Why You Shouldn't Sell Stock During A Market Panic

Unless you work in finance, just sit tight.
If you are a retail investor with money in the stock market, you probably lost a lot of money in the last couple of days (on paper, at least). That's the risk of putting your money in stocks.
But today -- today! -- today is the reason why you shouldn't panic when that happens. All the major U.S. indices are up, erasing a good chunk of yesterday's crash. The markets might not get back to the highs of early August immediately, but things are OK.
The five-day view of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The five-day view of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

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The five-day view of the S&P 500.

The five-day view of the S&P 500.

Google Finance
More importantly, if you've got money in the stock market and your job is not to trade stocks -- in other words, if your money is in the market earmarked for retirement, or your kids' college education, or some other long-term goal -- this is the chart you should be looking at: the S&P 500 10-year view. Even with yesterday's blip, things are looking pretty good.
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If you don't work in finance, the best thing for you to do when the market crashes is move on with your day and look ahead to tomorrow.

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