{"id":48389,"date":"2026-03-12T07:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=48389"},"modified":"2026-03-12T07:47:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:47:47","slug":"freaking-out-about-the-stock-market-read-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=48389","title":{"rendered":"Freaking Out About the Stock Market? Read This."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"body-301969\">\n<p>If you think the recent stock market correction is terrible, you\u2019re right. Watching your net worth decline, especially while gas prices go through the roof is no walk in the park.<\/p>\n<p>But take a brief walk with me down memory lane. Maybe it can provide a little perspective that will help you make better decisions.<\/p>\n<p>When I became a stockbroker in 1981, mortgage interest rates were around 17% and insured money markets paid 20%. Nobody was buying stocks.<\/p>\n<p>During my first year in the business, the market dropped more than 20% \u2014 and that was just the first of several corrections and bear markets I\u2019ve seen while working on Wall Street and in personal finance:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I was still a stockbroker in 1987, when the market plummeted nearly 23% <em>in one day<\/em>: Oct. 19, 1987, otherwise known as Black Monday.<\/li>\n<li>I was offering market commentary on the Cincinnati Fox affiliate during the dot-com crash of 2001-2002, when the Nasdaq composite index fell by around 76%.<\/li>\n<li>I was offering market commentary on the West Palm Beach ABC affiliate on 9\/11. On the first day of trading after the market reopened, it fell about 7%.<\/li>\n<li>I was working right here at MoneyTalksNews.com when the Great Recession struck. From Oct. 9, 2007 to March 2009, the market lost around 50%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And now here I am, 45 years later at the age of 70, watching my retirement savings getting sliced by our war with Iran.<\/p>\n<p>So, what have I learned from decades of periodic financial carnage?<\/p>\n<p>One thing I\u2019ve learned is the U.S. economy and stock market are resilient. When I started as a stockbroker in 1981, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at about 1,000 points. Until this recent pullback, it was approaching 50 times that level.<\/p>\n<p>Another thing I\u2019ve learned: Don\u2019t try to time the market. Even when I see potential trouble ahead, I\u2019m not smart enough to get out at market tops and back in at bottoms. So, staying invested, at least partially, is the only strategy that makes sense.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, I\u2019ve learned that when you\u2019re freaking out and the urge to sell becomes nearly irresistible, you\u2019re probably approaching the time to buy. From an article I wrote called \u201cThe Golden Rules of Becoming a Millionaire\u201c:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe cyclical nature of our economy all but ensures bad times will periodically occur, and human nature all but ensures that when bad times happen, most people will freeze like a deer in the headlights. But downturns are the time you\u2019ve been saving for.<\/p>\n<p>If you think the world is truly ending, buy canned food and a shotgun. If not, step up. As billionaire investor Warren Buffett famously advised, \u2018Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s why I was buying in the depths of the Great Recession and why I\u2019m currently putting together a shopping list.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line? I wish I knew how to protect you, and myself, from wicked market corrections like this one. Alas, I can\u2019t. But I can offer you the following time-tested advice:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Buy when things look like they can\u2019t get worse. (That isn\u2019t now. Things can definitely get worse from here and, in my opinion, could.)<\/li>\n<li>Unless you must, never sell when market declines are leading the news.<\/li>\n<li>If you end up selling during declines because you can\u2019t emotionally or financially deal with a decline, that\u2019s proof you had too much money in the stock market. Learn from that mistake and don\u2019t repeat it. (Here\u2019s my advice on how much to have in stocks.)<\/li>\n<li>Pay attention to the news, but not too much. Be interested, but not obsessed.<\/li>\n<li>Both declines and recoveries last longer than you think they will. Patience pays.<\/li>\n<li>Listen to experts, but not blindly. Nobody\u2019s right all the time and nobody knows the future.<\/li>\n<li>Always keep some money on the sidelines. You never know when the bargain of a lifetime might present itself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, there you go. Sorry I don\u2019t have a magic bullet, but if you follow this advice, you\u2019re almost guaranteed to be a successful investor. It\u2019s been working for me for many\u00a0 years.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s your take on this news? Share your thoughts by commenting below or on the Money Talks News Facebook page.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneytalksnews.com\/freaking-out-about-the-stock-market-read-this\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you think the recent stock market correction is terrible, you\u2019re right. Watching your net worth decline, especially while gas prices go through the roof is no walk in the park. But take a brief walk with me down memory lane. Maybe it can provide a little perspective that will help you make better decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[32],"class_list":{"0":"post-48389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-burrow","8":"tag-featured"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Freaking Out About the Stock Market? Read This. | iSafeSpend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you think the recent stock market correction is terrible, you\u2019re right. 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