Blair Lukan with Edward Jones says for long term goal-focused investors the plan is the most important thing.

The Saskatoon Certified Financial Adviser contends that no matter how many people express an opinion about what is happening in terms of the current market volatility due to sinking oil prices and COVID-19, the market can’t be predicted.

He stresses that the plan and the goals matter more than what’s happening temporarily in the market. He acknowledges that is tough to hear when you see the impact to your portfolio. However, Luken points out that when you look back through history, the evidence is there that we will get through this.

Volatility is what we hearing about as the markets dropped dramatically in recent days affecting investment portfolios for everyone.

“I think the thing to remember in these environments, is corrections is a commons occurrence, the average annual draw down from peak to trough, in for example the S&P 500, has for many decades been about 14% so the current decline we are in may ultimately equal that or it may be more or it might be less.”

Luken says the question investors need to ask themselves is if anything has changed in their life as far as their goals are concerned.