This article was originally published in August 2019.
It has been a bumpy period in the stock market (to say the least). And if you’re following along, all that volatility can feel stressful. So what should you do? Here’s Sallie’s advice.
Sallie’s answer:
You know the answer to this. You know you know the answer, which is if you’re invested, stay invested. If you’re investing on a recurring and regular basis, keep doing it.
What history has shown is that over time, that works in your favor. If you need some incentive, let me cite some research that Oppenheimer Funds did. Really cute commercial — there was a dog on a raft, so that was very attention-getting. The research said that if you had invested on any day — any day from the 1920s through to today — and left the money in the equity markets for 15 years, so you were a long-term investor: Your chances over that period of time of having a positive return were 99%.
So, up markets, down markets: Investing, and making a habit, and being in the equity markets for the long term has been a winning strategy for a long time.
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