{"id":5332,"date":"2025-04-08T18:10:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T23:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/?p=5332"},"modified":"2026-02-08T13:31:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:31:58","slug":"stock-market-panic-how-to-channel-chaos-into-a-rich-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/stock-market-panic-how-to-channel-chaos-into-a-rich-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Stock market panic: How to channel chaos into a rich future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After 44 years of living through stock market volatility, I know why the smartest investors never panic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They see chaos as a chance to make their future brighter. They cheat financial market chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panic is not a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Stock<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Patience is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have owned stocks and lived through ten of the worst one-day stock market declines from 1981 to 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was there then and am here now, still owning stocks and not panicking or selling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stock market panic is not a plan<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we all know, the precipitants of this decline have been the Trump tariffs, the extent of which can\u2019t be predicted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, ideally, how we don\u2019t respond.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last thing in the world that long-term, goal-focused savers and builders of wealth do when the whole world is selling is \u2013 you know \u2013 sell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A diversified stock portfolio is a plan<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Don’t confuse headline risk with portfolio risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Antidote<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

So<\/em>, coach, what if it declines tomorrow?<\/em> It doesn’t matter what markets do tomorrow; what matters is<\/span> what they ultimately<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you doubt this, read Robert Bryce’s book Smaller, Faster, Lighter, Denser, Cheaper.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best investment advice you can ever follow has three qualities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

They are beautifully wrapped in this ancient verse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
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Send out your bread <\/strong>upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back.<\/strong><\/em> Divide your merchandise among seven or eight investments, for you do not know what calamity may happen on earth.<\/em> Ecclesiastes 11:1<\/strong>–2<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Send”, “waters,” and “divide” are clues for investment success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. <\/mark>“Send” every investment<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Hebrew word for “send” in this ancient verse literally means to “designate.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design your investments with a purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it’s time or money, the best investments are not careless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are directed with purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sending out your bread successfully calls for . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n