There has been a lot of news about markets falling in the past two days. So, I looked up the Dow (or the Dow Jones Industrial Average) on Google yesterday.
When you look at a 1 month view, you can clearly see the steep fall.
You see it clearly in the 1 year view as well. However, while the fall is certainly steep, we also notice that it is still higher than the starting point.
When you shift to a 5 year view, however, the fall is barely a blip.
This is not to say it will continue to be a blip. No one really knows how long this will last or if we’ve hit the bottom. We all may have guesses and, in some cases, more informed hunches – but that’s about it.
This post isn’t about all that speculation though.
Instead, as I looked at these views, I realized that they hold a powerful lesson in perspective. When we experience a really bad day, it is worth zooming out and getting some perspective.
Something that feels particularly bad right now may just be a tiny blip on a 5 year time horizon.
