Red, red whine.

Good Morning Voornaam,

In a rare event on Wall Street, every single stock in the S&P 500 was in the red yesterday. It was a bloodbath. The S&P500 Index eventually closed 3.86% lower. The Nasdaq Composite Index took even more pain, down 4.66%. Locally, the JSE All Share closed 2.1% lower.
You're in for a bad time if you look at your portfolio this morning. It's extremely ugly out there.
It's easy at times like these to feel hopeless, or to think that investing is a crazy way to spend time and money. These are natural feelings. You've heard of fear vs. greed, right? Welcome to fear.
Here's the thing: unless you are a trader living off the markets, it's ok if your portfolio sits in the red for a while. If you haven't bought your positions using leverage (e.g. using CFDs), then nobody can force you to sell. If you bought companies that you genuinely believe in, then you'll be ok over the long term. In some cases, you may even want to use the opportunity to reduce your average in-price.
Here's another thing: the notion of "buying the dip" is also dangerous. If you just blindly buy things that are going down, there's a good chance you'll lose money. Before you throw good money after bad, take the time to understand why the share price has fallen.
Is there something wrong with the business? Is it doing ok, other than inflationary pressures? Was it trading at an unsustainably high valuation multiple at the time when you bought?
This is when most people choose to give up in the markets, which is exactly what you shouldn't do. Over the next few decades, the equity markets have the power to help you reach your dreams. All you need to do is be disciplined in your approach and committed to lifelong learning. I assure you, it can be done!
It's also not a bad idea to build some asset class diversification into your portfolio. You' ve probably noticed the Fedgroup black swan advert in Ghost Mail since yesterday. The company offers secured investments that give your portfolio a solid yield underpin, which leads to lower volatility over time. Check out this link to find out more.
In today's fresh content, I've written a feature article on Sirius Real Estate's results (a wonderful example of a great company that was trading at an inflated price) and Thungela's pre-close update, which has set tongues wagging about the potential dividend coming later this year. Transnet really needs to get its act together though! For the rest of the updates from the JSE, make sure you get your bowl of Ghost Bites this morning.
As always, I've got you covered with great podcasts to help you learn while you work, jog or drive today. In the EasyEquities Easy Does It podcast hosted by DJ@Large, I was asked to record a two-part series on cooking up a great portfolio. Whilst it is unfortunate that the markets currently look like one of Tito Mboweni's culinary efforts t hat cause widespread nausea on Twitter, the principles in the podcast remain important. You can listen to both episodes here.
In Magic Markets, Episode 79 saw Mohammed Nalla and I ask each other three burning questions. We really had fun with this, learning from each other along the way and giving you more insights into the people behind the podcast. Listen to it here.
Stay calm out there - rough days in the market are part of the game.