You Can’t “Stay the Course” If You Haven’t Built One Yet
When the stock market drops, the advice is almost always the same: "Don't panic. Stay the course. Ride it out. Follow the plan."
That’s great advice—for someone with a portfolio and a plan! Someone who’s already built wealth. Someone who’s been investing for a while and just needs to not mess it up.
But what if you’re just getting started? What if you’re still building a business, don’t have a wealth manager to protect you on the downside, and your financial plan has basically been working your backside off to try and make a living?
Then "stay the course" isn’t just unhelpful. It’s not even applicable.
At Shelterbelt, we work with a lot of folks in what we call the pre-asset phase. You’re earning income from your farm or a food system job. But you don’t yet have significant investments— and the ones you do have feel precarious in times like these.
So let’s talk about it. What should you actually do during a market downturn if you haven’t built wealth yet?
What You Can Do
Here are five grounded, practical moves:
1. Understand How a Market Downturn Affects You
You don’t need to know what the Fed is doing or what the S&P 500 closed at yesterday. But you do need to know how a downturn might affect:
Your business: Are your input costs going up? Is customer spending going down? Could interest rates affect your operating loan or mortgage?
Your income: If you rely on off-farm work, is your job vulnerable to layoffs or hours cuts? How stable is your cash flow this season?
Your psychology: If markets fall and your IRA drops below the amount of cash you put into it to start with. That feels huge! That emotional weight matters.
Just naming how a downturn touches your life can help you focus on what you can control. You can tune out most of the noise — but try to pay attention to the signals that affect you.
2. Talk It Out With Your Family
If you're navigating this with a partner or other family members, talk it out before things blow up. The emotional impact of market stress can show up in unexpected ways in relationships. Acknowledge what you're feeling, listen without fixing, and create a shared plan. Don't let the consequences of a market downtown cause big tension.
3. Lean On Community
You built your working life to be a part of a special community. That’s why you did this! And if you’re feeling the stress, you know others are too. This is the time to tap into your natural network—fellow growers, local non-profits, and farm mentors. Your customers know you, your land, and probably your family — they want to support you through challenging times, so let them.
4. Keep Building Your System—Even If It’s Small
If you’re not yet investing regularly, this is your moment to start. Seriously. Most market corrections recover in under a year, and downturns can be great entry points.
You don’t need to go big. You need to go steady.
Start small: Know your personal budget (we call it your Minimum Viable Income during the business launch phase) and figure out how much above that you have to put into savings.
Keep it liquid: If you're worried about needing the money, use some combination of a high yield savings account and a brokerage account instead of a retirement account. You can still invest, but with easier access if needed.
Automate it: Set up recurring transfers so you don’t have to think about it. Dollar-cost averaging means you’ll buy more when prices are low and less when they’re high—no market timing required. And none of us can predict the bottom.
5. Write Down a Simple Plan—Then Stick to It
In a downturn, it’s tempting to question everything. And to out-smart yourself. This sort of panicking is counterproductive if you’re playing the long game.
Instead:
Get your numbers in order. Budget. Track income and expenses. Look at your cash flow. Use Monarch or QuickBooks or a spreadsheet—just know your current reality.
Pencil out a 1-page plan. It doesn’t need to be fancy. What are your financial goals? What can you save or invest? Where can you trim expenses if needed?
Check your behavior. Emotional decisions are costly. Especially for small portfolios. This is your foundation for future growth, don’t lock in the losses by cashing out at the bottom.
Here’s an analogy I recently heard on a podcast:
In tennis, the pros win by being better than their opponents. But amateurs? Amateurs lose by trying to play like the pros. So the smart amateur doesn’t go for the winner down the line. They just keep the ball in play.
Same with money. Don’t play like the pros. Just don’t make unforced errors.
Some Context for the Nerds
There’s a lot of good data about market corrections, so if numbers help put your mind at ease, here are a few:
Since 1929, the S&P 500 has seen 56 market corrections (a drop of 10% or more).
Only 22 of those turned into bear markets (a drop of 20% or more).
The average recovery time for a correction is about four months.
So if you keep investing during a dip? You’re doing just fine. Sure, past performance is not indicative of future results, but it might be the best we have to go on.
Bottom Line
If you are in the pre-asset stage of your life, your job isn’t to move to all cash in order to protect a portfolio. Your job is to build the habits and systems that will create wealth.
That means:
Know your numbers.
Invest a little, automatically.
Stay calm and just get your serves in.
You don’t need to stay the course. You’re building it.
You’re building something powerful. Let’s make sure your finances help it thrive—reach out today.
