Every few months, the world gives us a new reason to worry.

A war begins.

Inflation rises.

Interest rates move.

Governments change.

Markets become volatile.

Almost immediately, investors begin asking the same question:

“Should we be doing something?”

It’s one of the most natural questions in investing.

It’s also one of the most dangerous.

After nearly three decades of working with families through market booms, recessions, financial crises, pandemics and geopolitical conflict, I’ve come to believe something that may sound counterintuitive.

The greatest threat to long-term wealth isn’t market volatility.

It’s abandoning a good plan because the headlines became uncomfortable.

Every market decline feels different while we’re living through it.

The technology bubble.

The Global Financial Crisis.

COVID.

Inflation.

Geopolitical conflict.

Each one convinced many people that this time was different.

History tells us something else.

Markets recover.

Not on our schedule.

Not in a straight line.

But they recover.

That’s why we don’t build financial plans around predicting the next headline.

We build them assuming uncertainty will arrive.

Because eventually, it always does.

When markets become volatile, we encourage clients to pause before making changes and ask themselves four simple questions.

Has anything changed in my life?

Have my goals changed?

Has my time horizon changed?

Am I reacting emotionally, or responding thoughtfully?

Those are questions worth answering.

Tomorrow’s headlines rarely are.

One of Warren Buffett’s observations has always resonated with me:

“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.”

The same principle applies to financial planning.

The families who experience the greatest long-term success aren’t the ones who predict uncertainty.

They’re the ones who prepare for it.

Because great decisions don’t change simply because the headlines do.

A Conversation Worth Having

Periods of uncertainty often create the biggest planning opportunities. If recent events have you wondering whether your financial plan is still aligned with your goals, we would be happy to have that conversation.

Frank Danielson is a Senior Financial Planner with CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd. Please contact him at (604) 638-0345 or visit www.danielsongroup.ca to discuss your particular circumstances prior to acting on the information above. CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd. is a Member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization.