I always revisit older books that I have read to re-establish my intellectual grounding around equity investment. Lately, I have been listening to The Intelligent Investor audio version. With all that is going on in the market, it is a great time to "renew your vows".
One of the comments made by the reader of the book is a quote from Buffett who says "We love it when hammers go down at the Buffett house. Why shouldn't we love it when stocks go down?" Now that doesn't mean you buy willy nilly, but it does point out that you should keep your eye out for great companies to own at good prices.
Do you have a list of those companies you would like to own? If you don't, you should. Even when the market goes down, you may not find that it has gone down enough to represent a "sale" on the securities on your list, but you should keep that list in mind.
I always look for quality companies on sale and plan to hold for the long term. When I speak of long term, I am going out 5 plus years. I don't need instant gratification. Wanting instant gratification is where most investors get themselves in a bad position. Remember the law of the farm. You can not harvest until you have given the seeds time to grow!
