The stock market has had quite the volatility these past few weeks. Between tensions in Ukraine to inflation to the Fed actions, you probably have been thinking about what to do with your portfolio.
For many, the answer is to do nothing and stay the course. Maybe harvest some losses, but most should stay the course.
MOST. There are some folks who should be doing something and Christine Benz of Morningstar put together a great post on four good reasons why you might want to sell stocks right now:
4 Good Reasons to Sell Stocks Now [Morningstar] – “For all of these reasons, the admonition to stay the course in a falling market is often–indeed usually–sound advice. But it also presupposes a few key things that may or may not apply. The biggie is that it assumes the underlying investment plan and asset allocation are well-thought-out and well-tended.” Waiting it out is, in general, good advice but not for everyone.
Big Skills [Morgan Housel, Collaborative Fund] – “A couple ordinary things you don’t notice on their own create something spectacular when they mix together at the right time. One of the big leaps forward for humanity is when we mixed copper, which is soft, with tin, which is like paper, and created bronze, which is hard and made great tools and weapons. It was like two plus one equals ten.”
How Hobbies Infiltrated American Life [The Atlantic] – “One nonscientific survey found that 59 percent of Americans have picked up a new hobby during the pandemic. People baked so much that all the flour ran out. Lumber prices soared, thanks in part to a boom in home DIY projects.”
I started running again during the pandemic, after dabbling with it for a few years before the pandemic, so I can attest to being part of that 59%. I think the origin of the term hobby is really funny and I had no idea that’s what it originally referred to.