When I first started investing, even small price moves made me nervous. I checked charts constantly and overreacted to noise.
After living through a few real drawdowns, something shifted.
Volatility started to normal. I’m curious when that happened for you.
Was it after a specific crash, a certain portfolio size, or just time in the market?
When did market volatility stop stressing you out?
byu/Beneficial-Ad-9986 ininvesting
Posted by Beneficial-Ad-9986
12 Comments
Not 1987, not 2001, not 2008, not 2018, not 2020, not 2022, and not 2025 so I guess things have a way of working out ok. Stay the course.
I don’t think market volatility will *start* bothering me until I’m fully FIRE’d and can no longer dollar cost average my investments.
When I decided to stop investing in risky investments and transition to stable ETFs
I started tracking all of my account balances monthly a bunch of years ago. The first time those graphs took a big dive upset me a bit. But by the second or third time I was able to zoom out and see that big dip in the context of years of data and realized that it meant that I would be ‘buying right’ for a while. Now I am getting pretty close to retirement so I’m accumulating a bit more cash to give me the option not to sell as much in a big downturn but otherwise I just have to trust the monte carlo simulations and enjoy the ride.
After stomaching a few 80+% drawdowns in crypto, stock market volatility no longer phases me.
When I was confident in my strategy. 60% us total/40% international total. No crypto, no noise. I check the market everyday, but I do not act, I buy when I have extra money. I do not hold cash expecting something to happen.
After the Covid drop. It just really drove home that when your investment horizon is like 15 years out or more its all just noise. “Don’t just do something, STAND THERE!!” is truly one of the best things ever said about long term index investing.
>When did market volatility stop stressing you out
After retiring in 1998 with a tech heavy portfolio and then surviving the dot com bust.
In comparison the 2008 GFC was an unnoticed blip.
I remember the spring COVID crash (2020?) I almost tapped out and sold from pain. It was my first major dip in my 10ish years of investing. I was down maybe 100k on paper. The 2022 recession was much easier for me to handle. I knew it would eventually pass. This past spring I just laughed at the fearful posts. In the end I have never panic sold and have ALWAYS been buying every 2 weeks without fail, no matter what.
When I started investing in S&P indexes in a DCA method long term , no matter what the price is. I no longer own an individual stock
Experience and knowledge really
– living through drawdowns gives you perspective on what cycles feels like and the dumb moves you made previously
– knowledge about how little you have and how little predictive power you (I as well) have.
– So limiting exposure of single name stocks mattered
– having a repeatable process matters
– Going into 2020 everything crashed which was unprecedented. However having a portfolio that’s well diversified eased the fear to simply keeping excess cash on the sideline
– having a process of reviewing risk metrics makes it easier to not over react to 2023 and 2025
Honestly? When position sizing finally clicked. Once I stopped being oversized in any single idea, volatility turned into noise instead of stress. Experience helps, but risk control is what really flips the switch.