How to navigate a bumpy market
“While no one ever knows for sure how long the volatility will stay with us, it’s important to remember that your actions aren’t nearly as important as your reactions during a bear market.”
– Ben Carlson, in a 12/27/18 post on his A Wealth of Common Sense blog, reminding readers that during times of market stress it’s especially important to be proactive in following your long-term strategy rather than reacting to big short-term market moves. Read more
An impossible task
“Forecasting: the attempt to predict the unknowable by measuring the irrelevant; this task employs most people on Wall Street.”
– Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Zweig, one of several financial writers quoted by the Irish Times in a 1/15/19 article about the folly of stock market forecasting. Read more
“In the house of the wise…”
“It has been a staple of common-sense morality for centuries that people ought to save for an uncertain future. It would be a shame if such talk is on the verge of becoming politically incorrect because it sounds too much like blaming the victim.”
– Bloomberg columnist Tyler Cowen, in an article about a key lesson to be taken from the recent federal government shutdown, during which there were news reports of furloughed workers heading to food banks because of a single missed paycheck. He argued that today’s narrative that the high costs of housing and medical care make it impossible to save has been too readily accepted. Read more
