She's On The Money - What Share Market Dips Do to Your Brain... and What History Says is Coming Next

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

Your portfolio’s down, and the news is throwing around words like “correction” and “crash.” So... should you be worried? In this episode, Victoria breaks down what’s actually happening in the share market. What’s behind the dip, how global headlines (looking at you, Trump and your tariffs) rattle investor confidence, and why it messes with your decision-making. We're covering:📉 What’s actually driving the current market dip and why it’s not a sign to panic📉 Why your brain reacts so strongly to red numbers (and how to stop it messing with your decisions)📉 What history tells us about dips and what will likely happen next📉 What long-term investors (including Victoria) stay steady when the market gets dramatic Press play to feel less panicked, more informed, and genuinely better equipped to ride this one out.Listen to our last ep on the share market, Everyone’s Panicking About the Market... Here’s Why I’m Not (and You Shouldn't Either).Join our 300K+ She's on the Money community in our Facebook Group and on Instagram.  Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that keeps your investments growing and your stress levels low, even when your portfolio is more red than your ex's flags. I'm Bec, your resident investing newbie, who's got a bunch of questions and a lot of feelings about what the market's doing right now. And you're probably the same, I imagine. So I had to sit down with the woman who has seen it all before and lived to tell the tale, Victoria Devine, retired financial advisor, long-time investor, and someone who doesn't panic when the market dips, unlike me. I do feel sick when the market dips, though. I'm not going to lie. You do feel sick? A little bit seasick?

I don't think anybody likes seeing that they've, quote, lost some money, right? And I know that that's not the case but like find me someone who logs into their investment platform and goes oh it's in the red perfect great great I love this like and I mean I do reframe it I'm like okay well that is actually an opportunity maybe I'll tip some more money like I get it but even I have to check myself and be like ew and then I'm like oh right like at what point do we stop tipping money into it because I was doing the same I was like oh it's gone down maybe I'll but then I don't know where it's coming from because I've got so many things and I don't know how to read my portfolio. It's true. It's true. Well, we're going to talk about it today, but before we get into it,

I do want to like, is it called timestamping where you tell people the day that you're recording this? Oh yeah. So we're going to timestamp this episode because we are recording this on the eve of what Trump has dramatically dubbed liberation day. Wow. So he is making in the next 24 hours from when we're recording this, a very big announcement where he's going to potentially announce a whole heap of like a new round of tariff information. And so that will actually significantly impact the economy. So right now we're talking about what has happened and you know, I'm going to talk about Trump's new tariffs when they come in, but we don't have that information right now. But I didn't want to like hold off on this episode to wait for more

information. So we'll talk about it and then we'll probably talk about it again. But I don't want you to think, oh, V's not taking into consideration X, Y, and Z. Babe, it's because I don't live in the future. I would love that. That is so fair. Yeah. So some of what I'm about to say might actually already be playing out. And if so, guys, I am the oracle. Like you can refer to me as the oracle. If it's not playing out, pretend you never heard this. Like we are not living in the in-between. So Trump might have actually changed his mind entirely and just called the whole thing off because that's actually an option for him. And it wouldn't be the first time. It wouldn't shock me Because remember when he was like, oh, TikTok ban, whatever.

We'll just not do that anymore. Yeah. He just does whatever he wants. He's rogue, honestly. There's something about American politics that just keeps me hooked. It's like watching reality TV for me. It is. Like I'm obsessed.

It is. But I think it's really important that at the time of recording, there has been over the last few weeks a lot of global uncertainty swirling around and it's hitting investor confidence. Like I'm seeing it in our community a lot. A lot of people are asking what's going on. Why are the markets down? Victoria, how does this work? So Wall Street, which is the American ASX has been sliding for weeks and the ripple effect has definitely already made its way to Australia. And so we are starting to see that the changes in Australia are not nearly as dramatic as America, but that is usually what

happens. So something big will happen in the US, their share market plummets, ours will dip. So like we are often replicating the American markets, but in a softer way, I would say. And that usually happens because the Australian economy is held up in a different way than the American. But when it comes to confidence, Bec, if you see your American friend going through something, you're probably going to get a bit worried too, right? Well, I've always been confused by this because I know people do say that. Like if like the American, I didn't really understand it. So forgive me if I'm wrong, but the American dollar is weak. So the Australian dollar, like I've just never understood the link there. Because there's trade agreements between the countries. I see. And ultimately when we're

talking about investor sentiment, we are talking about how confident someone is in something, right? So if you're seeing your friends and right now we are seeing a lot of what is happening in America translating to Australia much quicker than it has historically because of social media, because you're able to learn much quicker what's going on in the US and get really worried about it. Like historically, Bec, I'm just going to make a broad brush stereotypical statement. I'm pretty sure you're not sitting down every morning with the newspaper, reading through all of the information about the economy. Oh, that's correct. No, so you're not doing that. But historically, that's how you would have gained your information on what's going on economically. Now you jump on

