of the best on record since the 1920s, to declines of 4.1% (March 27) and 4.4% (April 1), followed by another big up day of 7.7% on April 6.

Looking back from today, the Dow has regained more than one-half of the decline that occurred following its peak of Feb. 12.

The question is, when we get to May or June and look back, what will we see in the rearview mirror?

Your guess is as good as mine. However, there is no doubt that the markets are moving -- fast -- and since March 23, the general direction is currently up.

So, what are your current plans? Are you in a position to start buying again? Should you?

Professional investors are watching for opportunities that a beaten-down market offers. Some with a penchant for risk are buying with conviction; others are buying small amounts over time or are avoiding the risk altogether.

If you are an individual investor or a 401(k) participant without professional guidance, and you are a buyer, there are resources available to help you find stocks for this market. Over the next few weeks, let’s review a few of them, so that you can be comfortable creating a list of stocks or mutual funds that you might want to start acquiring.

Many years ago, when I used to visit the Greenwich, Connecticut, library every Saturday, I read The Value Line Investment Survey. Now that survey is available in electronic form online, making it easy to search for both historical and forward-looking characteristics. The online version also has a wealth of free resources, including a stock screener that you can sample at no cost. Browse the research part of the website with me (research.valueline.com). Click on the Dow 30 tab to see an example of how Value Line presents information.

You’ll find a report for each Dow stock -- it’s well worth taking a few minutes to read a few. Some rankings you’ll see in the data table are unique to Value Line, such as “safety” and “financial strength.” They should be helpful to you in assessing whether any of these stocks are “good enough” to put on your watch list. Other terms are defined in the glossary, which is here: www.valueline.com/Glossary/Glossary.aspx.

Value Line’s “safety” ranking is based on price stability and financial strength. The price stability index measures “a relative ranking of the standard deviation of weekly percent changes in the price of a stock over the past five years.” The index is based on five years of data, which means the recent coronavirus market may not have a great effect on it.

The “financial strength” rating is an assessment of a company’s financial risk, including “balance sheet leverage, business risk, the level and direction of profits, cash flow, earned returns, cash, corporate size and stock price.”

These and other rankings are described in “The Value Line Ranking System,” which you can find online. Explore “tool guides” to become familiar with other resources. “How to Read a Value Line Report” will be most helpful.

If you would like to try the stock screener, let me get you started by sharing a recent conversation I had with Value Line’s director of research, Ian Gendler. I asked him how he would structure a screen for high-quality, dividend-paying stocks that could survive and thrive in the difficult economic period that is in our future.

If you are interested in his thoughts and how to structure such a screen, you can follow along here: tinyurl.com/y739d8mv. (You’ll find a free trial to the stock screener there.)

By the way, if this subject of stock and mutual fund research is of interest to you, I’d like to know. Please send me an email (readers@juliejason.com), mentioning the paper you read, what you do and whether you are a self-directed investor.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers, Inc. of Stamford, Conn.) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

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Are you withdrawing from your IRA or 401(k) because you must, due to “RMD” rules? RMDs (required minimum distributions) are mandated by the tax laws. They apply to “owners” of an IRA or 401(k), beginning when they are in their 70s (age 72 if you were born after June 30, 1949; age 70 1/2 if you were born before July 1, 1949). RMDs apply regardless of age to those who inherit from an IRA owner. (Note that there are special rules for spouses who inherit.)

Because of the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) that was just signed into law a few weeks ago (March 27, 2020), RMDs for everyone with IRAs and 401(k)-type accounts (but not defined benefit plans) are suspended for 2020. There are no exceptions in the provision, which you can read in Section 2203 of the CARES Act, “Temporary Waiver of Required Minimum Distribution Rules for Certain Retirement Plans and Accounts.” (Read the full act here: https://tinyurl.com/qvsvtcy.) And the law says 2020, meaning the suspension of RMDs is effective for the full year -- Jan. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020.

That brings up some practical questions, the answers to which may still evolve, depending on whether the IRS issues guidance.

Say you are over age 70 1/2 and have been taking your RMDs yearly. RMDs are waived for 2020. If you did not take your RMD yet, should you? That depends on whether you need the funds to live on. If you don’t, there is no reason to take the RMD, and there is every reason to avoid the tax hit of the RMD, as your withdrawal triggers “income” that is taxable.

What if you already took your RMD earlier in 2020? Can that money be put back into the IRA or 401(k)? This requires your tax adviser’s input, since he or she will be doing your 2020 tax return.

