It's a mad, mad, mad, mad market

Yesterday the bad news continued. I haven't sold anything so my returns are taking a beat down. But today wasn't as bad, it was ugly early but the markets rebounded a lot by the end of the day. Still it was ugly. Many people sold their stocks as the markets were dropping, this additional sell pressure probably caused the market to continue dropping farther than it would have if everyone just stayed calm. But then, that's the point. Staying calm. Sure, it's scary to think of your life savings going down the drain. But history has shown that the stock market, over the long term ALWAYS goes up. But as this article points out, the market doesn't always rise, it's the indexes. Very important distinction.

Today the Dow gained 284 points. But more importantly to me, my stocks all rose, my big winner, SiriusXM (SIRI) rose 13%. I'm not near where I was a month ago, but had I sold yesterday I would have left several thousand dollars on the table. My point is, there is no right or wrong decision. The best decision is the one you feel comfortable with at the time you make it. Period. If you second guess yourself you will drive yourself crazy.