After 44 years of living through stock market volatility, I know why the smartest investors never panic.
They see chaos as a chance to make their future brighter. They cheat financial market chaos.
Rather than allowing the fear of a moment to dictate direction, they stick to a well-thought-out plan to proceed up the path to success.
Panic is not a plan.
Patience is.
I have owned stocks and lived through ten of the worst one-day stock market declines from 1981 to 2025.
I was there then and am here now, still owning stocks and not panicking or selling.
Stock market panic is not a plan
In fact, from 2000 to 2002, I lectured about wise investing at meetings around the country as the NASDAQ was on its way to losing 80% of its value from the March 2000 top to the October 2002 low. The Dow lost 50% of its value during the same time.
Indeed, since 1980, the S&P 500 has had an average intra-year drop of 14%. This includes all years, whether they end positively or negatively. I started my financial services business in 1981 and have witnessed this phenomenon for 44 years.
As we all know, the precipitants of this decline have been the Trump tariffs, the extent of which can’t be predicted.
We don’t know where, when, or how these phenomena will occur. We have no control over uncertainty, but we can have perfect control over how we respond.
Or, ideally, how we don’t respond.
The last thing in the world that long-term, goal-focused savers and builders of wealth do when the whole world is selling is – you know – sell.
A diversified stock portfolio is a plan
Don’t confuse headline risk with portfolio risk.
Remember that your stock portfolio is not an index that goes up or down daily. It is a portfolio of actual companies with real earnings.
So, coach, what if it declines tomorrow? It doesn’t matter what markets do tomorrow; what matters is what they ultimately do. What matters is that you own a highly diversified portfolio of well-managed companies that make and sell products that the world needs, demands, and pays for.
If you doubt this, read Robert Bryce’s book Smaller, Faster, Lighter, Denser, Cheaper.
The best investment advice you can ever follow has three qualities.
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