After the recent volatility in the market, I once again recall a few reasonable tips that help me maintain a long-term focus on investing.

 

Tip Number 1 – First, although you may be watching the “financial” news or an “investing” expert on your local news, remember they are selling news first and foremost and shock value sells.  I always remind myself to take what I hear with a grain of salt.  Don’t get me wrong, I gather valuable information from the financial media.  However, when, like on Monday, February 5th, I hear experts on the news discussing the fact that the Dow dropped the most ever in a day, I take pause.  What does that really mean?

 

Once a drop in the Dow of 250 points seemed large, but is now only a 1% move.  This may feel painful when you look at your account balance, but volatility of this nature is normal in the stock markets even if we haven’t experienced it in a while.  As Blair duQuesnay, our Chief Investment Officer, reported Monday, February 5^th, the 1,175 point drop, when measured in percentage terms, was not in the top 20 historical one day moves for the Dow (https://youtu.be/me7449asL_c).  In addition, the Dow is comprised of 30 mega-cap industrial US companies.  In today’s global world, this is a narrow list of companies used to measure a much larger universe of stock investment options.

 

While the Dow is a quick proxy to the markets that is discussed prolifically, for globally diverse investors with holdings in different asset classes including bonds and alternatives, a deeper dive is prudent on these days that are characterized in the press by fear and doom.

 

Tip Number 2 – This brings me to my second tip which is that you haven’t lost money in your account unless you sell.  I often hear pundits on the news talking about how much the market lost in a day.  The correct word, in my opinion, should be the amount the market declined.  Then, it might be easier to remember that over the long-term, back to the 1920s, the market has been on a steady incline only temporarily slowed by short-term declines.

 

Yes, the value of an investment on a given day may go down or up, but it is the long-term that really matters.  Historically, on average over the long-term, the stock market has gone up delivering positive returns in spite of days that get mischaracterized as the worst down day ever.  If, in a moment of fear, you sell, then you have locked in the loss.  However, if you hold for the long-term and achieve the expected growth, you should recover the temporary decline in value and more.

 

Owning a diversified portfolio that includes investments in different asset classes all over the world can effectively help manage the volatility of a portfolio as a whole when one asset class, like stocks, is suffering a temporary decline.  I included the cartoon above hoping to make you laugh, but also because many investors feel the market ups and downs most acutely in their 401(k) accounts.  Fear raises its ugly head here almost more than anywhere because we our retirement savings are at risk.  However, taking an appropriate amount of risk in your investment accounts is paramount to achieving a successful retirement.  This is why diversification is important to control the volatility while maintaining the right level of risk in your investment strategy.  Remember, it is time in the market that matters not timing the market that is most likely to help prevent us from having to live off our belly fat in retirement.