It's simple, but not easy

Today I was sharing with our team, Bear markets are scary. It's not comfortable. Volatility and uncertainty are not easy. But investing success is pretty simple....while not easy!!! Staying the course sounds contrite. But history has shown it is the right answer. That truth doesn't change.

If you look at the market minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day it can look like those irregular EKG lines. Once I saw a picture that depicted a little boy walking up the stairs and playing with a yo-yo. If you focused on the yo-yo, it was mind-bogglingly scary. But if you focused on does the boy and the yo-yo get upstairs? Yes,....it was a bouncy line....but from the bottom step to the top step, it was a straight line.

The longest bear market of my career was 2000-2002.

In 2000, clients would say, "You said this would happen."

In 2001, they would ask, "When will this end?"

In 2002, I would ask, "God, what if I'm wrong," each night as I prayed. In the morning, I would wake up with a renewed faith to go back and tell people what I knew to be true. Stay focused on your plan, and your goals, and not your investments and the headlines. It was true then. And it's true now.

Remember your advisor knows this isn't easy. But this is not their first rodeo (as my daddy would say.) They are calm and collected because they know what you need to do. This is not easy for them either. The easy thing would be to let you let your emotions rule. But we couldn't sleep at night if we did that! Work with someone you trust. Listen. Turn off the noise and stay the course.