TikTok and people are like, what the hell? Trump's tariffs are crazy. And you're like, oh wow, that is crazy. I wonder how that impacts me. And your confidence is going to be knocked. So Australia is responding a lot quicker to what's going on in the US because our confidence gets knocked whenever we think that there's something negative going on with money. Sure. So it's not to say that that means that we are significantly impacted. I don't know what these tariffs are going to mean for us, but it does mean that, you know, I get a bit worried when I see what's going on in the US. Right. Because I go, oh, well, what does that mean for me? What does that mean for my investment portfolio? I own international shares. Are my

international companies okay? And you know, when that happens, I go, oh, maybe I'll just hold off and investing for a little while. And if lots of people do that, the market goes down. Yes. I see. So that's kind of like, I'm not saying that that's the only way they're linked, but in the way that you're talking, that is how they're linked. Okay. But ultimately, investors are worried that essentially Trump is going to spark a trade war, which is terrifying. And that typically means slower global growth. It means that there are

going to be higher costs and more pressure on company earnings. And when the US is a little bit wobbly on its feet, especially in sectors like tech and manufacturing and commodities, Australia tends to feel that too, because we trade with them on those things. And also Beck, to put into the middle of this, yesterday, the RBA has decided to hold interest rates, which I wasn't surprised about. A lot of people were asking me, V, do you think that they are going to drop interest rates again? Or do you think that they are going to increase them? No, I just thought that they were going to hold because we just want to see what's going on with the economy for a little bit longer. The RBA are being quite cautious and they've only just started

cutting rates, right? They can't just set the expectation that they'll do this every month because the economy might get too confident. Like we need to just slow and steady wins the race and they don't want to jump the gun with another move until there's a little bit more clarity on what this means for inflation and spending and the Australian's economy in a broader sense. So right now, I would say, and I feel like I'm just waffling, I hope it's interesting. But right now, I would say the market is a little bit on edge. We're not panicked, but we're definitely a little bit nervous, like we're being a little bit more cautious. And as always, whenever anybody is uncertain, that actually leads to volatility in the market. So volatility is, I feel like it's a

very fancy word for just saying that the market goes up and down. Volatility is how quickly it ebbs and it flows. But in saying that at the time of recording, investors are, we're just waiting to see what Liberation Day brings. Okay. I'm just so interested to know what the hell Trump, Like why, why does that have to be called Liberation Day Trump? It's very, it's very scary. I know. It does sound very, very scary. So I've been hearing the word correction thrown around lately.

And I think I know what it means, but also I like, I don't really at all. That's okay. Is it just a fancy way of saying the market's crashing? No, a market correction is not necessarily a crash, but a market correction happens when the share market drops by 10 to 20 percent from its most recent peak so not from what it is today from what its most recent peak is and we know that it's already heading downwards at the moment and to contextualize that a little bit more the market's going down yes but in your lifetime Beck this is going to happen seven times and if we look back

at history and go, well, what happened in previous market crashes? We know that the market has gone down and then it's gone back up and some. So we do not have experience where the market has crashed and it stays crashed. Right. And I think that that's good to understand here because I think a lot of the time we go, well, what does it mean if the market crashes? Am I going to lose all my money? Yes, you will lose all your money if you take it out of your investment portfolio and accept the lower amount that your portfolio is currently valued at. But if you stayed invested and waited until it crept back up, long-term investors are winners. So back to correction, a correction is, or it's called a correction because it's basically the market giving itself

