The market’s up. The market’s down. The market’s up. The market’s down. What the ____ is going on? I need to do something. Help!!!!!

Is market volatility driving you crazy? Here are some tips to deal with it:

1) Turn off the news

Financial media has no interest in helping you or being your friend. Their goal is to get your attention so they can charge advertisers for your ‘eyeballs.’ Don’t let their fear mongering goad you into panic-induced trading . . . well, unless you enjoy locking in losses at artificial lows while incurring fees and commissions.

2) Go for a walk

Sitting around worrying about your portfolio is no help to you or your portfolio. You can’t control markets. Action for the sake of action provides the illusion of control.

3) See the big picture

A balanced portfolio rides out the highs and lows like the frequent flier deals with turbulence at 37,000 ft. Over the past 45 yrs a 60% stock / 40% bond portfolio has never had a negative rolling 5 yr return. Never. Put away your recency bias!