One day the DJIA is down 500 pts. The next it’s up 300 pts. The next it’s down 700 pts before reversing course to close up 900 pts. The next…

Whatever happens on a daily basis you can call us Jimmy Crack Corn because we don’t care.

It’s a frustrating time. We’re loathe to comment as doing so lends legitimacy to the insignificance. To stay silent, however, runs the risk of being labeled asleep at the switch.

So what to make of the noise?

The best parallel is air travel. You hit a patch of turbulence. Should the pilot “there there” us? Should there be no announcement? Do we buckle our seatbelts tighter? Do we nap? Do we listen to the first-time passenger scream, “We’re all gonna die!”?

If you can’t handle turbulence don’t get on the plane. If you get on the plane accept that there will be moments of turbulence. The plane will still get to its destination.

Of course remaining calm can be a chore. How easy is it to ignore a plane full of frightened passengers? Exactly. So why should it be any easier to ignore a 24/7 news media culture littered with “legitimate” outlets (not to mention the oh so reliable social media world) focused NOT on doing what’s right for us but in doing what’s right for them? Ratings and, thus, advertising dollars, depend NOT on saying, “Everything’s fine” but on saying, “The entire world is going to hell. Panic. Run. Hide. Oh, by the way, we’re omniscient and have a crystal ball so we’ll tell you with 100% accuracy exactly what happened, why and what you ought to do about it. Just make sure to ignore that if we actually knew what we were talking about we would have said something BEFORE all the volatility.”

Do we really need proof of what the media’s goals are? Rather than allow for private grief Big Media has spent the last 24 hours running and rerunning video of the live murder of a TV crew in Virginia. Maybe there’s a better way to tell the story.

Very plainly market volatility will happen from time to time. It’s a fact of life. Acting on short-term movements and emotion is a loser’s game. The empirical evidence is there. Acting for the sake of acting may make us FEEL good but it does NOT do any good. It accomplishes nothing.

To be myopic and focus solely on investments if you have a diversified portfolio of cash, fixed income, equities, alts, etc. then your focus is on RISK-ADJUSTED instead of nominal returns. Good for you. Volatility, therefore, is a non-event.

To be broader in scope if you have a diversified financial portfolio – one of an estate plan, income tax strategy, insurance program, retirement roadmap, etc – then short-term stock market volatility is even LESS important.

Conversely if you’ve put all your proverbial eggs in a single basket, if you live off unsustainable amounts of credit, if you have unrealistic expectations, etc then market volatility is just for you. Enjoy the panic. Push up that blood pressure. The drug companies will thank you for it.

The best thing to do during a turbulent time is focus on something important. How about National Dog Day?

And if things get really bad you can always sell a few teeth. The going rate is $3.19.