like a little bit of a reset, I would say. It's kind of like, well, maybe we got a little bit ahead of ourselves. Like maybe we got a little bit too confident. We're going to peg ourselves back a little bit and that's not necessarily a bad thing. So both the S&P 500 in the US, which is essentially the top 500 companies in the US and the ASX here in Australia have dropped into correction territory this month. So if you're seeing that on the news and people are talking about a market correction, that's essentially what's happened. There has been a peak and it's a minimum of 10% down. That's all that means. So what does that mean? At the moment we're seeing hopefully short-term volatility play out across global markets. Corrections, I think that they

feel very uncomfortable because you've logged into your investment portfolio. Like Beck, if you logged into Sharesies right now, I can almost guarantee. Yep. She's gone down. She's gone down. Does that feel good? No, it's scary. This is very comforting to know. It's really comforting to talk about how these things actually happen quite often and like, yes, your portfolio right now, Beck, it's valued at less. That doesn't feel good. Time to buy.

Only if you, yes, exactly. I have taught you everything, but at the moment it doesn't feel good, but it means that we can ride it out and it's going to come back up. How good is that to know? Because you're not accepting a loss. And so many of us, if we don't have that level of education or that level of confidence in understanding investing, we kind of freak out and go, I'm just going to take my money out. I feel like I've lost enough. I don't want to lose more, but you're accepting less. In this house, Bec, we don't accept less in any part of our life, do we? No. Especially when it comes to investing. Yeah. So on average, sorry to tell you this, a correction is going to happen on average about every two years. Okay. Ew, David. It's not a sign

that something in our system is broken, but rather the market's just doing what the market does. Yeah. And that doesn't mean it's always exciting. It's just moving in cycles. Absolutely. And she's free to go up and down. Exactly, Bec. Corrections are part of how market cycles work. I think they're uncomfortable, yes, but they are totally normal. And look, after the break, we're going to talk about some of the biggest market dips in history and what happened next might actually surprise you a little bit, Bec. So stick around, guys. Welcome back. We are talking share market dips, but I promise we are not here to stress you out. In fact, history gives us a lot of reasons

to stay calm when the market actually gets a little bit scary. So I'm hearing a lot of terms. Yes. They're actually familiar to me and my community, but for different reasons. Oh, right. Bear market. Yeah. We've really reframed that. I did hear you say peg before too. Bear market. A bear market is nothing like what it is to you. Okay.

Yeah. And I mean- It's exciting. Yeah. Like that's all good. That's all good for you. It's exciting. I mean, a bear market in terms of the investment world is not, I mean, it maybe is, it's like hibernating, like big, warm hug, maybe. Yeah. Okay. Like let's try and reframe that. Right. So there's a bear market and there's a bull market, right? So a bull market, if you think of the characteristics of a bull, a bull is an aggressive animal. It charges at a red flag. It's going up. A bear market, it's like hibernation vibes. Sleepy. Sleepy. We're going, we're going to go backwards. Yeah. So that we

can come out of this well-rested, right? So a bear market is definitely the more dramatic cousin of a correction, you could say. So like you have a correction before you have a bear market. Essentially, a bear market is when the market falls by 20% or more from a recent high and it tends to stick around for a while. We're talking months. It can even stick around for years or even a couple of years, depending on what's driving it, like the global financial crisis, bear market. COVID, bit of a bear market. Bear markets usually come with, what do you say, like broader economic issues, things like rising unemployment, slower growth, or bigger global shocks. So they're more than just like a bit of volatility or like a little bit of a dip.

They're actually a deeper downturn that takes much longer to recover from. So I like, yeah. And I like to think of the bear as kind of like the market's going into hibernation mode because that feels much more comfortable than saying it's drop to pick. Yeah. So I'm like, all right, yeah, it's red, but it's in hibernation. Now's the time. what do you do in hibernation? You stockpile. You save all your nuts. You get cozy. Yeah, you get cozy. You get comfy. You do what you need to do because you're going to come out of hibernation at some point, right? Like summer's coming, baby. Oh yeah. You're going to come out fresh as a daisy, ready to tackle the world. So very different to what it means in your community.

Yes. So the ASX has dropped, but at this point in time, not enough for us to say that we're currently in a bear market. Okay. Okay. Got you. But I'll let you know if we are in a bear market. Thank you. Because we'll be making a lot of bare content, but apparently not the type of bare content you're into. We could do both. I'm sure we could try and collab. We could collab.

I think we'd be good at this. You let me know how you think that's going to work. Yes, I'll come to you with some draft ideas. So I get the sense the media is kind of like, just to be safe, being maybe a little bit dramatic. Oh, they're so dramatic. When aren't the media dramatic? Oh, that's true.

