If you're familiar with Douglas Adams' satirical science fiction novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you can probably guess why I used that as my subject line.  In Adams' novel, the Hitchhiker's Guide has embossed on its cover in large letters the comforting admonition

DON'T PANIC

Arthur C. Clarke once said that this was probably the best advice that could be givn to humanity.  It's probably also the best advice that can be given to long-term investors.

I mention all of this because there seems to be a rising level of anxiety in the air and I thought it might be time to put recent events into a larger perspective.  First of all, notwithstanding the modest decline during the month of January, your portfolio's 12-month rolling return continues to rise (some Client Private Page reports were misconfigured and lacked this 12-month return -- an oversight that is being corrected now -- look again tomorrow). 

And although the stock market has had a couple of down days this week, those were preceded by a couple of up days, with the result that as I write this the Dow is trading within 50 points of where it ended the month of January.

And while the shape of economic recovery continues to be uncertain, there's at least as much good news as bad.  We learned today, for example, that the unemployment rate fell from 10.0% to 9.7%. Manufacturing added 11,000 jobs in January, factories saw an increase in the length of the workweek, and temporary workers increased by 52,000.  The number of people "underemployed" also fell in January.  Much more will have to change before we can have full confidence in the strength of the recovery, but these are all positive signs.

So, as has been the case all through this recent downturn, once we've taken all the prudent actions available to us -- such as ensuring an adequate emergency fund, diversifying our investments, and keeping a lid on debt -- it's time to turn away from market news and pay attention to the things in life that really matter. Things like family, friends, good literature, and Super Bowl Sunday.  And in case you'd like to see more examples, you may wish to revisit the Live Big© list.

Have a great weekend!

Dave