When planning for retirement, it’s important to keep in mind how much spending your savings can support. The decisions you make today can help improve your retirement readiness.
2 Tips for Dealing with Market Volatility
Last week at my Rotary Club meeting, our scheduled speaker was a no show. When our President asked if anyone had something they would like to talk about, I offered to present one of my recent Accountable Update articles, 10 Questions for Every Investor.
The article was well suited for an impromptu presentation, with several charts interspersed with practical advice. But when we got to the Q&A, it became apparent that the recent market volatility was weighing on some folks. The question that was seemingly on everyone’s mind was, “When will stocks stop going down?”
My answer, as it is anytime someone asks me what I think the stock market will do tomorrow, is to offer a couple of tips for dealing with market volatility.
High Flying IPOs Often Come Back to Earth
On this day in history, August 9, 1995, I remember where I was. Do you?
I lived in the Dallas area at the time and had recently purchased my first home in the quiet suburb of Coppell. I worked in a Fidelity Investments branch office in nearby Las Colinas as an entry level financial advisor, which meant that I was often the first person a prospective investor would speak to upon arrival.
But I wasn’t in my Las Colinas office that day. I was in Fidelity’s Austin office, on loan to help them out during a period that they were short on staff. Back then, the Austin office was kind of hidden away on the second floor of the Arboretum, where a cigar shop now resides.
Customers had to know where to look to find us. However, on this day, that didn’t seem to be a problem. When we unlocked the front door at 8 AM, there were already several folks standing in line.
“Good morning,” I said to the first gentleman.
“Am I too late to buy Netscape,” he asked me?
“Netwhat,” I replied?
“You don’t know about Netscape,” he asked incredulously?