My husband and I have some money invested in the stock market. We used to have quite a bit more invested, but the same thing happened to our stocks that happened to the rest of the stock market. This situation bothers my husband: every so often, he mentions that we could pull that money out and use it for something else — at least until the market recovers. But the situation doesn’t bother me. Actually, I’m working on setting aside more money to invest.

We Plan for the Long-Term

One of the biggest reasons that I don’t worry is that we’re a long way off from retirement. I know I’d feel differently if retirement was right around the corner and we had been counting on those stocks for money. But the fact of the matter is that stock market does go through ups and downs and there’s plenty of time for both valleys and peaks before we’ll really need that money. This means that we’re not active traders. We have one strategy and that’s to buy and hold.

I’m absolutely confident that stocks will go back up — that’s one of the reasons that I’d love to add more to our investments now. Sure, there’s a distinct possibility that some sectors haven’t hit rock bottom. I’d really prefer to wait until rock bottom before investing, but I’m confident that prices will go back up far enough to make investing at current prices well worth my while.

We Pick Stocks Carefully

I’m very confident that our stocks will start rising again, for a number of reasons: we’ve invested in companies that are solid. I actually read annual reports and other business news — we do our best to pick investments that will remain solid for years to come. We certainly don’t have the most exciting of investments, but we also don’t have to worry about actively trading. Since we plan to hold on to all of our investments, we pretty much ignore any companies that would require us to time buying and selling. As long as our stocks remain on a general upward trend over the years, we’re doing okay.

We Minimize Stock Stress

I’m the first to admit that some scary things have happened in the stock market over the past year and a half. But it hasn’t become an impossible situation, for most people. I know more than a few people who had invested in the market and now seem to think that dropping stock prices mean the end of the world. But the fact of the matter is that what stocks do in the short term looks nothing like what they do in the long-term. If you can ride the current situation out, most stocks will recover in the long-term. Some specific companies (particularly in the financial sector) may not make it through the short-term, but companies that have a strong base will do just fine.

I’m not a financial adviser, and I’m sure that other approaches to investing work just as well for other people. But I’ve found that our system actually does very well for us and keeps us, aside from my husband’s occasional comments, from worrying too much about our finances for the short-term.

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