Weathering the Market

With the current state of the market, everyone keeps asking me what to do with their money.

My biggest advice is to do nothing if you can. If you don’t need money from your investments over the next couple of years, then don’t sell anything right now. Sit tight and wait it out. If you leave every time things get bad, you miss the point of owning stocks in the first place. The market goes up and it goes down. Right now it’s not looking very pretty, but it’ll get better. The point is to ride out the bad times so you can be there for the good times.

Likewise, don’t mess with your 401(k) or your IRA. If you have a well-diversified portfolio, it doesn’t make sense to bail out now. IN fact, at a certain level, this is the time to start investing. When the market eventually rebounds, having more shares means you’ll make more money.

If you find that you just don’t know what to do and end up panicking, hire professional help. Yes, you’ll pay some fees, but if they’re the right people, it’ll really help you out. And, psychologically, you’ll feel better.

Finally, don’t ignore your debts. When people see their investments lose value, some people worry so much about money that they stop paying their debts. Never ignore your credit cards or your mortgage in the wake of investment issues. But remember, your banker is there for a reason. Go back, talk to him and maybe you can make a better deal. In these times, they expect people to talk to them. Just don’t let your money problems get worse. Then you’ll have a lot more to worry about than the stock market.