But here is the logic behind putting it back, using a hypothetical example that applies to owners of tax-deferred accounts, not inheritors. Say your RMD was $10,000 for 2020. You withdrew the full amount on March 1, 2020. Normally an RMD cannot be rolled over. However, due to the CARES Act, it should be considered a distribution instead of an RMD. Attorney Natalie Choate of Nutter McClennen & Fish Law Firm sees it this way: What was an RMD is “magically transformed” into an "eligible rollover distribution" by the CARES Act. Since the withdrawal was within 60 days of today, you would redeposit that distribution into the IRA under 60-day rollover rules. Among other things, those rules limit you to one rollover per 12 months.

Keep in mind that this rollover approach won’t work for inherited IRAs. According to Hayden Adams, director of tax and financial planning at Schwab Center for Financial Research (SCFR): “Inherited IRA distributions are not generally eligible for a rollover; therefore, assuming the IRS offers no other guidance, distributions that have already been taken can’t be re-contributed. However, it’s possible that a beneficiary affected by the coronavirus will be able to count the amount as a coronavirus-related distribution and re-contribute the amount.”

What if you withdrew your RMD in January? The 60-day limit will prevent a rollover unless there is relief, which is a possibility. So, your accountant will need to stay on top of developments and guide you on whether you can re-deposit those amounts as well.

Adams believes, however, that if you are able to apply Section 2202 of the CARES Act, which governs coronavirus impacts: “Broadly speaking, it’s an ’impact‘ if you, a spouse or somebody in your household got the virus, or if the virus negatively affected you financially (such as making you unable to work, or getting laid off). You may be able to count the distribution as coronavirus-related and re-contribute the amount over the next three years.”

On the other hand, if you need that withdrawal because you have no other financial sources, you may be forced to take those funds irrespective of the tax hit.

Read Hayden Adams’ thoughts in SCFR’s "Can You Forgo Taking RMDs in 2020?" (April 2, 2020) here: https://tinyurl.com/qu8vxn8.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers, Inc. of Stamford, Conn.) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

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A week after President Donald Trump signed H.R. 748, the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act, into law following its passage in the House of Representatives, we’re starting to see progress.

My column of last week describing the small business provisions of the CARES Act generated some comments in support and in opposition. Is the “help” to small businesses “really helpful”? In disruptions such as these, only time will tell, and the amount of time needed to make that judgment will not be clear until we know how to beat the coronavirus itself.

Given that state of uncertainty, there is no question that small businesses, the lifeblood of our economy, need help.

First, check out the Paycheck Protection Program. These loans are potentially forgivable based on how you use the proceeds. The amount of the loan that a small business can receive can be substantial. It’s worth taking a look.

To get started, I recommend you read the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship report called “The Small Business Owner’s Guide to the CARES Act,” an excellent guide, at https://tinyurl.com/v22z3kz. There you will find eligibility requirements, how the loan size will be determined and the circumstances under which it can be forgiven.

Then take a look at a sample application: https://tinyurl.com/qkbgf24. Applications will be processed through Small Business Administration lenders beginning April 3, 2020, according to the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. You can find a list of the 100 most active lenders here: https://tinyurl.com/v9elp3n. Lenders in my home state, Connecticut, are listed here: https://tinyurl.com/u7ba8ee.

Applications will likely be limited to online portals. For example, Manuel Venegas, a communications consultant at Wells Fargo, informed me today (April 2) that Wells Fargo is working on its portal now; the best way to check on progress is to visit https://tinyurl.com/smuuqwm.

Getting the money is one thing. Getting the loan forgiven is another.

Before applying, you have to think about how you would use the funds. In order to be forgivable, the funds need to be used for payroll (with some exceptions), mortgage obligations, rent, utilities and the like. Be sure to understand the specifics.

For the loan to be forgiven, you would apply for forgiveness through your lender. The application would show that the funds you received were used for approved purposes. That means that documentation will be required, such as IRS payroll tax filings; unemployment insurance filings; and documentation verifying payments on covered mortgage obligations, lease obligations and utilities. That sounds somewhat cumbersome, but potentially worthwhile.

If you need a small amount of cash quickly, learn about the Emergency Economic Injury Grant. In this SBA resource, you will find the streamlined requirements to process a request for a $10,000 advance, which your small business can receive within three days of a successful application by providing your bank deposit information. I understand this program is now available. The application is here: https://covid19relief.sba.gov/#/.

You may have a current SBA loan that may be subject to debt relief. Learn about the Small Business Debt Relief Program at https://tinyurl.com/svbo2xu.

Finally, if you need to talk about these or other options, the SBA’s resource partners provide free counseling. Check them out here: https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/find/.

For more resources, I have a page on my website that I will be updating for you with new developments. Go to https://juliejason.com/coronavirus. There you will find answers to many of your questions about employers, loan applications, economic impact payments and more, as well as analyses provided by law firms.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers, Inc. of Stamford, Conn.) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

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