Is the Recent Stock Market Volatility Making You Dizzy?

Us too!  Here’s how we cope – feel free to join us in person or virtually…..

Alright, now for a little fun and a little perspective…..

Today is Oct 11, 2021.  The last time we actually posted a photo like this one on Bernie’s Blog was Oct 11, 2018, three years ago today!  Hm….  In that photo, we actually had CNBC on the TV in the background so we could see that the Dow that day was 25,572.  Right now, the Dow is at 34,532.  That’s a 35% gain in the last three years.   

And as painful as the last month has been on many days, let’s remind ourselves of just how good the market has been even year to date.  As the chart below shows, the S&P 500 is up 17% YTD! 

So, what do we recommend:

• Don’t panic or make sudden market moves. Turn off the TV and don’t look at the market. We are looking at both and we will let you know individually if you need to know something or do something.

• Re-look at, and recommit to, having a healthy cash reserve to cover planned and unplanned expenses for the next year to 18 months. As your life changes, so does your cash reserve need, so this is a good time to ensure that you have this cash readily available. We recommend a high yield savings account for this money. We can help you locate one and set it up if needed.

• If you still have some extra cash in those coffee cans in your backyard after boosting your cash reserve, now might be a good time to begin to dig it out to invest Will the market go down? Yep. Will it also go up? Yep. As usual, buying stocks a little at a time is the right strategy here. As many of you have experienced, this is the best way to build long term wealth.

We are here to talk, whine or wine with you!