Dear Nancy Woods,
With all the gloom and doom news these days affecting the markets I don't know who to listen to or what to do. How do I know who's right? If there is anyone that is?
Signed Ken
Dear Ken,
There is always input, opinions and facts being report ed because that is what the media is supposed to do. With every change going on in the world's economies there is the ripple, or sometimes, domino effect that impacts eventually every country.
Is there any one person or body that is always right? I've never seen it. It is the job of you or your investment advisor to sift through the information noise and decide what makes the most sense to you.
The typical knee-jerk reaction is to sell everything and hide under the covers. For some investors, that will give them the most peace of mind and comfort. It doesn't necessarily mean it is the smartest decision.
I recently read someone's advice that struck me as sound. Let's assume you owned a rental house and had steady income from it. If the real estate market had a collapse or slight downturn, would you rush to sell that house? Probably not. We don't have the same daily market value updates with real estate that we do with the stock markets. And it is not as quick and easy to sell a house.
It may sometimes make sense to turn off the media and focus on the income. See your investments as long term rather than trying to guess and assess day-to-day.
Try and have the majority of your investments pay you to wait it out.
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Nancy Woods, CIM, FCSI, is an associate portfolio manager and investment adviser with RBC Dominion Securities Inc. To ask her a question, send an e-mail to asknancy@rbc.com or visit her web site at nancywoods.com
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Nancy Woods