Nobody cares when your share portfolio is just bopping along. Yeah. are you going to put that on the front page of the newspaper? Share portfolio performs as expected. Like, oh, great. No worries. Financial advisor was correct. Like how boring they are, at least at the time of us recording. And honestly, they love to cause a little bit of panic. I've spoken to you guys about the emotional journey of investing before at the peak, like when people are like, it's like Bitcoin. My favorite example is Bitcoin. Remember when people were like, if you're not investing in Bitcoin, you're an idiot. Like, and every man and his dog was like investing

in Bitcoin and then you had FOMO. Oh yeah. Because everyone was doing it, but you and you thought you were going to miss out, but that's actually the point in time that is maximum risk. And then on the opposite of that, when people are being really dramatic and they're like, the stock market sucks. Great. That might actually be an opportunity for me to invest because you're trying to knock my confidence. And when you're trying to knock my confidence, you are being successful with a number of people, which means they're not investing, which means maybe I've got an opportunity to buy some discount shares. Right. Love to see it. Yeah. Keep on being dramatic market and keep on being dramatic media because I actually love when my shares are undervalued because I'm stocking up

for winter baby. Oh yeah. We're reaping the rewards. Exactly. So this is where if we look at history, we can kind of like help calm the panic because every bear market we've ever been through, yeah, 20% drop sounds like it sucks, but we've always recovered. There's not been one time in history where a bear market hasn't come back to be a bull market. And if we look at the last 124 years here in Australia, which is exactly how long the Australian share market has existed, the market has ended the year down just 24 times. So out of 124 times that the market has ended in Australia, just 24 times, it's ended down 100 times it has ended up. And that's only 19% of the time, which is not that bad. So that means that more than 80% of the time it's ended

up even when we've had some psychotic wild years, including wars and financial crisis and pandemics, like we've only ended down a few times. Right. That's not that bad. That's pretty good. That's boring for the front of a newspaper. That's so boring, Bec. And some of the best years honestly came after the worst years. And I'm not saying it just recovered and got back to where it was and we're going to take credit for that. But like in 2008 is when the global financial crisis happened. And I think that's, you know, if you're listening to this podcast, you have an idea of that, but you're very likely to have not experienced that individually because in 2008, a lot of you were in school or you were just coming out of school or you weren't investing at that point

in time. But in 2008, Bec, the market dropped by 40%. That would have made anybody run for the hills. That's scary. It's a scary number. In 2009, it bounced back with a 39.6% gain. Okay. It went all the way back and then came all the way forward and now it's grown and some. And then after COVID, so remember the COVID crash, everyone was absolutely spitting it. Like unemployment was at its peak because obviously everyone was working from home. Every man and his dog was being made redundant. The market then returned by 17.1% in 2021. She thrives. So like she comes back. She's a redemption queen. She's always trying to reinvent herself and it's worked every single time. And then if we go back to a time when you and I weren't alive, Bec, in 1983, right after the

recession. I remember. Yeah, you do. You would have heard of it. I've told you about the recession before. I was probably like 20, 28. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The market actually surged by 66.8%. Whoa. Like imagine those returns. Like imagine during the recession, obviously lots of people were struggling. Please don't get me wrong. That's not what we're talking about. We're here to talk about investment. But imagine during the recession, if you saw the markets dropping and you bought a whole heap of shares, because you were like, this is an opportunity. And then the market the year after surged by 66.8% with love, laugh, baby. You would be cheering.

Exactly. So while history doesn't repeat itself exactly, I think these examples show that recovery periods can be incredibly strong. And that happens even after significant dips. And my job is to help you feel confident about your investing journey because lots of you are freaking out right now being like, what the heck they, like my investment portfolio is down. So I think that makes me feel confident. And when I'm looking at my investment portfolio and I'm like, oh my goodness, this feels like trash. Reframing it and being like, well, actually this is what history has said. Yeah. Maybe I should be investing more. And you're doing a great job. I'm trying. This is very, very comforting. So if the market has historically always recovered, as we know,

why does everyone freak out the second we see it? Oh baby, we are inherently emotional. Yeah. Like have you met a human that is not inherently emotional? No. And also I guess we're thinking what if this time it doesn't come back? Exactly. Because we are, if not anything, super dramatic ourselves. Like unfortunately the market when it comes to investing might be very logical, but people are deeply emotional and at a very primal level, we are hunter gatherers and we are anxious about these things and we want to stockpile our resources to make sure we don't have a time where we don't have enough. Makes sense. And then overlaying our money story, if you've been through, you know, financial hardship, that is going to hit even harder.

