The Stock Market - What Goes Down Must Come Up
August 16 2007
By MoneyBlueBook
The world stock markets have been rather volatile lately with major highs and lows. These days I'm almost afraid to turn on CNBC and watch the financial news or log into my brokerage account to check my investment portfolio balances. There seems to be a gloomy cloud over every investor I know.
Time to Keep Things In Perspective - Volatility is Not a Roller Coaster
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When things get hairy, cooler heads must prevail, but at times it's understandably difficult to do so. When prices are plummeting as they are now, and when panic selling grips the market, it is easy to get caught up in the wave. However, I urge you to keep things in perspective. Many equate a volatile stock market to that of a roller coaster ride, but the problem with that analogy is that with a roller coaster ride, you end up in the same position you were in when you started. But that's not necessarily the case with volatility since market upside has always led to an upward trend in the long term despite occasional wild swings.
Take a look at these charts based on data from the S&P 500:
- The chart on the left shows the total yearly percentage returns of the S&P 500 over 25 years. See how market volatility can create seemingly wild roller coaster-like ups and downs?
- But then take a look at the chart on the right. It uses the same S&P 500 data, but instead of showing it from year to year, it shows the total cumulative return over the long term - clearly an upward trend.
If we can learn to think in the long term and not focus so much on short term market swings, we'll all weather the storm better. Keep things in perspective - Focus on the long term, invest regularly in diversified instruments, take advantage of dips, and we'll all profit in the long term.
January 1, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Most of your money seems to be in emerging markets, so you probably shouldn't use the S&P500 as a predictor of what will happen to emerging markets in the future.
January 1, 2008 at 9:37 pm
I find much of the world markets are intertwined and interdependent so I do track them all. But you're right, I don't use the S&P500 as my predictor for my emerging funds.
But frankly, I don't think there really are any true accurate predictors of market direction. I tend to look at macro-economic growth trends at large and the health of my target economies.
April 25, 2009 at 2:09 pm
How funny now that I'm reading this again almost a year after the stock market bubble popped. Yes it's true that "what goes down must come up", but it's also equally true that "what goes up must come down" as well.....and we are definitely on the way down brother. My stock market portfolio has been walloped bad and is whimpering pretty badly right now? Based on your reported Financial Net Worth statements you've been releasing, it looks like you've been hit badly too...