Coping with Market Volatility: Maintain perspective, consider your investment strategy, and stay informed
Consider these three basic concepts during times of volatile market conditions. Learn more about each of these topics, as well as how you can access account information, additional articles, and online tools.
Maintain Perspective
As you may have noticed in the last several weeks, the broad stock market can be volatile in the short run. But did you know that the market can go up and down in value, especially over shorter periods of time and is a normal part of investing?
Sure….it's tempting during these volatile times to just trade or switch investment options in hope of a better return. However, trying to "time the market" is not a proven investment strategy.
Consider Your Investment Strategy
Even though the market in general isn't performing well right now, carefully consider any changes to your investment portfolio in the near future. Remember that an investment strategy can include:
- Practicing asset allocation (how money is distributed across various types of investment options)
- Selecting diverse investment options
- Investing early and saving often
- Considering your overall investment strategy
Investing on a consistent basis over the long-term, despite volatile market conditions, is one method of a retirement savings strategy that may meet your needs. It's also important to note that additional market volatility is possible. Remember that in investing, market risk and volatility are constants. Determining how much risk you can tolerate is a key consideration.
Stay Informed
We have tools and resources that can help you learn more about saving and investing:
- Access online retirement calculators
- Take the investor profile quiz (PDF: 250 KB) to help you determine how comfortable you are with investment risk
- Learn about allocating among various types of investment options by doing a retirement simulation
- Access articles on financial and retirement planning topics from our online Plan Ahead. Get Ahead.® magazine
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