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South China Morning Post
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
How silent book clubs are rising around the world as readers enjoy the no-pressure events
On a Saturday morning in April, readers gathered in a park in Indonesia's capital Jakarta for a monthly book club. Around 260 strangers sat on the grass, heads down, captivated by what they were reading. It almost looked like a regular book club, but there was a twist. Everyone here was reading something different: from fantasy, romance and religion to business and self-help books. Titles read included Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, The Vegetarian by Nobel laureate Han Kang, and The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. Non-traditional book clubs have gained momentum around the world in recent years. Silent Book Club Jakarta is part of a movement that spans from the US to Taiwan, where readers reject the traditional book club format and bring a novel of their own choice and no judgment for uninterrupted reading time. All types of book formats are encouraged at Silent Book Club's events, from hard copies to Kindles and even audiobooks. Photo: Silent Book Club Silent Book Club's premise avoids many of the things people do not like about traditional book clubs: the monthly book pick, questions and quarrels about how people interpreted it, and pressure to read it.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Ways to Keep Your Portfolio Safe During Tariff Volatility
Tariff volatility continues to rattle the stock market with the major indexes swinging several percentage points in recent sessions. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) both fell into bear market territory (a drawdown of at least 20% from a recent high) only to bounce out of it days later after President Trump reversed course with many of his tariffs. This volatility can be challenging to handle, but there are ways to prevail. Here are some ideas to consider now. It's human nature to want to take action in response to a threat. And seeing a portfolio's balance plunge as equity prices flash red can feel like a threat to your financial stability. As counterintuitive as it may seem, the best course of action when faced with market volatility can be to do nothing. In other words, avoid a fight (trading your way out of a bad situation) or flight (selling and running for the exits) response. Your portfolio reflects the amalgamation of past decisions. When volatility is running high, it can be helpful to pause and reflect on why you bought a stock in the first place. The stock price may have fallen in the last week in lockstep with the broader market, but that price action likely has nothing to do with the long-term investment thesis. Long-term investing starts with the understanding that you should be buying a stock based on where it will be several years from now, not where it is today. The current stock market sell-off is a response to changing near-term forecasts. Many analyst targets had the S&P 500 closing higher on the year, but those gains seem unlikely if tariffs throw a wrench in supply chains and profits. So, short-term investors and Wall Street firms may slash forecasts and overreact to near-term projections. At times like this, I find it helpful to lean on a lesson I learned from The Psychology of Money, written by Morgan Housel. In the book, Housel describes the stock market as a field upon which many games are simultaneously being played. You have short-term traders and long-term investors; institutions and retail investors. The point is that not every dollar invested in a stock has the same motive. Folks who ride a stock higher to make a quick buck may be the same ones who dump the stock the second there's an inkling of newfound risk. Meanwhile, folks who have been in stock for several years or decades are less likely to have a knee-jerk reaction to any single piece of news. Over the long term, a stock price moves based on fundamentals, but in the near term, it can merely reflect changes in sentiment by speculative traders rather than investors. Accepting that different games are being played on the field and how they all feed into a stock's price at any given time can help you filter out the noise and understand that sometimes, price action has little to do with the long-term returns a company can offer. Outside-the-box thinking can lead to finding hidden gem companies at a great value. But there's no extra credit in the stock market for coming up with a brilliant idea no one has ever thought of. In fact, sometimes, the best ideas are hiding in plain sight. Well-run, financially sound companies like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) have seen their share prices plummet. Both stocks are down over 15% year to date as of this writing. It may seem too obvious to buy shares of two of the most valuable companies in the world on sale, but there's no need to discount an investment idea just because it is simple. Apple has been crushed because of its dependence on China. While international exposure is normally an advantage because it adds diversification, tariffs would make it a weakness because Apple's supply chain depends on manufacturing in Asian countries like China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. In the four trading sessions following President Trump's tariff announcement, Apple stock fell a staggering 23% as investors faced the grim reality that Apple's margins could tumble if costs increase due to tariffs. Nvidia is in a league of its own when it comes to technological prowess in designing graphics processing units for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. However, Nvidia depends on its biggest customers -- companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Apple -- to spend big bucks on AI. An economic slowdown or recession could lead to a pullback in capital spending from these key customers, leading to a slowdown in growth. What's more, tariffs could increase Nvidia's costs and further compress margins. If tariffs stick around, the near-term outlook for companies like Apple and Nvidia will be undeniably weaker than it was just a few weeks ago. But both companies have incredibly strong balance sheets, industry-leading products, high margins, and experienced leadership -- they should be able to adjust and deliver profits even if tariffs persist. Apple and Nvidia are two of the biggest names in the stock market and popular picks for any investor. And amid the current uncertainty, they're also excellent examples of beaten-down growth stocks that are even more attractive buys now. In the moment, it's easy to get swept away by narratives that make it seem like the entire market is in dire straits. But oftentimes, swings in stock prices can be disconnected from a company's true value. The pandemic was an excellent example of why a company's value shouldn't necessarily change just because a few quarters of earnings are down, especially if the business has the means to endure an economic slowdown. Volatility is the price of admission for unlocking the power of compounding wealth in the stock market, so staying even-keeled during times like this is paramount. Before you buy stock in S&P 500 Index, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and S&P 500 Index wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $509,884!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $700,739!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 820% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 158% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Daniel Foelber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Ways to Keep Your Portfolio Safe During Tariff Volatility was originally published by The Motley Fool
Globe and Mail
13-03-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
The Motley Fool's Market Volatility Toolkit
Foreword: Paying the Cost of Admission By Morgan Housel The stock market is the greatest wealth-generating machine history has ever known. Every dollar invested in the S&P 500 at the start of 1925 is today worth $1,285 -- and that's adjusted for inflation. The fact that this money machine is available to ordinary people would have seemed preposterous to someone even two generations ago. In 1929, 5% of Americans owned stocks. Today, more than 60% do. Many of them will get rich by owning a slice of American businesses. If the story ended there, this would sound like a fairytale. But let me introduce you to the first law of economics: Everything worthwhile has a price. And now, the first law of personal finance: Find the price, and be willing to pay it. Successful investing demands a price. But its currency is not dollars and cents. It's volatility, fear, doubt, uncertainty, and regret -- all of which are easy to overlook until you're dealing with them in real time. Say you want to earn an 11% annual return over the next 30 years so you can retire in peace. Does this reward come free? Of course not. The world is never that nice. There's a price tag -- a bill that must be paid. Remember that period I told you about when the stock market increased 1,200-fold? Here's what happened during those beautiful years: Stocks fell at least 10% more than 100 times. That's an average of once every 11 months. It fell 15% more than 40 times. Or about once every two years. It fell more than 20% at least 23 times. Call it once every four years. On 10 separate occasions, it fell more than 30%. Three times, it has lost more than half its value. During a sensational period of wealth creation, the market served up a constant parade of volatility, fear, doubt, and confusion. Here's the kicker: Not only is stock market volatility normal, but it is also the cost of admission. The entire reason the stock market can produce great long-term returns is that its short-term returns are volatile and unpredictable. If you want tranquility, cash and bonds can provide it -- for a far lower return. The cause of most investing problems -- most, that is not an exaggeration -- is viewing market volatility not as the cost of admission, but as an indication of error. An analogy might help. If I get pulled over for speeding and am issued a $100 ticket, that is a fine. I did something wrong. I am in trouble. I should not do it again. If I take my kids out to dinner and the bill is $100, that is a fee. It's the cost of receiving something in return. No one did anything wrong. I will gladly pay it again. In the vast majority of cases, market volatility is a fee, not a fine. Volatility is rarely a sign that you screwed up. Dealing with it is the cost of admission that the market makes you pay to receive excellent long-term returns. And if you want to sum up the skill of the best investors of all time, it's this: They identified the cost of admission, and they became willing to pay it. Introduction The Nasdaq has tumbled more than 10% from its December high, officially entering a correction, while the S&P 500 isn't far behind, down over 9%. But this isn't just a tech-driven sell-off -- pressure is mounting across the entire market. And the fear is only growing. Investment bank Citi (NYSE: C) recently downgraded U.S. stocks to neutral, warning that "U.S. exceptionalism is at least pausing." Adding to the uncertainty, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that rate cuts the market had been counting on may not be coming anytime soon. With policy uncertainty rising and economic optimism fading, volatility is surging. The VIX, Wall Street's so-called "fear gauge," has spiked 60% this year -- a clear signal that investors are growing uneasy as the safety net of government support looks increasingly out of reach. It's with this backdrop that we're bringing investors a comprehensive toolkit about the current environment and the steps to take to ready their portfolios. In it, we'll cover: The biggest risks threatening the market right now -- and what's driving them. Actions The Motley Fool is taking today to navigate uncertainty within its products. A five-part checklist with practical moves long-term investors can make now to prepare for a downturn. Stay Foolish out there, and remember we're always here to help. Economic Shifts, Tariffs Breed Uncertainty A major driver of the market's recent downturn is mounting concern about the impact of the Trump administration's economic policies, from its trade stance and shifting tariffs to widespread job losses and public comments acknowledging turmoil could be ahead. Investors and businesses alike are weighing the fallout -- evidenced by the fact that 383 S&P 500 companies referenced tariffs in their latest earnings calls. Tariffs function as an import tax, raising costs for companies that rely on foreign goods. This leaves businesses with two options: absorb the added expense or pass it on to consumers. The pressure is already showing. Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Target (NYSE: TGT) have cut sales forecasts, warning that price hikes on essentials like groceries and electronics are inevitable. Delta (NYSE: DAL) and American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) have also slashed their profit outlooks, citing concerns that economic uncertainty will weaken travel demand. Critics argue that escalating tariffs are inherently inflationary. Warren Buffett recently likened them to "an act of war, to some degree," while Carlyle CEO Harvey Schwartz warned that trade wars have "sustainably inflationary" effects. The concerns are reflected in economic data: Consumer prices rose 2.8% on an annual basis in February, remaining well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Economists estimate the administration's trade policies amount to a $130 billion annual tax increase on Americans, roughly $1,000 in extra costs per household. The pessimism isn't isolated to boardrooms and trading floors -- it's reaching everyday Americans, too. Consumer confidence in February posted its sharpest monthly drop since August 2021, and a survey showed they expect inflation to rise by 6% over the next year. That's a troubling signal in an economy where nearly 70% of gross domestic product (GDP) comes from consumer spending. If households start pulling back, growth could stall, increasing the risk of stagflation -- slowing economic activity paired with persistent inflation. With markets slipping and pessimism rising, it might seem like the worst has passed. But before reaching that conclusion, it's worth considering just how stretched valuations were at the start of 2025. Fools don't invest alone! Join the conversation on our Fool24 YouTube stream, live every Monday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m. Eastern. Engage with fellow investors, ask questions, and get insights from our team. Investors Used to Feel Differently Investor sentiment was near euphoric at the end of last year. The S&P 500 Shiller CAPE Ratio, a cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings (P/E) metric, stood at 37.1 in December 2024 -- its third-highest level ever, trailing only the dot-com bubble (44.2) and the post-pandemic stimulus surge (38.6). The enthusiasm spilled into 2025. The Buffett Indicator, which compares total U.S. stock market capitalization to GDP, hit a record 207% in February, surpassing the 195.6% peak from November 2021. Historically, when this ratio exceeds 150%, future stock market returns weaken. Buffett took note -- Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) stockpiled over $330 billion in cash and Treasuries rather than buying more equities. Traditional valuation metrics also flashed warning signs. At its peak in February, the S&P 500 traded at 25 to 26 trailing operating earnings, while its GAAP price-to-earnings ratio topped 29 -- eerily similar to levels seen before the dot-com crash. History doesn't repeat, but it often rhymes. Extended bull markets with soaring valuations frequently set the stage for turbulence. Things Could Get Worse The Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDPNow prediction tool projects a contraction by about 2% in the first quarter of 2025, a sharp reversal from 2.3% growth in the fourth quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) economists recently bumped up the risk of a recession in 2025 to 40%. If a slowdown materializes, recession odds rise, and further stock market declines could follow. The economy and stock market don't always move in lockstep, but history suggests that when growth slows, stocks struggle -- especially when optimism has already been baked into valuations. Over the last three recessions, the S&P 500 dropped an average of 38.7%. A similar decline remains a real possibility if economic conditions deteriorate. Returns as of March 11, 2025 Risks in a Top-Heavy Market Market downturns don't impact all stocks equally. The 2022 pullback saw the S&P 500 Growth Index fall 30.1%, while the Value Index dropped just 7.4%. If history repeats, high-growth names could face steeper losses. Today's market is more concentrated than ever. The top 10 stocks now make up nearly 40% of the S&P 500's total value -- far exceeding the 27% concentration seen before the dot-com crash or the 23% before the Great Financial Crisis. If these mega-cap stocks stumble, they could take the broader market down with them. Much of this concentration stems from sky-high valuations. The table below highlights why the "Magnificent 7" stocks may be at risk: Company Forward P/E Ratio Expected EPS Growth PEG Ratio Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 19.4 11.8% 1.6 Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) 31.5 14.5% 2.2 Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 31.7 8.7% 3.6 Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) 24.8 5.8% 4.3 Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) 28.5 11.7% 2.4 Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) 25.1 52.7% 0.5 Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) 92.2 16% 5.8 average 36.2 17.3% 2.1 Data as of March 11, 2025 Peter Lynch famously wrote, "The P/E ratio of any company that's fairly priced