The US Economy

What can I say?

The stock market events of this week are a titre of emotional intelligence.

Heard around town:

1. Better get all your money out of banks and the stock market and put it in a safe in your house.
2. Money won't be any good. Buy gold.
3. Put you money in bonds.
4. The market will rebound. It always does.
5. I weathered Black Friday... 9/11 .... This happens.
6. We're all scared. Nobody's buying anything.
7. If this were any country but the US, we might have woken up this morning with our dollar worth 25 cents.
8. Let's change the subject. I don't want to talk about it. Let's talk about something positive.
9. The stock market's down. Now's the time to buy.
10. 777.68 is the biggest drop ever? You mean since 9/11? Since the beginning of the stock market? Since the Great Depression? Or what?

How you handle any potentially negative event depends upon many factors - your temperament, your risk tolerance and anxiety levels, your history, your current circumstances, your resources, your character ... and the level of your emotional intelligence.

With all important things, like this, your EQ can matter as much as, or more than, your IQ. Typically we read varying opinions, and get opposing "expert" advice. How do you make your way through the data, after you have done your homework? It is largely based on intuition (gut feeling), which is partly learned through experience. Intuition is an emotional intelligence competency and can be learned. (Contact me for coaching, or take The EQ Course(tm) - sdunn@susandunn.cc .

If this is the first market crash since you've owned stocks, it will feel a lot different to you.

(Don't know who to attribute this graphic to. It's making the email rounds.)