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April showered us with a few days of strong stock market losses. The market lost nearly 5% one day, followed by 6% the next day for a total drawdown of 18% from recent highs. When such strong losses occur, it is totally natural for our brains to go haywire. The losses, accompanied by negative headlines, feed our anxiety and can trigger strong urges to get to safety by selling now and asking questions later. But following those urges is seldom the best response. A better response is to take a step back regain composure. In my experience, I have found the following four actions to be helpful during difficult market times.

There’s no shortage of things to worry about today—tariffs, economic uncertainty, global unrest—and all of it can impact our financial future. The media often magnifies these concerns, focusing on fear because it grabs attention. Over time, this constant exposure can affect our mood, cloud our thinking, lead to unproductive decisions, and—most importantly—erode our personal happiness.

Investors often ask about how the economy is doing. This is no surprise because we are constantly inundated with information; it can be difficult to draw accurate conclusions when much of the information is biased and incomplete. The answer to that question, and really question, depends largely on where you get your information. The primary source of investor information is the financial media. Yet, the media often leads with fear, reports of crises and the need to act urgently – because that is what gets people to tune in. Rarely, if ever, do you get the full story.

The simplest and truest reason as to why we diversify is that we don’t know what assets will do very well in the future, and which assets will do poorly. Diversification is the evidence that we cannot accurately and consistently forecast the future. When we invest during a period where one asset vastly outperforms all others, it can be very frustrating to remain diversified. We may be tempted to sell the underperformers and invest more heavily in that which is outperforming. Despite these inclinations, there is strong evidence to suggest that diversification is the best strategy.

The basic premise behind successful investing is to buy an asset at a low price and sell it at a higher price. Simple and straightforward. But doing that often requires discernment, patience, and discipline – which can require near superhuman strength to do. It is not easy!   

Most investors love economic and market forecasts. With the markets so uncertain and volatile, our brain craves some sort of idea of what the future holds. But economies and markets are unpredictable – evidenced by the fact that no one can consistently predict them with accuracy.

Dive into the world of market forecasts and their accuracy. Discover why financial predictions often miss the mark and why sticking to your investment plan beats relying on unreliable forecasts.

Discover how to protect yourself from rising cyber scams. Learn about common fraud tactics like phishing and tech support scams, and get actionable tips to safeguard your assets and personal information.

As we manage your investments and guide you through this election year, it's important to remember the value of staying committed to long-term investment strategies despite the inevitable noise generated by political headlines. Attached is a short SEI Presentation that I found very interesting and thought worth sharing about market cycles through past election years. There are a few themes to remember:

Last month stock markets experienced a mini crash, accompanied by dire headlines and prominent Wall Street experts calling for emergency Fed rate cuts. After a long period of serenity in the markets, we experienced a few strong down days. In addition, the VIX, which is a measure of volatility, spiked above 60.1 The last time the VIX spiked so much was during the Global Financial Crisis and COVID. Was this that bad? Of course not. There were “reasons” for the move, but none of them were good or lasting. The main reason for the drawdown and spike in volatility was that investors overreacted. Within a few days of this mini crash, the markets experienced a strong recovery. It took less than two weeks for the markets to recover. It was as if the mini crash never happened.