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Boss Blog: February 8, 2017

Brexit, Trump, Wynne, O’Leary….Okay, so what do I do?

So as per my daily routine, I woke up today (January 31st, 2017) and threw on BNN to see how the overnight markets did. Not so good it seems. Dow futures down as well. Well, it appears that today the market was going to tumble a little bit. So then I turn on CNN as per usual to see what the latest political news was. Surprise, surprise more protests of newly elected President Spray Tan.  (Not to worry, I will save any political tirades for the appropriate time, my friends). As my day went on I started to think about what he was doing to the markets with one “click send” on his Twitter feed. Then I started to think of my clients and others in the market and what this must be doing to their mentality. I thought of my investments as well I won’t lie. Sure enough, by day’s end, the TSX and Dow Jones were both down, 170 and 122 points respectively. Then I started to think about, “What the hell do I do and what the hell do I tell my clients to do.” After a little bit of thought, I came to the simple conclusion that I knew all along.

When weird stuff happens it appears that the best bet would be to do nothing. Don’t change, don’t adjust. You might say, “Everything around is changing so why wouldn’t I change along with it?” When in a world of quick and dramatic change, look for a constant. What is and has been constant is that markets go up and down. They always have and they always will. What is down can only go up so all it does is present a great buying opportunity.

That, in my opinion, is where the value of advice comes into play. Many people ran from the markets in 2008 when the world appeared to be ending. Many others did not. The ones who held on saw a 36% market decline in 10 weeks rebound to its former level in just 27 months. Did they know it was going to take that long to recover? Did they know Obama was going to set the country on a slow and steady recovery? I doubt it. One thing they did know was the cardinal rule of investing. Buy Low, Sell High. Duh! (Imagine if you bought when the 2008 recession first hit). Well, what would make anyone do any different? Fear, fear, fear! Fear is reasonable. We all have the fear of losing our money. What we all need to do is change that fear. Let’s change that fear to the fear of missing out on an opportunity.

So what I’m going to do during this period of craziness is lay low. Rely on my plan instead of relying on the markets. Relying on the plan should always be the focus, especially during market turmoil. Steady growth is possible even during uneasy economic times. My book might not grow in value, but the number of units will. That is certain in all this uncertainty. Personally, I don’t want to miss out on any large market rebounds that may occur. Whether it be Trump down south or Brexit across the pond. It could be Wynne doing “Wynne-like” things or even the possibility of O’ Leary around the corner. My plan will stay the same. The vision is clear and the focus is real. The noise is just that, noise. Trump wanted air-time during his campaign.  The market media wants air-time during moments of confusion. They are selling stories and ads. They care not for your goals and dreams so you should care not for their business models. Drown out the noise and stay strong. Remember no one ever made a dollar off buying high and selling low.

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Joseph James Francis is a Financial Advisor. You can find him on various social media platforms and at budgetboss.ca

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