During market declines – with the constant barrage of market analysis and opinion on financial television, in newspapers, or through the Internet – it’s easy to get sucked into drama played out in the media.
That tends to drive fear.
But while the fearful start running out of the store when stocks go on sale, the best investors in the world, start running IN.
The fact is, the best investors in the world see declines in the U.S. stock market as an exciting opportunity. And so should you.
Most average investors in stocks are NOT leveraged. And with that, they should see U.S. stock market declines as a gift. The question should be: 'Do I have cash I can put to work at these cheaper prices? And, where should I put that cash to work?'
Billionaire Ray Dalio, the founder of the biggest hedge fund in the world, has said what I think is the most simple yet important fact ever said about investing.
'There are few sure things in investing … that betas rise over time relative to cash is one of them.'
In plain English, he’s saying that major asset classes, over time, will rise (stocks, bonds, real estate). The value of these core assets will grow faster than the value of cash.
That comes with one simple assumption. The world, over time, will improve, will grow and will be a better and more efficient place to live than it was before. If that assumption turned out to be wrong, we have a lot more to worry about than the value of our stock portfolio.
With that said, as an average investor that is not leveraged, dips in stocks (particularly U.S. stocks – the largest economy in the world, with the deepest financial markets) should be bought, because in the simplest terms, over time, the broad stock market has an upward sloping trajectory.
