It's time to take a breath… the ASX 200 will be ok.
It was absolute carnage on the share market this week – no other words for it. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) started off the week at 6,216 points on Monday. By Friday, we were sitting at 5,539 points. All in all it was an 11% swing in one week – enough to make any investor with a heart tremble in their boots.
It could have been even worse too – at one point on Friday, the ASX 200 had cratered by over 8% and broke under the 5,000 point barrier for the first time since 2016.
It's always easy saying you'll load the boat with ASX shares during a crash when times are good (like they were until Valentine's Day). But when the ASX's feet are in the fire, it's often a different story.
You will have the media headlines screaming blue murder.
You'll have friends and family telling you you're crazy or to 'wait for the bottom'.
So I don't blame anyone for getting cold feet right now. It's an emotional rollercoaster, to vastly understate it.
But now it's the weekend, it's a great time to take a breath… and reassess what's actually happening.
Yes, the coronavirus is now at pandemic level and is resulting in worldwide travel bans and a seizing up of the global economy.
It's a truly dreadful time for us all.
But it will pass.
SARS, MERS and Swine Flu were all very serious global diseases, but we got through them – as we will this coronavirus.
And the stock market got through them too. In fact, just last month, the ASX 200 was at record highs.
It will get there again (although it's hard to say just when).
Your share portfolio will be looking less than pretty right now. But the ASX shares you've been watching will likely have not looked this good in years.
Think of the stock market like a seesaw. When times are good, it's a bad time to buy, but when times are bad, it's usually a great time. And hey, even if you can't muster up the courage to buy, just hold. That's usually the second best thing to do in times like these.
The great investor Warren Buffett once said to 'be greedy when others are fearful'. Well, right now, others are fearful. I think you could do worse things than take the Oracle's advice and be a little greedy.
