Dow’s Down 500 points: 4 Reasons You Shouldn’t Care
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 416 points today. The media is creating a big hype about it because it’s the biggest drop since September 11th. But, there really is no need for anyone one to get too worried. Here are four reasons I don’t care and you shouldn’t either.
- Money is in the stock market for the long haul. Hopefully your plan is to keep your investments is in the stock market for the long run– 10, 20, 30 years. If this is the case, you shouldn’t care what happens on just one day in the market.
- It’s only 30 stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average only has 30 stocks in it. Why should we let our behavior be dictated by the behavior of 30 companies? We shouldn’t. (Granted, other markets were also down today, but everyone still focused on the Dow.)
- It’s just one day. Today was only one day. And tomorrow is a new one. What does this mean? Well, things can totally change tomorrow. One bad day shouldn’t be enough for you to sell off everything.
- It will go back up. The Dow has dropped before and it’s bound to drop again. But, guess what? It has always gone back up. Always. Sometimes it only takes a few hours, or a day, or a few weeks, or a few years. But, in time the market will rise again.
There is one reason that I did care that the market dropped today: It was a perfect day for me to invest. I’ve been meaning to max out my 2006 Roth before I file my taxes, and today’s drop provided the impetus I needed. I’m not trying to play the market and in the long a few dollars today won’t make much of a difference; but, I might as well buy as low when I can.