It’s summer. There’s always a piece of headline news trying to get you out of the market. As we keep reminding our clients, what keeps us in the market are two things:

1. Knowing that the marketplace and securities within the market are incredibly competitive, and there is a buyer and seller at such a tight spread. I know if there is such high competition, then the only reason people would buy stocks would be to get a positive rate of return going forward.

2. We feel good about owning what we own, but remind ourselves, too, that when nothing is going on, and maybe we want to sell and avoid future volatility, it is nice to know that we are globally diversified, which protects us from company-specific news.

Yes, there will be ups and downs, but if there is a headline news story — and there always will be because that is what journalists do — they report “news” which can include tail events, but being super diversified allows investors to ignore stock market journalism. Since we invest and do not gamble, we are comfortable with our investments. What is the point of investing if you are on pins and needles all day?  No price is worth that, which is why we use financial science to guide the way.

My concluding remark is to recognize that prognostication should be viewed as entertainment only. Please do not act on a prognosticator’s viewpoint. Markets are competitive, and so is the field of prognostication. With so many seers expressing their views in the media, one will likely be right, but only by chance, and their prognostications usually don’t persist.

The goal, I would say, is this — Tune out the investment noise, and enjoy your summer. Don’t worry. You are in competitively priced assets, and are well diversified. If you like to worry, come back in the Fall and start worrying then — even though that still won’t make a difference. 

Find something else to worry about besides your money, because you have VIA IV to take care of that!

Jeff Holland | VIAIV