We are emotional, like, and that is okay, but our brains, they're not built for the share market. Our brains are built in a very linear way and the share market works in a very compounding way. And that is actually, I'm not saying the concept is hard to comprehend, but actually making that happen is very hard for our brains to wrap it around. Like at the end of the day, we are wired for survival. So when we see our investments drop, our brain just goes threat. That is a threat. That is very scary. And we go into fight or flight. It's just going to happen the same way that if you heard like a smoke alarm or something go off at 2am, it kicks off a fear response that tell us to do something, do anything, Bec, do anything. You need to stop the perceived loss.

I don't want my house burning down. Like that is exactly what is happening. And because of something called loss aversion, psychologists have actually found that a loss feels twice as painful as anything good we gained. Huh? How annoying. That sucks. So a 10% drop to your portfolio feels much more dramatic than if you got a 10% gain. If you got a 10% gain, you're like, yeah, cool. You got a 10% loss. You're like, what the heck? I didn't sign up for this. Oh man. So it's true, right? Yeah. That makes sense. That makes sense. And then what do we do? I'm good at this. I'm extra actually good at this at 3am. Oh yeah. Tastrophizing. So this is where your brain jumps to the worst case scenario every single time. Like the market drops a little and then

suddenly Beck, you did it before. It's all over. The market's never going to recover. What if it just doesn't recover this time. She's never coming back. I should actually just sell everything and I should hide. And I'm just going to keep my money under my mattress. Live, love, laugh. Like that is going to work for me. It's actually your brain trying to protect you. And that's so nice. That's cute. Thank you brain. Yeah. Turn off. Yes. It's cute, but you can chill out. Yeah. Just stop. Just stop. You are being overprotective right now. And that often leads to the exact kind of decisions that hurt your long-term performance. One out of 10, don't do that to me. Like we need to be able to reframe it and be like, thanks for actually being a little bit overbearing right now.

And I don't align with that as an investor. Appreciate your concerns, but nothing to worry about. Exactly. Exactly. And at 3am, that's very hard to negotiate with. And it's not that people are irrational. It's that money is deeply emotional and emotional decisions Beck never make for the best investment strategy. Oh, I can imagine. I can imagine. Like I was talking to someone the other day about their hex debt and they're like, yeah, but if I just paid off and I was like, cool. So if you paid off your entire hex debt, what's that indexing at? Oh, it's indexing at like, let's just say 4%. What's the share market return at? And they were like, oh, nine and a half percent on average. Like, okay, cool. So if we had a return of 4% or nine and a

half percent, which is better. Oh, that's a good way to look at it. Where are you putting your money? In the share market. Okay. Why? Oh, well, I don't like debt. I'm deeply emotional about this. It makes me feel like trash. I get it. But we need to reframe these things so that our investment strategy is not just emotional. It's not just going, well, that would feel good. I get it. I really do. And I won't keep talking about Hex because I could, we should do another episode on Hex. We should, we should. So what should we be doing to beat our emotional brains? Beat them, get in the bin. Like our emotional brain can be really helpful, but like we're switching to our logical brain and we have to remember that our brain is actually reacting to

fear. It's not reacting to facts, but you can actually work around it because sometimes facts come into it and they give us that stability, right? The second I go, okay, Beck, but like, let's look at the bigger picture, A, B, C, D. And you go, yeah, that actually makes me feel better because now I'm being a bit more logical about it. So first thing we're going to do, you're not going to be surprised here. Baby, when in doubt, zoom out. Yeah. Long-term charts show that recovery is normal. And today's drop is just, it's just one part of the story. There's a whole other story. Zoom out, baby. Yeah. Stop refreshing. Maybe let's not check our portfolio every single day. that's maybe just a reminder for me not necessarily for everybody else but if you're doing what I'm

doing cut it out it is not helpful unless you're you're logging in to invest more we don't need to be checking our portfolio consistently because you know what that does fuels anxiety we don't need that in our lives we're going to stick to the plan so you know how I hop on and on about having an investment strategy and having a plan this is why because we need to stick to that plan right now to make sure that future us isn't impacted. So we're going to remind ourselves of our goals. If you're investing for the future, you're not investing for this weekend, Beck. So don't let short-term fear change the strategy that you've set up for future success. And then honestly, paper losses aren't real. Like this is probably silly, but makes sense to me.

