The solution:
I ignore it all*. Pedal to the metal at all times. I’m shoveling every spare dollar into the stock market furnace.
*For another perspective, I defer to Mr. Collins.
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I am totally there with you! I used to read stuff early on when I started dabbling with investing. Then, when I started with the more passive investing, I just stopped caring. None of it was going to change what I do with my money, so why read and worry? Now, I’ve gotten that way with most news – 99% of it is negative and doesn’t affect my life, so I just stay away from it!
Mrs SSC recently posted…Dream vacation: What’s the rush?
Here! Here! Keep chugging and you will be to your goal before the end of the year! Although, I do think a bear market will be coming up in a year or two, but who cares…stocks will be on sale!
Jason recently posted…Navigating College Financial Aid
Yep, throw it all out. No need to worry about what will happen today or tomorrow in the markets.
It goes hand in hand with the index fund investing mindset. Just keep investing in funds that aren’t angling to beat the market (because nobody can actually do it reliably) at the lowest cost possible. And stop worrying about what the market will do any given day because almost everyone’s timeline is years and years into the future.
Frugal Buckeye recently posted…Operation Declutter
Frugal Buckeye, ignoring market news doesn’t just go hand in hand with index fund investing. It ALSO goes in hand with individual stock investing. Just ask Warren Buffett!
I check for and pay attention to company-specific news on the 20 plus-or-minus stocks in my dividend portfolio. This has allowed me to jump ON trains picking up speed and jump OFF trains about to derail — all to greater investing profits. But as for the market and where all these know-it-all’s think it’s going…Ehh!!
Retired To Win Alex recently posted…What It’s Like to Live With “Frugalistic Adaptation”
Mr. Jim Collins would be so proud! The news in general is terrible. This morning I had CNBC on while I was getting ready for work and Andrew Sorkin was discussing the huge financial liability Lufthansa faces due to the Germanwings plane crash… Ummm people that’s the last thing you should be reporting about.
Fervent Finance recently posted…Dream Job
Wait, wait, the market moves on a daily basis? And people actually pay attention to this? Insanity!
Thegoblinchief recently posted…Church in the Wild
It’s a bunch of crap, and they know it. The fact that there’s bull and bear predictions on the same damn page is fantastic. And with selection bias, whichever you expect is going to be the article you notice and click on.
For me, we’re piling it into the mortgage now (plus 401k and all of that jazz). If the market tanks, I may re-evaluate and start putting more of the extra dough into investments since those stocks are on sale!
Chris @ Flipping A Dollar recently posted…6 Common Sense Pro-Tips You Need to be a Successful Seller on eBay & CrazyLister Review
So true…I am so sick of the sensationalist headlines and market timing “strategies” pushed out there. Bull, Bear, Penguin, Koala; it is always best to get as much in as early as possible.
Right on! Get in early and stay in. Screw all the nonsensical mess that just turns people off from investing because they make it sound so difficult and volatile. It’s not. In fact, investing is easy – especially if you ignore conventional wisdom.
Steve Adcock recently posted…10 questions with 1500days.com
I really don’t like listening to the news at all… All sensational. All looking for ratings. All looking for my money. I’m just done with it.
Yesterday, I was watching the weather closely because we were supposed to get some severe thunderstorms (only tiny hail for us, thank goodness!). But absolutely everything was plastered with ads and pop ups and JUNK.
I think I’m really happy living in a bit of a cave to avoid the whole mess. My sanity and my account balances will appreciate it.
Mrs. Maroon recently posted…Excel is My Friend – A Peek at My Spreadsheet
That’s all fluff and click-bait tactics. They figured out long ago that fear sells. Most people are not going to click on articles with titles like, “The Market is Fine” – next month – “The Market is still Fine”
And it’s not just Money Media, they all do it. Fox News is the worst at this, but CNN, MSNBC, and the local news do it too at almost the same extent (just trying to scare a different demographic). We just have to ignore most of it and keep on going.
Aldo @ Million Dollar Ninja recently posted…The Sexiest Financial Habit Is…
I have a DINK (both engineers) friend who lives reasonably. I’m quite certain he has more than enough to retire today. He’s only holding cash and CD’s. The stock market is “scary”.
But the same guy recognizes the need to put the money to work. And he is just realizing he missed the last 7 year run up. But another one is right around the corner so he’s going to wait for the correction. Uh.
His solution is to do alternate investing. Through his “father in law” who basically goes to a buddy at an investment firm who does private REIT’s yielding like 15%. Double uh.
I think i finally wrapped his brain around the 3 fund lazy portfolio. Just throw a 10 year chart on VTI dude! I know exactly what hes going to do to. He’ll nibble a bit, we’ll hit that mythical correction and he’ll sell.
It’s all about creating fear and keeping people on edge.
Michelle recently posted…Taking A Fresh Look At My Debt
I need to check yahoo finance way less, strip out like I have reality shows.
Even Steven recently posted…Student Loan Focus
I agree with ignoring the news. I have been doing it for years now.
