Buzz
Recently, my investments have been all over the place, though the general trend is downward; my portfolio's overall return has dropped from 10.3% to 9.3% in just the past week.
However, I’m holding onto my investments—and if you're concerned that the coronavirus, the impeachment decision, tariff news, or any breaking event could hurt your portfolio in the long run, here’s some advice from Sarah O’Brien, a personal finance reporter at CNBC:
For long-term investors — those who don't need the funds for many years — it's important to remember that while the market may experience fluctuations or even a long-term decline, any paper losses are not permanent unless you sell.
I’d never put it quite like that before—my usual motto when the market dips is, “time to invest more since stocks are discounted!”
But I must say, I really love that idea as a concept.
Stock losses aren’t real until you sell.
If you can buy and hold, and then continue holding, there’s a good chance the market will eventually recover. That being said, I’m not a financial advisor and I’m fairly certain I need to remind you that this shouldn’t be taken as formal investing advice.
It’s just something to consider the next time you wake up and find your investments have taken another hit in value.
(And don’t forget to have some cash saved in an emergency fund, so you can keep your investments intact instead of being forced to sell while stocks are down just because you need to cover the mortgage or something.)