You log into your investing app and it says you've lost money. You haven't lost money. Yeah. You actually haven't lost a bloody thing. Just numbers on a screen. You still have the same amount of shares, right? Did you lose any shares? Right. Did you lose actually any assets? No. No. But what does that number say? That number says that if you sold your assets today and you still have those same 10 assets that you had yesterday, they're just going to pay you less. Like if I came to you and Beck, you owned a house and you said, my house is worth $500,000. And I knock on your door and say, Hey Beck, I want to buy your house. And you go, great. I'm on the market anyway. I go $400,000. What are you going to do? I'm going to say, no, no, it's worth more. That's mean.

Yeah. That's nasty. You are undervaluing me. Yeah. I'm not accepting that loss. So I'm not going to be accepting that. Thank you. I'm going to wait for a better buyer. That is such a good way to frame it. I'm going to wait for someone else and I'm going to wait until they're confident that this is as sexy or asset as I think it is, I'm going to wait for my $500,000 value. That's such a great way to frame it. So paper losses are not real. You only lose money if you sell your assets

and then lock in those losses, which to be a little bit fancy in investment world, that's called crystallizing a loss. Oh, so if we crystallize a loss, we've accepted less for something that is worth more. Yeah, okay. That's not the she's on the money vibe. No, that's not the spirit.

it. So that's exactly why I literally say, don't invest money that you're going to need in the next couple of years. Because, you know, if you're like, well, B, I need it. Well, you're going to have to accept some losses to get that money back. Yeah. That's not the life we want to live, which is why we always have to have an emergency fund to access some cash. So we're never selling our portfolio at a less than good time. So for example, if you're like thinking of investing your house deposit, which a lot of people in our community are like, I'm saving up for my first home, you're thinking, oh my gosh, I'm just going to pop it in the share market because love me some sexy returns. And I'm going to try and get a little bit of a boost that could backfire. Like,

imagine if you'd done that at the start of this year and then you were planning on buying in like June, are you pulling your money out now at a loss? Like, unless you're planning on riding the wave and you're like very happy to go, okay, well the market's down. I'm going to put off buying for another year. Like I would never be investing that amount of money because investing only works when you give it time. It's a long-term game, not a quick term win. Yeah. That's a great point. I could harp on and on about that. I mean, I'm happy to listen, but I do want to buckle in. No, no, no. We're trying to wrap this episode. I do want to know, like, what about individual stocks? Like, how do I know if something I own is just dipping with the market or actually

tanking? Yeah. Look, at the end of the day, it is a very good question and there's actually no perfect way to know in the moment. Sure. But there are a few like signs that could help you get a better sense of what's going on. And I teach this in a lot more depth in my investing masterclass, but like it might be a dip if I guess the broader market or sector is down. So like if you've got a tech stock and you're worried about it, like look at the tech sector, is that down in general? Right. There's no major company specific drama in the headlines. So remember when after pay was going through all of that, like it was all in the media, made sense that it might be down. The business still seems strong overall. So if they still have like solid

leadership or decent revenue or a product people are still using, it's probably just part of the dip. Or if it has a history of bouncing back from past volatility, I would say that it's just part of the dip. But it might be more dramatic or like something that's maybe not a good investment if it's like falling real hard when the rest of the market is not falling. Or if there's like lots of media about it. And every man and his dog has an opinion on them. Like there's profit warnings or there's a big scandal or like the executives are walking out or it's part of a trend. So like maybe it's been sliding for a little while and this is just speeding it up or it was driven more by hype than fundamentals. So we see this a lot in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies

where people got so excited and bought heaps of it, but it wasn't actually a valuable asset. it, it was just more expensive because of the hype around it. And now people have gotten bored of it and they're like, oh, this isn't actually all it piped out to be. So that's probably what I would be thinking. Okay. Okay. So what if I'm like, I just don't have the brain for deep diving into company reports. Like I'm not a financial analyst. That's lucky because you've hired me to be your analyst. Right. Yeah. But how am I supposed to keep up with all of it? You could listen to my podcast. I could just move in with you. Do you want to? I've got a spare room. Your podcast? You got a podcast? No, no. But I'm a full finance nerd, right? Like I went to the