will equal its growth rate." That means a P/E-to-growth (PEG) ratio of 1. High-quality growth companies can still justify ratios up to 1.5, but some of these numbers look stretched -- especially if earnings growth slows in a recession. If the economy slumps due to a trade war, the Magnificent 7 could fall over 20%. Navigating volatility is never easy for any investor. But it's important to remember that over the last 75 years, the S&P 500 has fallen roughly 10% from highs every year or so. Yet, each time, it has recovered to go onto higher highs. Every. Single. Time. It often takes a few months, maybe a couple of years. But a diversified basket of U.S. stocks has shown remarkable resiliency since the end of World War II. And that has created exceptional wealth for investors willing to sit through and invest in down markets. As Morgan Housel has previously written: "Most of the money you make in a bull market actually comes from what you did in the bear market." There's a big caveat though: The stock market resiliency pertains to a nicely diversified basket of stocks like the S&P 500. The same is not true for any one stock. Studies show that around 40% of all companies over the last 45 years have fallen more than 70% from their all-time highs and never come back. Those of us who invested during the COVID-19 boom have likely felt this pain. Stocks ballooned post-pandemic but then deflated during the 2022 interest rate and banking bear market. Many high-flying stocks from four years ago have lagged from their previous highs, while the market as a whole, like historical clockwork, rallied back to all-time highs through last month. We Live in Interesting Times While no one can control or predict the broader market, investors can control how they respond and prepare. Understanding the risks, adjusting expectations, and staying focused on long-term fundamentals will be critical in navigating what comes next. Over three decades at The Motley Fool, we've honed core principles that are our North Star toward long-term investing success. There are no guarantees in investing, but we recommend these tenets in bull and bear markets alike: Invest in the market only capital you don't need for the next 3 to 5 years. Own a diversified basket of 25 or more Fool recommendations. Hold stocks on average for at least 5 years (be an owner not a trader). Invest regularly through all market conditions. Hold through market volatility. Know that your stocks will routinely rise or fall 20% to 50% or more. Expect 80% of your gains to come from 20% of your stocks. Let your portfolio's winners continue winning. Target long-term returns. Utilize cash positions for ballast and opportunities. What The Motley Fool Is Doing With history notes in hand and leading principles in mind, here are some actions our investors are taking as they guide our scorecards. Stay Invested and Continue Investing We are not all-in or all-out. We want to keep investing and stay the course in good and bad times. The Fool's analysts are still making recommendations, and we're still buying stocks in our real-money portfolios. We might make some sells within individual scorecards or portfolios, but we keep our money in the market -- because time in the market is our greatest asset, and no one can time the market. While short-term volatility is painful, there's no way to know when the market will rebound. If you fight the temptation to sell, you can see how staying invested smooths out year-to-year volatility into long-term positive returns: Add Diversification Consider diversifying portfolios that lean heavily on volatile growth companies with stable, financially robust, lower-volatility companies and stocks. For example, over in Stock Advisor, our last two recommendations, healthcare leaders GE HealthCare (NASDAQ: GEHC) and Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), are categorized by our Quant analyst team as "Cautious." We love great growth companies, but it's nice to have some steadier ballast during tumultuous market times. Watch Large Positions Be mindful of very large positions. If a stock, even of a great company, has grown to be more than 15% of a portfolio, we'll want to make sure we're very comfortable with the long-term prospects. Run a thought exercise: How would we feel if that stock fell 25% from today? For example, in the Everlasting Portfolio, we trimmed our position in Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) from 17% of the portfolio to a more manageable 10%. We remain committed holders of Arista, but its valuation became a little exuberant for that large of a position. Trimming it back helped us manage the risk profile of that $21 million Fool real-money portfolio. Consider Cash Do we have some set aside to give our portfolio more optionality during volatile times? Consider a baseline of 5% to 10% and tweak based on risk appetite and portfolio holdings. The more high-growth and volatile a portfolio is, the more cash we want to have handy. Going back to the Everlasting Portfolio as an example, we carry around 12% cash there, up from 10% a few months ago. Drawdowns. Corrections. Bear markets. Black Mondays. We can't avoid them. In fact, they're a natural part of the capitalist system. But we can learn how to manage through them. And even use them to our advantage. Check out our printable PDF checklist for 5 steps we recommend you take to prepare for market volatility. Where to invest $1,000 right now When our analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is 822% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 162% for the S&P 500.* They just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now, available when you join Stock Advisor. *Stock Advisor returns as of March 10, 2025 Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Citigroup is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Andy Cross has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Arista Networks, Berkshire Hathaway, Best Buy, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Target, and Tesla. David Meier has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Premium Team has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Arista Networks, Berkshire Hathaway, Best Buy, GE HealthCare Technologies, JPMorgan Chase, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Target, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Delta Air Lines and Novo Nordisk and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Surprising Reason Why a Stock Market Sell-Off or Even a Bear Market Could Help You Build Lasting Generational Wealth
