Investing vs. Banking

The stock market posted good returns last week (up about 11% in 4 days) which of course is welcome news. Even if it does not retrace the downward path in an uninterrupted sequence, it certainly helps investors look ahead. Even so, we don't like to look at day to day or week to week price movement since we are involved in  investing not banking. Your investment account is different at a fundamental level than your bank account. Investing consists of exchanging one asset (cash) for another asset (in this case ownership in businesses). A bank account is  simply a place to store cash . The downdraft in the market has led investors to look at the short term movements in their account values as one would look at a bank account statement. The two are different and really should not be viewed in the same way. Remember investing is long term by definition. Continue to stay focused on your long term planning goals. More later.