But I can’t get myself to poor fresh capital into a market that is up 200% off the lows and trading near all-time highs. Not because some news headline says the crash is near, more so because I have a hard time seeing a favorable risk/reward.
Oil is the exception to the rule and I have put on new positions in some oil names, but I still have 50% cash just sitting idle waiting for better prices.
Here is something to ponder that is non-news related and all numbers:
Note: as I write this the S&P 500 is 2,054
1 – There is a 60% probability that the S&P 500 touches 1,850 by year end, which would represent about a 10% correction (or about 204 points) from the current reading above (and a 13% correction from all-time highs).
2 – There is a 35% probability that the S&P 500 touches 2,250 by year end, which would be about 9.5% higher (or about 196 points) than the current index reading above.
So the expected return if you are committing new capital looks like this:
Expected Return = (35% x 196) – (60% x 204) = 68.6 – 122.4 = -53.8
Expected ROI = (2054 – 53.8)/2054 – 1 = approx -2.6% (that’s a negative return)
I know my bank is only paying me 0.5% interest on my cash and making extra payments on my mortgage is saving me 3.675% interest. That sure seems like a better return than -2.6%…and that’s why I am not investing new capital at this time.
Cheers!
Gen Y Finance Guy recently posted…Anatomy of a Side Hustle: How I made $18,000 at an effective rate of $100/hour
wow – with having such precise expected probabilities you should be able to time the markets perfectly.
sitting in cash is a great strategy if the markets were not always up and to the right.. I am with mr 1500 and his long term investing.
YES. I love your solution and I’m doing the same.
Plus, when the market does take a dive that just means a sale on stocks, right? Better for me in the long run! 😉
Kali @ XY Planning Network recently posted…What Should You Know Before Hiring a Financial Advisor?
Totally with you on ignore the news. If I listen to these business news and follow their recommendations I’d be a wreck both financially and mentally.
Tawcan recently posted…Financial advice for a debt-ridden Vancouver couple
They have to fill the pages with something. You can’t put out real content daily, and nobody wants to hear, “nobody knows why the market moved up or down today” so we got lots of random reasons. It’s silly.
Adam @ AdamChudy.com recently posted…Lorillard (LO) and Illustration in Dividend Reinvestment
I’m a long time advocate of the philosophy to ignore the media, invest in indexes and keep fees low (Vanguard) and enjoy your life. Now retired, continuing to do the same….with the only caveat to equalize the stock/bond ratio since I don’t really need super growth but do need protection from the big dips. I’m wondering if everybody was a passive investor (yeah right) would it still make us millionaires? Stay the course my young friends, it does work.
Haha, yes! That’s how we operate. No news outlet wants to be the one saying that people should just invest for the long term and chill the F out.
Mrs. Frugalwoods recently posted…Weekly Woot & Grumble: Guests We’d Never Met (Plus A Flat)
I always liked this list 🙂
2005- “I’m gonna wait until we can rein in the deficit a bit, this War is going to be paid for by our grandchildren. I’m also not too keen on these auto makers and their unfunded pension obligations.”
2006- “The CAPE ratio is up near 27 and we have an inverted yield curve, I’m gonna wait for stocks to pull back a bit.”
2007- “I’m gonna wait for Oil prices to stop going parabolic although all things considered, stocks look pretty good.”
2008- Lol
2009- See 2008
2010- “Europe is a mess and we’re not doing much better. I’m gonna wait and see until this “Grexit” thing resolves itself.”
2011- “I’m gonna wait for Congress to grow up.” (The debt ceiling debates led to a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating)
2012- “I’m gonna wait and see what happens with the Fiscal Cliff.”
2013- “I’m gonna wait and see what affect the Sequestration has.”
2014- “I’m gonna wait for the geopolitical risks to settle down. I also want to wait and see what will happen after the taper.”
My sincere belief is that men smarter than me and with more skin in the game (think billions) are the prime movers of market prices, buying and selling to commit risk-based arbitrage. I can’t imagine that there are any risks/rewards they haven’t taken into consideration, and I believe that their actions mean that, in the near-term, the stock market is basically a 50/50 either way–if it were guaranteed to go up, for example, these guys would have bought it already until the price was such that it was no longer guaranteed to go up.
That just means we need to buy and play a different game–one based on long-term equity ownership, rather than short term speculation.
CharlesMakesCents recently posted…Investing With: Lending Club (Part 1)
I do exactly the same. Simply ignore them. They add no values to my whatsoever.
BSR
BeSmartRich recently posted…Do you know what the Worldâs Soundest Bank is?
My biggest problem with the mainstream media is how complicated and volatile that they make the stock market (and investing in general) seem. In truth, this business of investing is actually quite simple. No real math involved. No studying companies. No understanding profits and yields.
Just…invest. Choose a targeted retirement account through a respected financial company and consistently contribute to it. Done.
Steve Adcock recently posted…10 questions with 1500days.com