budget last week and I don't think I've ever fangirled so hard about seeing the minister for finance and women. Do be for real. You're doing God's work. Well, I don't know if it's God's work, but it's definitely some nerdy work. But like, I don't even have time for that at this point. And that's why personally, most of my investing portfolio is made up of ETFs. When When you invest in an ETF, and this isn't a recommendation, this is just like my investment strategy. You're essentially buying like a tiny slice of a really big basket of companies and assets. And behind that basket is a team of very intelligent professionals who are watching it like hawks. And I kind of like the idea of that because I used to be someone who had a maximum of,

I think at one point I had 12 different individual shares and I was checking that every week and revaluing things and rebalancing and, you know, making lots of changes and tweaks and having to deep dive on every single individual company. I just don't have time for that. Like the performance on an ETF was literally comparable, if not better. And I was like, I'm just trying to be a fancy here. I'm going to go back to ETFs. I still play with individual shares because I love the idea of a company that I believe in. And like, I do want to deep dive into your annual reports. I do want to read your CEO report, like, but more on an interest level than a, my future wealth is dependent on this level. So I think, you know, at the end of the

day, if a stock within an ETF starts slipping, somebody else is like checking in on it. And if it's not part of a wider dip, a fund manager is literally going to go in and evaluate if that share needs to get kicked out of your portfolio or not. And they're going to do it for you. Like you don't have to lift a finger. And I like if you buy an ETF and then it has a crappy share in it, they're going to get rid of it back and replace it with something that does perform. And I love that for me. Yeah. Okay. So I guess having a team of money nerds doing the work for you. Yeah, that's really sweet. And even this money nerd has that in place. Well, every money nerd needs a money nerd. Exactly. So I don't have to obsess over every company in my ETF.

Oh no, that's not your responsibility. If you're buying an ETF, it is no longer your responsibility. And like, that's the whole point. You're not expected to be a stock picker at that point. You're leveraging the expertise of these fund managers who are working like dogs behind the scene because they always, fund managers are inherently competitive. I've never met a fund manager who is not deeply in competition with every single other fund manager on LinkedIn. Yeah. Like they want to be the best fund manager ever. So they're always looking at other ETFs and trying to outperform those and looking at what their strategy, like they're nerds. I love it. Yeah. I don't have the capacity for that. Take my money. Please manage it. It's like having a team

of money nerds who are like doing the work for you. And of course, I think it's always good to understand what you're investing in. But the beauty of ETFs is that they can help you stay diversified and take some pressure off managing every single detail yourself. God, that's good. I want to go out for my oat latte, Beck. Yeah, for sure. And you don't have time if you're managing your own fun. Exactly. So I guess everyone just chill. We feel better. It's going to be okay. We feel better about this? I don't know. Yeah, I do feel a lot better. I feel a lot better, but I guess I like... Well, this entire podcast was for you, so it's fine. Yeah, and so it doesn't actually matter about anything else. It doesn't. I do feel better. Thank you, V. Well, I think we'll wrap there then

because honestly, I need another coffee. Yeah. But if you still want to know more about why I believe you shouldn't panic about the markets. We did actually do another episode a couple of weeks ago, and I'm going to link that in the show notes if you don't want to click the link. It was called Everyone's Panicking About the Market, But Here's Why I Am Not. And it's a really good one to come back to when the headlines are just getting a little bit loud. Like we all get anxious. We are deeply emotional as human beings. And you know what? That can be a value, just not when it comes to our share portfolio. And if this episode, Bec, has helped you feel a little bit calmer about everything that's going on.

I want you to send it to a friend who's currently freaking out about their portfolio right now. And you know what? Every single one of us who is employed in Australia has a superannuation fund. You all have portfolios. You all need to be caring about that. And we need a friend to tell us,

don't hit the panic button, girlfriend. Do not change your risk profile just because you're worried. Yes. Anyway, I'm done here. Great call, VD. And don't forget to like and subscribe while you're here. It really helps us keep bringing these episodes to you. so you can understand what's going on in the world

and stay on track with your investing journey. Baby, I've got your back and we will see you for a little lighter of an episode on Friday. See you. Bye guys. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature

and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money

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