All Clear

A close friend of mine recently went on vacation with his family.  They have a younger son which often leads to conversations wherein I’m reminded of parenting stages I have long forgotten.  One event took place during their trip which gave me a flashback.  It involved their young son, a pool, and the inevitable swim diaper malfunction…

Swim diapers fail. It’s not a fun issue to experience, yet it’s an easily identifiable problem for anyone who’s raised children and taken them to a pool.  Sadly, it also means pausing your opportunity to glide through the water like Michael Phelps or perform a Triple Lindy off the diving board like Rodney Dangerfield. The good news?  Once the lifeguards perform their chemical-treating and HAZMAT-magic, you’re back in cannonball business.  

My friend’s traumatic, yet relatable, experience involved a clearly defined event, specific steps taken to remedy the situation, and then an “all clear” when it was safe to return to the water.  It’s a shame economies and markets don’t work that way.  

Here’s the thing about the market: it doesn’t give us signals to jump in or scramble out like a Baywatch episode. If you’ve been waiting for the market to signal the “all clear”, you’ve likely already missed out.

We see a multitude of reasons people are influenced to get in the market or get out.  Perhaps you have a unique intuition, or just don’t like the direction of the wind.  Maybe the political landscape fits your world view so you high-dive into the stock market’s deep end.  Whatever the reason, we’ve discussed this before: fear or fearlessness are not portfolio strategies. It’s about riding the waves confidently concerning your investing “why.”  

One of the best things we can do as investors is to learn to deal with discomfort. The sooner you do, the farther ahead you’ll be.  We’re here for you to take that confident leap—wearing floaties or with Olympic-like strokes—toward your financial finish line.

My suggestion, the next time a swim diaper fails, or the market outlook is fuzzy, use it as an opportunity to grab a refreshing drink from the pool bar and don’t panic.