News alert here's what the Dow did today.
Down a lot.
Here's why I don't mention it much.
No offense, I really don't care a lot.
Don't get me wrong I follow stocks. I love stocks. I own stocks.
I just don't put much stock reading too much into any one day's move in stocks. Or stock market averages.
Maybe this chart illustrates my point.
The Dow over the last month month.
We've had big up days. We've had big down days.
Yet for all this whip-sawing we're essentially unchanged this year.
That's not to say big swings don't warrant attention just don't let it become an obsession.
Because I know this sounds sacrilegious for a business nerd, but I share none of this religion for stocks.
I haven't during my nearly two decades here at Fox
Or my nearly one decade before at CNBC.
Even when I hosted a show called ‘Market Wrap,' I rarely led with the markets, at all.
Sure, when they were big days.
But not at all on most days.
I believed then as I believe now that fixating on every tick can make you sick.
What's more, it can make you nuts.
And do nutty things like investing in companies that don't make money and never will, we never learn.
That's why I'm very short with those who focus on the short-term.
It gets them distracted from the long-term.
And let me stress stocks are a long game. Not a short game. And certainly not a quick game.
In fact, investing shouldn't even be a game.
Like I've said so many times on this network and Fox Business Network, and that other network.
Stick to some time-proven strategies like giving investments time.
Because let me show you the one chart one that I keep in my office to always keep this view in mind in perspective.
The Dow over the last century from a distance you just see the chart going up, get too close and you see those blips during oil crises and wars, recessions and meltdowns, but stepping back you see only the big picture. The important picture. The trend that is long-term, investors' friend.
That doesn't mean markets don't matter.
Just that being patient about them, matters much more.
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