NJ investors hoping Wall St. rally will extend to 2015

With the Dow and the S&P 500 setting new record highs this week, New Jersey investors are wondering if the rally on Wall Street will carry over into the New Year.

"This has been the sixth year in a row that the market has been up, and just because it was up for six years it doesn't mean that it can't continue - overall the economy is growing, corporate earnings are growing, so the market is in good healthy position," said Chris Cordaro, the chief investment officer at Regent Atlantic Capital.

He said the recovery since the Great Recession has been slow, but "finally we're seeing things get traction here."

At the same time, Cordaro said he does have some concerns that the market is starting to get a little bit pricy.

"If you look at valuations now, it's a little bit past fair value but that doesn't mean we can't have another good year out of the market," he said.

He believes one great way to diversify is to increase the foreign exposure in your portfolio.

"You want to be a global investor, we're in a global environment. The U.S. stock  market is only about half of the world's stock market," he said. "If you're looking for valuations, if you want to buy low and sell high, what's on sale right now are foreign stocks, and those are stocks in Europe, Asia and the emerging markets."

This doesn't mean, however there may not be bumps in the road.

"We're always going to have corrections," Cordaro said. "I would figure out a long term strategy and stick with that strategy. You should only be investing in stocks with a long-term perspective, it should be your retirement asset, it's your 401K."

The bottom line when we invest in the stock market, he said, is "we're signing up for the fact that over the long-term we're going to get higher returns than bonds, but we're going to have a bumpier ride getting there."

"You  want to be very well diversified in your stocks, and then even with that, you're going to have bumps, you're going to have time periods where you're going to have peak to trough declines of over 20 percent," Cordaro said. "That's just the way it goes."