Turn on the TV or open your phone and you’ll be told the market is crashing, inflation is spiraling, or some political decision is about to ruin your retirement. If you believed every headline, you’d never sleep at night. And that’s by design.
The financial media is not built to make you a better investor. It’s built to get your attention — and to hold it. Fear is the most reliable way to do that. If the news were nothing but positives, people wouldn’t tune in. So the cycle of worry continues: the scarier the headline, the better it sells. Advertisers benefit when people trade, click, or make moves in their portfolio. They don’t care if you grow your wealth, only that you stay active. The problem is, investors who react to fear often end up worse off.
That’s why I use the image of a child walking up a hill playing with a yo-yo. If you only watch the yo-yo, it looks like chaos — up and down, up and down. But step back and you notice something else: the child is steadily climbing, and even the yo-yo’s lows keep getting higher and higher. Markets work the same way. Day to day, they bounce around unpredictably. But over time, they climb. Investors who fixate on every move often panic, while those who focus on the bigger picture understand that progress is being made.
Politics provide another example of how headlines can mislead. I’ve seen people want to sit out during Obama’s second term, and others during Trump’s first. In both cases, the markets delivered strong returns. The lesson is simple: markets don’t bend to the will of one president or one party nearly as much as headlines suggest. Innovation and human ingenuity keep marching forward, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office.
It helps to think about the difference between speculators and investors. Speculators are a lot like sports bettors — they watch every injury report, every rumor, because one play could make or break their bet. Investors, on the other hand, are more like season-ticket holders. One game doesn’t determine the whole season. What matters is showing up, enjoying the journey, and letting the season play out.
Fear is powerful, and it’s natural to feel anxious when markets swing or the news cycle screams “crisis.” But history shows wealth tends to move from the impatient to the patient. Undisciplined investors who react to every headline often hand over their gains to disciplined investors who stay the course. That doesn’t mean ignoring risk — it means recognizing that panic is not a plan. A diversified portfolio gives you the flexibility to ride out storms. If stocks are struggling, you draw from bonds or cash. If bonds are under pressure, you draw from stocks. A well-built plan gives you breathing room, no matter what the headlines say.
Chasing market headlines will drive you crazy and often leave you worse off. My role as an advisor is to help people step back and focus on the hill, not get hypnotized by the yo-yo. Because in the long run, disciplined and patient investors are rewarded. The markets have always moved forward — sometimes uncomfortably, often unpredictably, but steadily nonetheless. The next time a headline tries to scare you into making a rash move, remember: the yo-yo is just noise. The climb up the hill is what really matters.
