Advice to investors: ‘Stay the course’

For those who have money invested in the stock market and are wondering how to protect themselves amid the recession buzz, two local financial planners have advice.

“Don’t panic,” said Scott Kenney, senior investment officer at Bangor Savings Bank. “History has shown us in times like these, when panic is driving market movements on a day-to-day basis, more often than not these are times when less action is better than more.”

Kenney oversees the investment group in the bank’s trust department, which consists of discretionary accounts, foundations, endowments and IRA accounts.

“We quite frankly haven’t made a whole lot of changes [to our portfolios],” Kenney said.

He recommends that investors, especially those nearing retirement, contact their financial advisers to ensure they agree on the investor’s short- and long-term investment goals.

“If your 401(k) is something that you put in place years ago, the sooner that retirement is the more you’re going to be wanting to look at where your assets are,” Kenney said.

Larry Napoleone, senior investment officer at Merrill Bank in Bangor, agrees. He said Thursday that he recommends conservative, long-term investments that take significant market changes into consideration.

“If you have a proper asset allocation, if you’re investing responsibly, you should stay the course,” Napoleone said.