![\"Corrections](\"https:\/\/financialfreedomisajourney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Corrections-Are-Healthy.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/article>\nIn times like this, it is no surprise many investors are experiencing some trepidation. Let them panic. You, however, should proceed knowing that corrections are healthy.<\/p>\n
Allow me to take you back in time to the mid-1970s when I was in high school.<\/p>\n
Several (most) of my high school courses never interested me. I never envisioned how some of the material being taught would ever apply to me in real life (BTW – they never have).<\/p>\n
Some subjects were like a poke in the eye with a bloodstick!<\/p>\n
We would have to read Shakespeare, Chaucer, etc..<\/p>\n
Imagine a final exam where you have to compare\/contrast the works of two books by different authors. I didn’t even know what they were trying to convey. How could I compare\/contrast some ‘literary masterpieces’ to which I would doze off within the first 10 minutes of reading them?<\/p>\n
What had I ever done to warrant this punishment?<\/p>\n
Don’t get me started with poetry! Couldn’t the poets write in terms that could be easily understood?<\/p>\n
On the very rare<\/strong> occasion, a snippet of a poem would resonate with me. One such poem was Rudyard Kipling’s ‘If’.<\/p>\n Strange as it may seem, the first verse of the poem has, to this very day, stuck with me from the time I first read it in 1974.<\/p>\n If you can keep your head when all about you<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,<\/p>\n If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But make allowance for their doubting too;<\/p>\n If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Or being lied about, don\u2019t deal in lies,<\/p>\n Or being hated, don\u2019t give way to hating,<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And yet don\u2019t look too good, nor talk too wise:<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The two segments that resonate the most with me are:<\/p>\n …which brings me to the importance of these words while we experience a healthy correction.<\/p>\n Investors who started investing after The Great Financial Crisis have never really experienced major market pullbacks. Sure, we had a little pullback for a few months in 2020 when the world ground to a halt because of the onset of COVID. Many retail investors, however, who began investing in 2020 have never experienced ‘interesting times’.<\/p>\n Think back to the crazy investment behavior we witnessed in 2020 – 2021.<\/p>\n Some investors found themselves being the greatest fool in the ‘greater fool’ theory.<\/p>\n Despite all the stupidity that occurred while people were in their pajamas while working (gambling?) from home, irrational investor behavior still exists. Some people still rely on share price behavior to make investment decisions.<\/p>\n Over the years, Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) have often advised investors to:<\/p>\n Invest in a business any fool can run, because someday a fool will.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I suspect they also meant the same applies to country ‘leaders’.<\/p>\n Many investors, however, have ignored their sage advice thinking ‘this time is different’.<\/p>\n Recently, some investors have come to the realization that their ‘investments’ are not truly ‘investments’ but rather ‘bets’. Others? They’re still ‘deer in headlights’. Don’t be such a deer.<\/p>\n We each have our respective goals, objectives and risk tolerance. What may cause one investor to experience ‘heart palpitations’ might have no effect on others; a ‘bet’ to one investor may be viewed as an ‘investment’ by others.<\/p>\n For me, an investment is something that leads to no loss of sleep. Sure, share prices may plunge. I do not worry, however, if this plunge is not attributed to a permanent impairment in the business. On the contrary, corrections are healthy and present an opportunity if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and you do not tire by waiting.<\/p>\n\n
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Interesting Times<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Buffett and Munger Advice<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Investments Versus Bets<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n