BARRY J from TX posted 2 months ago:

Jenna, 2026 has been an unusual year, largely dominated by DT2's mercurial, narcissistic whims and fantastic exaggerations passed off as policy updates. Evidently, “The Art of the Deal” was fiction, not self-improvement. Picking on our poorer neighbors next door seems like a time-wasting fetish. Name-calling should have passed with puberty and junior high school, but I guess it’s an elective at Wharton. That would explain so many things. #1 Dr. Bob is … AAII’s conscience: He is right; things could be a lot worse. When I get worried about the world, I think about my father, who enlisted on December 8, 1941, and was shipped off to World War II as a 19-year-old farm boy from Pocahontas, MS, a very, very, very small town. About 30% of all men like him could expect not to come home. Talk about bad times. Losing 30% in the market was nothing compared to the “real risk” he survived as a combat medic. And ALL our families lived through the Great Depression. Talk about bad times. So #1 get over whatever pity party you are attending. Suck it up, buttercup. Breathe in. Breathe out. Get on with your life … or … #2 I am seeing similar “wall of worry” pieces everywhere ... and everyone has a different answer, just like we do here. #3 In turbulent and stressful times, I tend to stay the course. John McCain used to talk about “Honor” and "pulling steady," meaning that you should face challenges with resolve and accomplish any task using a consistent, measured, steady effort. So, it is with investing. I try to pull steady, knowing this will be the most efficient way to achieve my goals. #4 Here is my list of "don't dos." #5 I am not fleeing into 4% money market funds when the YOY INFLATION rate is 3.5%. #6 I am not chasing MOMENTUM when EPS growth is overvalued by the Shiller CAPE ratio @42, which is more than double its historical long-term average @17. #7 I am not heeding pundits (or AAII articles) that recommend SHIFTING ASSETS to any of the "Baskin-Robbins 31 "flavors of the month" EPHEMERAL market niches (small caps, value, Ex-US, EU, APAC, or EMs, etc.) Even the famous founders of ALL the factors characterized ALL of them as ephemeral. #8 My portfolio goes up and down, and the totals are getting bigger every month. A 1% or 3% market "paper loss" every month or so (history says we should expect about 6 every year) is becoming what used to be a scary number, but now it’s "noise" that signals nothing but the market “spinning in greased grooves.” #9 I pull steady, and I let Einstein's "magic of compounding" do all the hard work for me. #10 I am blessed to have lived this long and to have learned from AAII (and military experience) what “real risk” is. I am scared “breathless” about many things, but getting out of the market is scarier than ALL the other choices available. #11 "The market always comes back higher" is true, but the RECOVERY may take 10 or more years to return to the prior peak. This has been an unpleasant hangover of markets for the last 100 years. The 1929 Crash recovered its prior peak in 1953 (24 years later); the 2000 dot-com bubble did not recover before the 2008 GR, which extended the 2008 GR recovery to its prior peak in 2015 (16 years after its prior peak in 1999). Several other troughs lasted 1 to 3 years between 1901 and 2026. Following the devastating Panic of 1907 (Jason cited), it took 3 years to recover to its prior peak. Pull Steady. Regards.

JOHN L from NJ posted 2 months ago:

Agree with Barry. The answer for long term investors is to take the next dollar and divide it up the way their portfolio is currently allocated.

JOSEPH M from OK posted about 1 month ago:

I am tending to staying the course. Moderately conservative allocation seems appropriate given that we are a retired couple. However, recently (last year) increased exposure to international and emerging market stocks through ETF's. Rationale is that United States government has alienated all of our allies. Probably irreversibly so. My guess is new alliances are forming and the companies that benefit most will be foreign.

ROBERT A from NC posted about 1 month ago:

If only we could elect perfect leaders. Never forget that every election is merely a choice between “X” and “Worse.” You can HOPE “X” will end up doing a lot of the right things, but “X” will never be perfect. That’s why the Founders TRIED to make our government one of limited powers---to minimize the damage those in power could cause for the rest of us. All any of us can do in the voting booth is pull the lever against “Worse.” And yes, things right NOW could be much, MUCH worse. In any event, I’ll stick with Warren Buffett’s advice and NEVER bet against the U.S.A. (at least UNTIL things get much, MUCH worse!).

RON N from SC posted about 1 month ago:

Just how long would we be able to just keep printing money ( 40 trillion debt ) so all our allies would think we are so wonderful and magnanimous . Trump is the first president to do something about it . Between sharing some burden with allies and starting to reduce domestic fraud and outright theft I expect there to be some whining . If all it takes is asking our allies to participate more with us financially , to make them " alienated ", well then they weren't much of an alli . Further they are not going anywhere . They are just grumpy . It has been my experience that those with substantial vested interests are much better , more attentive , allies anyhow .

RON N from SC posted about 1 month ago:

If Canada wants to align with the EU as some kind of retailiation against the US they should do it . They will soon see why thats a bad choice but it certainly is their choice to make . Remember " go woke , Go broke " can apply to a country also . Will be interesting to see how a resource rich country ships , oil , gas , lumber , electricity ( hydro) and minerals to the EU to maintain a balance of trade . And they can keep all the Chinese products they like because they wont be coming here through any back door . And Greenland worked out perfectly . We got everything we wanted there from the beginning for free , and did not pick up another dependent in the process . Just because some people have no business sense does not mean our president does not .