The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) is down roughly 4.5% this month, and investors are feeling the pain.
Doomsayers had been calling a market drop like this for many months, and investors who had listened to them wouldn't be sitting in the red right now.
Instead, they'd have all their money tucked away in low-interest term deposits or bonds. Heck, they might have even bought some gold which is considered a safe haven in times of uncertainty.
Here's why NOT to listen to the doomsayers
Then again, those same doomsayers have been predicting plenty of other downturns (and even crashes) in recent years which never quite eventuated.
For instance, many "experts" claimed the market had further to fall even after it began to rebound in 2009. The investors who listened then can thank them for the enormous profits they've missed out on in that time. In fact, the ASX 200 index has soared roughly 80% since it bottomed out in March 2009 – or even more when you take dividends paid into account.
Other stocks have delivered even greater returns. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), for instance is up 195% in that time, while online classifieds giant SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK) has skyrocketed nearly 650%!
The fact is, the market is a volatile place. That's why stock investors expect superior returns over other asset classes – to compensate for that additional risk.
Your opportunity to make a fortune
As unnerving as it can be in these times of uncertainty, they are actually the greatest time to be picking up stocks and storing them away for the long term. As legendary investor Warren Buffett said: "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful".
I can safely say that there are some running for the hills right now in anticipation of another GFC-like situation. And who knows, maybe they'll be right one of these days. But for now, I'm willing to bet this is simply another market dip that investors should be taking full advantage of.
If you're looking for some stock ideas, I recently named four stocks I would buy if I had $10,000 to invest right now. That article can be found here.
Alternatively, The Motley Fool's top advisors have also uncovered another small-cap stock with fantastic growth potential which is well worth checking out.
