The Psychology of a Bear Market

Bear markets can be unnerving, but they also present opportunities. EquityThe amount of money that would be returned to shareholders if a company’s assets were sold off and all its debt repaid. Research Analyst Kate Austin discussed stocksA financial instrument giving the holder a proportion of the ownership and earnings of a company. on sale in our recent quarterly webinar*: Separating Pandemic Noise From Investment Signals.

Please enjoy the excerpt below and click here for the full webinar replay to hear more.   

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Kate Austin: As my colleagues said before, the definition really of a bear marketA period in which stock prices decline significantly from recent highs and remain below previous high marks for weeks or months. Generally, a decline of at least 20% in stock prices is considered the threshold marking the start of a bear market. is stocks falling 20% or more from their highs.

Now, most financial people love jargon. So, in the financial world it’s called a “correction,” right? But in the everyday world, we call it something else. It’s a sale.

Now, I don’t know about you guys, but I have been getting nonstop sale emails from stores. I don’t know if you bought anything—I know I have. In fact, the other day I bought a fancy Le Creuset pan that I’ve had my eye on for a while that was 40% off. And I don’t know about you, but those pans never go on sale.

So, if you bought something in the past couple of weeks, have you also put money to work in the market? Because we have. But if you haven’t, why not? It’s really the same thing.

And here’s the real kicker, too. Like [Chairman Dan Wiener] was showing earlier in his slides, stocks tend to actually appreciate in value over time. And whatever tangible thing you may have bought will definitely be worth less in a year or two.

And like we saw in March, everything is often sold when we have these events en masse and the companies with great products, great management teams and strong battleship balance sheet, stocks that, like that Le Creuset pan, really never go on sale, are actually for once on sale. So it’s really a great time to get high-quality companies at a bit of a discount.

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Click here for a replay of Separating Pandemic Noise From Investment Signals. Please contact us at (800) 492-6868 to learn more about comprehensive wealth management solutions.