The older I get the more I understand how important it is to pay attention to my breath when I exercise. Of course we all have to breathe to stay alive, but how and when we take those breaths can really make a difference in the effectiveness of our workout. A good deep breath can optimize our oxygen intake, stabilize our core, improve posture, reduce stress, boost our performance and hasten our recovery. It’s the same for investing. The older we get, the more important a deep, cleansing breath is to our investment strategy. It can be tempting to react to alarming developments that show up in our newsfeeds. We want to jump in immediately to protect the funds we’ve worked so hard to accumulate. But, yanking resources from our retirement accounts out of fear or apprehension just locks in the losses we’re hoping to avoid. In those times, it’s good to take a deep breath. History has shown us how resilient the U.S. stock market has been through some monumental challenges. It has bounced back from wars, depressions, terrorist attacks and pandemics. Impulsive reactions to dramatic events almost always lead to trouble. The older you are, the less time your account has to recover before you need to start withdrawing from it. When current events trouble you, we recommend taking a deep breath and discussing your concerns with a trusted financial advisor, one who has committed to a fiduciary relationship with you. They can walk you through reasonable options to ease your concerns, show you historical data and explain what causes market volatility and the best ways to combat it. A 24-hour news cycle can be exhausting to follow, especially when so many sources bait clicks with alarming headlines and deceptive hashtags. Sometimes, the best response to all of that is to take a deep cleansing breath and scroll on.