After more than two decades in the finance world, it would take a lot to catch Kevin Mahn off guard. As such, Monday’s decline in the stock market wasn’t much of a surprise for the president and chief investment officer at Parsippany-based Hennion & Walsh Asset Management.

It was more of a reminder.

“It’s a reminder for investors that markets don’t only move in one direction,” he said. “At times, markets don’t trade rationally, and that speaks to the need for professional portfolio and financial advisers to help guide individual investors through these types of volatile days.”
That’s especially true, Mahn says, for casual investors watching the news and wondering what this means for their 401(k).

“I think what it does for a lot of employees out there is force them to go back in and see what mutual funds they selected or didn’t select,” he said. “Maybe they should build in some diversification. This type of volatility at least gets people thinking again.”
The more investors know, the less they’ll be surprised, he suggests.

“At the root of this is that there’s been this overwhelming sentiment that the market is overvalued and long overdue for a correction,” he said. “That just hasn’t been for the last week or so, it’s been the last months and years.”

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