Surviving a Bull Market Summer is here, and with it comes the midpoint of another year that has reminded investors how quickly headlines can change. That may feel unusual in the moment, but it is actually part of the normal investing experience. Most people understand why it is difficult to stay invested during declining markets. When account values are falling, the headlines are negative, and the future feels uncertain, the emotional pressure to “do something” can become very strong. What is less obvious is that staying invested during bull markets can be difficult too. The reasons are different, but the challenge is real. In a declining market, investors are tempted to sell because they want the discomfort to stop. In a rising market, investors may be tempted to sell because they feel like they have already made enough, they worry the gains cannot last, or they are distracted by the next exciting idea. Howard Marks captured this well in his 2015 memo, Liquidity, when he wrote: “When you find an investment with the potential to compound over a long period of time, one of the hardest things to do is to be patient and maintain your position as long as doing so is warranted on the basis of the prospective return and risk. Investors can easily be moved to sell by news, emotion, the fact that they’ve made a lot of money to date, or the excitement of a new, seemingly more promising idea. When you look at the chart for something that’s gone up and to the right for 20 years, think about all the times a holder would have had to convince himself not to sell.” That may be one of the clearest descriptions of long-term investing I have seen. When we look back at a long-term chart of the stock market, the path can seem obvious. It appears as if the disciplined investor simply needed to buy, hold, and let time do the work. But that is not how it feels while living through it. Since the beginning of 2009, investors have had plenty of reasons to question whether staying invested still made sense. We have seen fears of a double-dip recession, the U.S. debt downgrade, the Eurozone crisis, Brexit, trade wars, an inverted yield curve, the Covid shutdown, a multi-decade high in inflation, the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, repeated recession concerns, and renewed tariff fears. And that is only a partial list. Despite all of that, the market has delivered returns well above its long-term historical average since 2009. The lesson is not that bad news does not matter. The lesson is that bad news is part of the investing experience. That has continued in 2026. Already this year, investors have had to process renewed inflation concerns, questions about interest rates, geopolitical conflict, higher oil prices, and ongoing debate over artificial intelligence and market valuations. And yet, as of this writing, the market remains positive for the year, with many global markets doing even better. That does not mean the path has been smooth. It never is. In recent weeks, technology stocks experienced a sharp pullback after a strong run. Depending on the day, the explanation changed. One day it was concern about valuations. Another day it was concern that artificial intelligence may not be as transformative as investors hoped. Then came renewed questions about interest rates, inflation, and whether the market had become too concentrated in a handful of companies. Some of those concerns may prove valid. Others may fade quickly. But either way, they are not unusual. Bull markets do not move in a straight line. They are interrupted by scary headlines, sharp pullbacks, uncomfortable stretches of volatility, and convincing arguments for why now may be the time to step aside. That is what makes long-term investing hard. The challenge is not simply surviving bear markets. The challenge is also surviving bull markets without letting emotion, headlines, or short-term gains pull us away from a sound long-term plan. Why This Matters A strong market can create its own kind of risk. Not because growth is bad, but because rising markets can cause investors to become impatient, overconfident, or reactive. A few reminders are important: Good returns do not eliminate risk.They often make risk feel less visible. Bad headlines do not automatically mean bad outcomes.Markets have advanced through many periods that felt uncertain at the time. The best decision is rarely made in the heat of the moment.Portfolio decisions should be tied to your plan, not the emotion of the week. Discipline is valuable in both directions.It takes discipline to stay invested during declines, and it also takes discipline not to abandon a plan during a strong market. This does not mean we never make changes. Portfolios should be reviewed. Risk should be managed. Concentrated positions should be evaluated. Income needs, tax planning, estate planning, and time horizon all matter. But those decisions should be made as part of a plan, not as a reaction to the latest headline. It is also important to remember that staying disciplined does not mean doing nothing. For many clients, portfolios are already designed with different types of risk management built in. That may include buffer ETFs intended to provide a level of downside protection, along with CDs and short-term Treasuries that can serve as “dry powder.” That dry powder has two important purposes. First, it allows part of the portfolio to continue earning a reasonable rate of interest without taking full stock market risk. Second, it gives us flexibility to be opportunistic if market pullbacks create more attractive entry points. In other words, the plan is not simply to hope markets keep rising. The plan is to stay invested where appropriate, manage risk where needed, and keep flexibility available for the opportunities that volatility can create. One of the most valuable things a good financial plan can do is give us a framework for decision-making before the emotion of the moment takes over. | 
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July 16, 2026