At the time of this writing, the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) is down 9.4% from its 52-week high, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is down 6%. While we are nowhere close to a full-blown market crash, the Nasdaq is close to correction territory, which is a drawdown of at least 10%. A crash is usually defined as a swift sell-off of at least 20%, and a bear market is a prolonged decline of more than 20%. No one likes losing money. But stock market sell-offs and bear markets can present tremendous buying opportunities for long-term investors. Here's how to navigate a sell-off, and how you can use periods of pessimism to build lasting generational wealth. Economist Benjamin Graham, author of the 1949 book The Intelligent Investor, famously wrote: "In the short run, the stock market is a voting machine. But in the long run, it is a weighing machine." This means that short-term movements in stock prices have nothing to do with a company's intrinsic value. They're merely representative of whether the stock is in or out of favor. During bull markets, investors are optimistic and may be willing to pay a higher price based on a company's growth potential. During bear markets, investors are pessimistic and want to pay less for a company based on its value or potential. The key is to invest in fundamentally sound businesses that can grow over time, rather than using a stock's price as a yardstick for whether it is worth buying and holding or not. In a bull market, both good and bad companies see their stock prices go up. But in a bear market, even the best companies can sell off simply because their near-term outlook is weak. In his book The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel discusses the importance of knowing what game you're playing. He describes the stock market as a field upon which multiple games are being played simultaneously. There are traders versus investors, institutions and individuals, risk-tolerant folks with ultra-long-term time horizons, and retirees looking to preserve capital and generate passive income. All these factors are at play and can pull the market in different directions. A stock can stay beaten down for an extended period simply because traders don't think it will do anything in the near term, and then suddenly rocket higher once the narrative changes. In comparison, some stocks can become Wall Street darlings and fetch consensus favorable ratings from analysts, which can stretch their valuations. As Warren Buffett famously said: "You pay a very high price in the stock market for a cheery consensus." This means that if a stock is well known and liked, chances are it isn't going to be cheap. The most powerful tool any investor has is time. Time can transform steady savings and mediocre annual gains into sizable wealth. Consider that an investor who starts with nothing but saves $500 a month for 30 years and averages a 10% annual gain per year will end up with $1.13 million, even though the sum of their monthly savings is just $180,000. Meanwhile, an investor who starts with $180,000 upfront and earns a whopping 20% per year over 10 years ends up with roughly the same amount -- $1.11 million. So even though the first investor had nothing and earned a far lower annual return, they were able to achieve the same end goal because they had more time. When the market sells off, it's important to remember what the end goal is, rather than getting caught up in the volatility. For individual investors, the end goal isn't to try to beat the market this quarter or year, but to use the market to help compound your savings over time. When excellent companies sell off, investors who regularly put savings to work in the market can acquire even more shares of the companies they like. In other words, it's a way to use investors voting against the market by selling stocks to your advantage -- trusting in the might of the long-term weighing machine. Volatility is simply the price of admission for unlocking the stock market's compounding effects. Even so, stock market sell-offs are brutal. Focusing on the big picture is challenging when equity prices are bleeding red and your portfolio balance is decreasing. We're all human, and personal finance can be emotional. After all, investing involves your hard-earned savings, money that you've chosen to defer spending in favor of growing over time. So, when that money loses value, it can really hit home. By using stock market sell-offs to acquire even more shares of quality companies, you can accelerate the pace of compounding and grow closer to reaching your financial goals. However, it's worth remembering that regardless of whether the market is going up or down, it's best to invest in companies you truly understand and that you have the conviction to hold through periods of volatility. Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a 'Double Down' stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $286,710!* Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $44,617!* Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $488,792!* Right now, we're issuing 'Double Down' alerts for three incredible companies, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.*Stock Advisor returns as of March 3, 2025 Daniel Foelber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The Surprising Reason Why a Stock Market Sell-Off or Even a Bear Market Could Help You Build Lasting Generational Wealth was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
