Love, marriage and the markets

By Dian Vujovich

Before getting too nervous and jumpy about how stocks are performing so far this year, long-term equity investors would be wise to take a few clues from their own lives when looking at the market’s short term gyrations. More specifically, if you’ve ever been in love you know what a bumpy ride that can be.

The same is true with marriage; those who have ever invested in it know firsthand that there’s no straight shot upward to  ’till death due us part happiness. The ride in both cases comes with twists and turns, surprises and uncertainties but with any luck at all, will pay off and be worth the time you’ve invested.

So it is with investing: Making money in the markets comes with no guarantees only hopes and promises. Just like love and marriage.

As we begin the last trading week of the first month of the new year, opinions from financial talking heads speculate about whether the market’s sell off signals the beginning of a bear market,  if earnings reports will continue to disappoint, how the Fed’s upcoming meeting could impact our securities markets and whether the performance in global markets will continue to wreak havoc in our own.

Of course the honest answer to each concern is that nobody knows how the markets will respond until the event has passed.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled over 318 points to close at 15,879.11 posting its worst week since November 2011 and daily drop in 7 months. If there is a market correction, or even bear market coming our way, the good news is with either shakeup comes opportunity.

And the same is true with love and marriage.