Washington Post/Bloomberg columnist Michelle Singletary tells individual investors to hang in there because history shows that the economic turmoil will end. It's just a matter of when.
I won't tell you not to be frightened about the recent plunges in the stock market.
The U.S. economy has a lot of problems. Unemployment, although showing some decline, is way too high, with millions still out of work — and that's just the folks the Labor Department is counting officially.
You might not understand the economic crisis in Europe, but you know it's not good.
So to tell individual investors not to be scared when the Dow Jones industrial average drops significantly on consecutive trading days is like expecting audiences watching a horror movie not to scream or grab their neighbor’s arm when the stabbing rhythms of the musical score intensify.
Of course you shriek or become terrified when the money you’ve been saving for retirement or for your children’s education is at risk. It’s your hard-earned money. Go ahead and scream.
However, the stock market, just like a horror film, has a time-tested pattern of scary and calm moments, ups and downs.
Hang tough, because the horror will end.
Read Michelle Singletary's entire column at Washington Post/Bloomberg.