There's Always a Reason to Sell

Does this sound like you?

I will invest after…

⛔ Great Recession
⛔ Housing Crisis
⛔ BP Oil Spill
⛔ European Debt Crisis
⛔ U.S. Government Shutdown
⛔ Ebola
⛔ Impeachment Inquiry
⛔ Global Pandemic / COVID-19
⛔ Regional Bank Failures
⛔ Russian & Ukraine War
⛔ 2024 Presidential Election

Bad thinking. There is no such thing as a “normal” investment market.

Looking forward, one certainty is there will be many events that will create anxiety and uncertainty for investors. These future events will stoke fear and give you an emotional impulse to sell (or not buy). How you react to these events, and your emotions, may greatly change your investment success.

When you’re comfortable investing, it’s likely time to be fearful. When the market is going down, many investors are fearful and panic-sell their investments rather than looking for new opportunities. These decisions in the moment will produce dramatically different long-term outcomes for you as an investor.

Remember, the market is not the problem, human emotion is...

As Warren Buffett said, “I will tell you how to become rich... be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful.”

There will always be reasons to “not invest” but remember that the S&P 500 has returned ~ 9-10% per year on average since 1950. Ignore the noise, have your short-term reserves, revisit your time horizons and just keep buying.