In any crisis, “playing it safe” to avoid losing your money can seem like the only rational strategy. However, in the past 60 years, we’ve seen repeating patterns of crises. Despite these crises, the market has been resilient. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose from 679 points in 1959 to over 50,000 in 2026.¹ Regardless of the type of crisis, history shows that long-term investors who stayed the course through crises and didn’t lose sight of their financial goals have been rewarded.

First, Stress, Anxiety, and Crises

When major tariff announcements hit, viewers flock to financial news. After the Trump administration’s early‑April tariff rollout, CNBC’s audience during market hours jumped 36%, while Fox Business also saw strong gains, up 15% to 22% compared with prior weeks.³

In addition to more news consumption, we’re searching CNBC more often to see how the market is performing. All this news watching and Googling can make us more anxious about the economy.

When we’re anxious, we’re more likely to allocate our attention to negative information. Given the choice between information that may offer an optimistic perspective or data that paints a bleak future, an anxiety-influenced investor may naturally focus on threatening information.

Third, Maintaining Perspective in Crises

Nobody likes to go through a crisis alone. Trying to manage your investments by yourself in a crisis, with extreme market volatility, can be mind-boggling. In March of 2020, the Dow swung several times between 6–12% a day in both directions. One day the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down almost 3,000 points and a few days later up over 2,000 points.⁸ It can be unnerving to hear “worst day ever” and then “best day ever” in terms of market point moves.

Many investors try to time the market’s ups and downs and change their portfolio investments accordingly. Research shows that this strategy hasn’t worked well for investors. Dalbar’s “Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior” has measured the effects of investor decisions to buy, sell, and switch into and out of mutual funds over short and long-term time frames. The results consistently show that the average investor returns are less—often much less—than market indices’ returns.⁹

Hopping in and out of investments to prevent losses or capture gains is a primary reason why investors have underperformed the market. Anxious investors tend to overestimate the risk of holding stock investments and underestimate the risk of not holding them.

Over the past 30 years, the average equity fund investor earned a 10.00% annualized return vs. a 10.92% annualized return of the S&P 500 Index.⁹ The average bond investor earned -0.05% vs. a 4.56% return of the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index.⁹ The bottom line: investor behavior can undermine investment performance.

That’s why it’s important to have the support of a financial professional who can help you control impulsive reactions to market volatility and practice disciplined investing. In addition to helping you find appropriate investments for your financial goals, your financial professional plays a more crucial role by acting as a counter to the market’s mind games that can tempt even experienced investors.

“But It’s Different This Time”

Many feel that the current crisis is different than previous crises. It is. Every crisis is different. With all the news coverage, we can feel like today is bad and tomorrow will be worse. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with pessimism. But despite all the bad news, there’s amazing innovation taking place that won’t get media attention.

Neuralink has implanted brain‑computer interfaces in 21 people, helping those with severe paralysis control computers by thought alone, while preparing automated surgeries and mass‑production of its devices for 2026.¹¹ Waymo now delivers over 1 million monthly robotaxi rides in California and plans expansions to San Diego, Dallas, Miami, and Orlando.¹² Meta has completed much of the world’s longest undersea cable, now linking 33 countries across three continents.¹³ Agentic AI helpers will help adults 50+ manage bills, avoid scams, organize health info, plan simple trips, and streamline daily routines—practical support older adults want.¹⁴

The US has experienced 27 bear markets since 1929.² Our recovery record? 27 for 27. While we can’t predict the future, as Warren Buffett has said, “It’s never paid to bet against America.”

To Summarize

First, crises influence us to focus on the negative. The flood of 24/7 crisis news coverage can contribute to our anxiety about the economy. Second, anxiety makes us more vulnerable to making investment mistakes that can damage our long-term results. Third, consider working with a financial professional to help you maintain a long-term perspective through the crisis.

Next Step

Talk to your financial professional to hear their perspective on this crisis. If you don’t have one, consider finding one.