Market Recovery Message

Today the stock market closed at 6,173, a new all-time high.  At its highest point in February, prior to the tariff-driven downturn, the S&P 500 closed at 6,144 (February 19th).  In the intervening four and a half months, millions of words of commentary were aimed at long-term, buy-and-hold, stick-with-the plan investors like you and me implicitly trying to convince us that this time was different, that we should abandon our plan, and that we should change our investment strategy.

At this point, everyone that listened to that “advice” has immense cause for regret.  Anyone who fell for it and believed the lie, sold low and will now have to buy high if they ever get back in at all.  To put it lightly, selling low and buying high isn’t an investment strategy I’d recommend.

I’m happy to report that not one of our clients made that mistake.  In fact, many of you took this downturn as an opportunity to deposit additional cash and buy more stocks while they were on sale.  Nearly all of you did so in the form of reinvested dividends.

Ultimately, the stock market will continue to have good days and bad days.  We’ll see more bear markets in the future.  After all, very little of the tariff situation is actually resolved at this point.  But this last four and a half months is simply the latest example of what markets have done throughout history.  Downturns happen, markets recover, and go on to set new, higher highs.

Regardless of what happens next, you and I can take a moment here to pat ourselves on the back for sticking with it through not just the downturn itself, but the onslaught of terrible “advice” beamed at us everywhere we looked.  This is what it takes to succeed as stock market investors.  Well done.