We know when there is global panic, it can't help to spill over into the families here in our community. We know lots of people are concerned. While we haven’t had a bunch of calls into our office (we are proactively dialing out as fast as we can), and our clients tell us over and over, you have trained us well. But we have had a few folks who are nervous about current events.
And those few prompted us to write.
It's natural to have some fear of the unknown. We are all human, and when "they” yell long enough and loud enough that the sky is falling, we all look up! And today, we have several unknowns, the outbreak of a new strain of a virus, the extent which can't be predicted. We can't predict the economic impact. And the third unknown is a price war in the production of oil. (Some responses to this unknown will be good for us consumers, in the form of lower gas prices and likely lower interest rates.)
But there are a lot of unknowns. Markets hate and fear unknowns. Neither you nor I or any of the “experts” have control. We can and should have perfect control over how we respond to the unknowns. Or, as we say as often as we can, that sometimes NOT REACTING is ACTUALLY REACTING.
Because the last thing we want is for a plan to be derailed by reacting to short term unknowns. Are our portfolios worth less today than two weeks ago when they reached a record high? Yes. Are the businesses you own in your portfolio now worthless? No. Will they be? Speaking broadly, that is highly unlikely. Think of the companies you did business with today even before you got in your car. And then once you did. And then when you got where you were going. Those businesses that we all interact with daily are the types of businesses we own in our portfolios.
We never worry about the markets. Because we can't control those. But we do worry about how our friends, family, and clients (really all the same) are feeling. And we hope that by reaching out to you in every way possible, we are helping you know the best way to react to something you can't control is to not react at all.
